Every new car, and most cars produced after 1980, have an oxygen sensor. The sensor is part of the emissions control system and feeds data to the engine management computer. The goal of the sensor is to help the engine run as efficiently as possible and also to produce as few emissions as possible.

A gasoline engine burns gasoline in the presence of oxygen (see How Car Engines Work for complete details). It turns out that there is a particular ratio of air and gasoline that is "perfect," and that ratio is 14.7:1 (different fuels have different perfect ratios -- the ratio depends on the amount of hydrogen and carbon found in a given amount of fuel). If there is less air than this perfect ratio, then there will be fuel left over after combustion. This is called a rich mixture. Rich mixtures are bad because the unburned fuel creates pollution. If there is more air than this perfect ratio, then there is excess oxygen. This is called a lean mixture. A lean mixture tends to produce more nitrogen-oxide pollutants, and, in some cases, it can cause poor performance and even engine damage.

The oxygen sensor is positioned in the exhaust pipe and can detect rich and lean mixtures. The mechanism in most sensors involves a chemical reaction that generates a voltage (see the patents below for details). The engine's computer looks at the voltage to determine if the mixture is rich or lean, and adjusts the amount of fuel entering the engine accordingly.

The reason why the engine needs the oxygen sensor is because the amount of oxygen that the engine can pull in depends on all sorts of things, such as the altitude, the temperature of the air, the temperature of the engine, the barometric pressure, the load on the engine, etc.

When the oxygen sensor fails, the computer can no longer sense the air/fuel ratio, so it ends up guessing. Your car performs poorly and uses more fuel than it needs to.

I have a 2001 and a 2007 Avalon. They each have two air filters; one for the engine and one for the passenger compartment. The engine air filter is under the hood. The passenger air filter is behind the glove box. On newer Avalons, the filter is more easily accessible since you only need to open the glove box. On older Avalons, you must disconnect the glove box to get behind it. (see other posts regarding how this is done)

First purchase a replacement air filter at local auto parts store or WalMart. This way you know the general shape of the air box that containes the air filter. Raise the hood and looking down at the engin on the right side is a black plastic air box that looks somewhat like the replacement air filter. Flip the 3 or 4 spring clips loose, then using a screw driver loosen the stainless steel clamp that secures the air housing to the aluminun air intake housing. Tilt the black plastic air box up to unhook the back two slotted friction fittings and the two halves of the air box will come apart enough that you can take out the old filter and replace it with the new. Observe how the old filter comes out and put the new one in the exact same way. You may have to unhook the two little air houses that are on the front of the air box for more room to move around. In reverse, slike the two slotted friction fitting in the back of the air box back into their slots, bring the two air box sections together and snap the 3-4 spring clips back to tighten the two halves together. If you removed the two little black rubber air tubes, reconnect them back to their original position. Reinstall the large round black rubber air tube to the aluminum air intake and tighten the stainless steel clamp with the slotted screw driver. Write down the mileage when you replace the filter so in 12-15,000 miles you can have this experience again.... Sure isn't as easy as in a 1970 Chevy. Good Luck..

If it is similar to a 2000 Avalon panel, there were a total of of 7 screws and two door panel clips. One screw is in the handle itself (is that what you are fixing?), behind a square plastic tab. A large sgrew is revealed by prying up the armrest cover. Two screws are hidden under round tabs. All of the prying is done easily but by carfeully using a taped flat bladed screwdriver.

It took me about twenty minutes, after I read an online description on changing a Camry door handle for the same model year. My handle also broke. The procedures were same but the cost at my Toyota for the Avalon parts were much higher than the stated Camry parts. I live in Hawaii.

The 2001 Toyota Avalon has a 3.0 L base engine size.

The word "fille" is "girl" in french.

the trim surrounding the radio must first be removed. to do this, use a screwdriver to pop the 2 clips at the bottom of the trim (you can probably see the small slits of where the clips are. once these are popped you can pop out the whole trim assembly and it's remaining clips. now there are four screws that hold in the radio, just remove those and the whole radio assembly will slide out as well.

losing coolant from no apparent hose or fitting Overheating You might be able to see the crack and sometimes the cracks arent visable by our eye. your over flow container will be bubbling even when you first shut the veichle off. you will notice thick white smoke pouring out your tail pipe. this is caused by either a cracked head, cracked block, blown head gasket and or a cracked intake plenum. if you take the head/s off of the engine block check very closely for cracks on the head and examine the gaskets for missing peices of cracks, to the same inside the cylinder walls. if you canot see cracks on the head/s take it to you nearest machine shop and they wil inspect them for you. if you do not see cracks in the cylinder walls you have a couple of options, A: turn the crank shaft manually so the pistons will move so you can see the rest of the cylinder walls B: drop the oil pan and remove the pistons from the crank shaft so the entire cylinder wall will be exposed, but BE CAREFULL!!! If you must remove the distrubutor for any reason make sure you mark where the harmonic balance was or you will mess up your timming. C: take the block into a machine shop and have them "magnafuxed" the block, this will tell them exactly where the crack is. Good luck!

