QuestionAfter 2 week vacation, my garaged 203K miles Avalon makes "clicking" noise and dash lights flickered - didn't start. Twice called my roadside assist car company within two days. They jumped my year old battery and had me leave the car to idle - first time for 40 minutes and second time for 20 minutes. Third day took it to my mechanic who replaced the alternator.
Fourth day the check engine light (MIL) came on. Since I needed inspection sticker and oil changed, I had my oil change place place run diagnostic:
OBDII Manual Mode results = DTC reported P0401 = EGR flow insufficient detected.
Said the valve is $269.24 + regulator is $96 + temp sensor = $170 with $140 for 1.4 hour labor ($675 TL). My brother (PT mechanic) says the sensor just needs to be reset and to disconnect one side of the battery terminals for 5+ minutes.
I'm single mom supporting 2 boys in college. I want to listen to my brother, but I also don't want to injure my car that is paid for and been such an incredible vehicle for me. What is smartest way to proceed?
To top this off, a shopping cart had smashed my front headlight this morning. So hopefully this means I am throught with this run of calamities and your answer will solve all my problems....
AnswerIt sounds to me they just want to replace all those parts hoping that one of them fixes the problem, first of all EGR valves seldom cause problems on these models, neither do the other parts, in almost all cases of getting this code the problem is the "EGR valve Position sensor", it's located directly on top of the EGR valve, it takes about ten minutes to replace so I would suggest buying the part from the toyota dealer, tell them you need the 'EGR VALVE POSITION SENSOR" they will know what your'e talking about, have your brother replace it and clear the dtc by disconnecting the battery for ten seconds,this should work.