Usually vehicle just stops running with no warning

Yes specifically if there is a crack in it. I would go with the ignition module or coil.

Yes, because the electricity it distributes to the spark-plugs to start the combustion inside the engine which makes it run, so it wont run if there is no sparking spark plug because of the absence of the electricity that the distributor distributes

You drop the 2 pins at the top of the Glove box and will open fully.

Their is a little door behind the glove box that will open that the cabin air filter is in.

Note the direction of the filter then pull it.

Replace the new one in the same way the old one was oriented.

No, the above answer is quite insufficient.

Bending the rear of the glove box quite a bit provides enough clearance for the pins on left and right sides to give way.

Don't do what I did though, I didn't notice the damper assembly on the bottom right side. Disconnect that FIRST, BEFORE pulling the glove box out, otherwise you pull the damper assembly out and it looks to be a big headache to reattach that.

UGH

A projectile used in a cannon that open up after firing and sprays bullets

6 1/2 quarts.. 6.5.. if you drain the filter and engine etc, must refill with atleast 6.5 quarts of oil..

The 1996 Avalon does not use a fuse that is specific to the seat. The car uses the door fuse link for the power seat.

no, the valves are far enough away from the pistons for this not to be a problem You will be dead in the water where it breaks and need a tow. As a 'repair', expect to pay somewhat more for replacement than were you to schedule this item as a 'scheduled maintenance procedure'.

The ABS Light came up in my Toyota Alex car what should the Mechanic verify and replace

try removing the glove box

often the "check engine" light will come on with no apparent problems in any car. there is an array of sensors, actuators, valves, and wiring that is monitored by a computer in the car. if the computer "sees" something that doesnt match a predetermined parameter, it will turn the light on. for example, if your gas cap was left loose, after certain driving conditions are met, the computer notices that there isn't any pressure in the gas tank. federal laws say at this point, there should be pressure there. so the computer turns the light on. there would be no problems with the engine itself, just the emission system, but it turns the "check engine" light on to warn you that your car car is no longer meeting federal standards for emissions.

Sometimes there is a false warning light.

To Check:Turn off all accessories and have the key out of the ignition. Disconnect the negative battery connection for about 30 seconds and then reconnect. This action resets the computer and may make the light go out if it was a false alarm. If the light comes back on, then it is possible that you have an actual problem.

The EPA mileage estimate for the 2011 Toyota Avalon is 20 mpg in the city, 29 mpg on the highway.

It's not easy. In my case the biggest problem was keeping the engine from turning while putting over 1000 ft-lbs of torque on it, to get it off. I ended up having to make my own tool. If you've got more money than time, or you're without the proper tools (lathe and mill), it's probably worth it to just buy the Special Service Tool from Toyota. Unfortunately the balancer doesn't have any large holes through it, through which you could jam a large screwdriver or whatever. And all you have to grip on is the 3/8" tall "spokes" that run from the center to the outside, through which the two puller holes go.

But I like working with metal, so here's what I did: I used my lathe to create a ring out of 1/4" plate steel, whose outside diameter is small enough to fit within inside diameter of the balancer, and whose inside diameter was big enough to accommodate the pulley bolt and its socket. Then cut a 3/4" bar of steel square stock long enough to fit the outside diameter of the ring. I used my mill to cut a slot in the bar along it's long side, wide enough accommodate the "spokes". Then I welded the bar onto inside of the ring (the side that contacts the balancer), with the slot facing toward the balancer, to fit over the spokes. Then I used the lathe again to cut the middle out of the bar. (I did this because I worried that if I cut the bar and welded the two pieces on separately, I'd never get it to line up properly on both sides of the ring.) Then I drilled two holes through the ring and the bar, to fit the two bolts from the harmonic balancer puller. You have to measure these carefully and get them straight - have to use a drill press or a mill - or you'll never get them to line up. I then welded a piece of square tubing onto the outside of the ring. I used the bolts from my harmonic balancer puller to bold the thing on (the bolts were too long so I had to make some spacers out of round tubing), put a steel bar through the tubing on the outside of the ring so the crank wouldn't turn.

I then had to use a breaker bar with an 8 foot cheater pipe to get it off. I estimate I had to put around 1000 foot pounds of torque on the bolt to get it to crack loose. Which is strange because the service manual says to torque it to 159 ft-lbs.