Auris 1.6 Petrol Valvematic loses Power

[Mark Rawlings]

Hi

My father in law has a 2011 1.6 Auris valvematic and it loses power from time to time. A local Toyota dealer has come up with fault code P1047 and says it needs a new variable lift controller which is £1307!

The car has 45k on the clock & was stood for 5 weeks a month ago.

i drove it on Friday & when it warmed up it went like a rocket right up to the red line.

On Saturday morning it was initially ok but then went very sluggish and you couldn't get the revs up when driving even in first or second.

The engine oil looks clean but seemed a bit sticky.

Service due in May.

Any idea please ?

Cheers

Mark

 

 

[Jezclax]

Symptoms kind of fit as these engines have no throttle plate, using the lift control to provide that function.

Was the engine management light coming on? 

Do you know what oil was used at the recent service? 0w20 is the preferred grade. 

I think the actuator is electrical rather than being dependent on oil pressure but I could be wrong. 

I'd be checking connections etc. Given the intermittent nature of the fault. Change oil and give it a good Italian tune up. 

Got me worried about mine failing now though this does seem rare.

Jez

[Mark Rawlings]

Hi Jez

Thanks for your reply.

I'll get it flushed out and the oil changed.

I think it is electronic & does it have a separate electronic pack?

Cheers

Mark

[Konrad C]

I agree with Jez and check connections, make sure that next oil change is 0w20, and make sure the air filter is clean or change that too. If the fault persists, then I would try and source a used controller and hope that resetting the ECU will work. One other possibility could be contaminated fuel! I like to look at other possible faults that are cheaper, working my way up. The MAF sensor, throttle position sensor connections are other suspects.

Sometimes other issues trigger the problem, making it seem like the controller.     

[Mark Rawlings]

Thanks Konrad

Do you know any specialists in the Midlands at all - i'm not sure the main dealer will be able to sort this!

Cheers

Mark

[Konrad C]

Unfortunately I don't know of any specialist. As mentioned before, the Valvematic engine is generally reliable, so faults like yours are rare. A good garage may know what to look for. 

[Mark Rawlings]

Thanks Konrad

Do you know any specialists in the Midlands at all - i'm not sure the main dealer will be able to sort this!

Cheers

Mark

[Mark Rawlings]

Toyota in Stourbridge concur with the 0-20W oil so I think we will try them first for a flush & interim service.

thanks for your comments

[EeroV]

I have the same problem.

Did the oil change fix this?

 

[furtula]

Valvematic lift controller is a pretty common issue on cars from those years, sadly the fix is to replace the controller.

You might get off cheaper buying the part yourself online, they are even sold on eBay, and fitting at some local garage, but the cost is still 800 GBP and up (unless you get lucky with the part price)

[yossarian247]

I wonder if there was a batch of faulty Valvematic controllers fitted in 2010-2011 as that always seems to be the years affected? Touch wood my 2009 Valvematic is still running fine so far with 110k on the clock, but time will tell.. 

I notice that Toyota changed the part number of the lift controller about four times in the early years of the V matic engine. 

[Rading]

My valvematic controller in Premio 2010 was affected by reverse polarity during battery jump starting.The error code then was:U011B-Lost communication with rocker arm control module A.I replaced the controller and it cleared the error 

[cat woman]

On 6/17/2019 at 6:47 PM, yossarian247 said:

I wonder if there was a batch of faulty Valvematic controllers fitted in 2010-2011 as that always seems to be the years affected? Touch wood my 2009 Valvematic is still running fine so far with 110k on the clock, but time will tell.. 

I notice that Toyota changed the part number of the lift controller about four times in the early years of the V matic engine. 

mine has gone on 2011 model toyota dnt seem to care just more money in there pocket had toyota mechanic check it did buscan which stated every thing communicatig but wanted more mney to do a tree check as he didnt know what was wrong had 5 other toyotas but never again after this load of rubbish 

[yossarian247]

51 minutes ago, cat woman said:

mine has gone on 2011 model toyota dnt seem to care just more money in there pocket had toyota mechanic check it did buscan which stated every thing communicatig but wanted more mney to do a tree check as he didnt know what was wrong had 5 other toyotas but never again after this load of rubbish 

In fairness it is a 9 year old car so I wouldn't really expect Toyota to be interested now. The controllers are available on eBay for £720 from Japan if you can get someone to fit it?

[furtula]

Replacing a functional thing with more expensive electronics, yay, just like expensive electronic parking brake on Avensis.

I'd throw a used part in there.

Progress.

[FROSTYBALLS]

22 hours ago, cat woman said:

mine has gone on 2011 model toyota dnt seem to care just more money in there pocket had toyota mechanic check it did buscan which stated every thing communicatig but wanted more mney to do a tree check as he didnt know what was wrong had 5 other toyotas but never again after this load of rubbish 

As previously stated, it is a nine year old car and unless you have a Toyota extended warranty, the manufacturer wouldn't necessarily be interested - and if the car has been serviced outside the Toyota dealer network, goodwill wouldn't apply.

No different to any other manufacturer!

[Konrad C]

On 6/17/2019 at 2:55 PM, furtula said:

Valvematic lift controller is a pretty common issue on cars from those years, sadly the fix is to replace the controller.

You might get off cheaper buying the part yourself online, they are even sold on ebay, and fitting at some local garage, but the cost is still 800 GBP and up (unless you get lucky with the part price)

I have one of the earliest cars being a 58 plate registered in January 2009. I took ownership of the car September 2015, and was fully away of most of the known issues with the T27 - EPB. The door strap crack I learnt later. The Valvematic engine has been fine, and the only thing I had to change is the water pump. I have been keeping to the preferred 0W-20 grade oil at regular oil change services. Also from what is mentioned, it seems that 2010-11 cars are affected, so there must have been a manufacturing issue for a set period of time!
  

[yossarian247]

1 hour ago, Konrad C said:

I have one of the earliest cars being a 58 plate registered in January 2009. I took ownership of the car September 2015, and was fully away of most of the known issues with the T27 - EPB. The door strap crack I learnt later. The Valvematic engine has been fine, and the only thing I had to change is the water pump. I have been keeping to the preferred 0W-20 grade oil at regular oil change services. Also from what is mentioned, it seems that 2010-11 cars are affected, so there must have been a manufacturing issue for a set period of time!
  

My May 2009 registered 1.6 Valvematic Auris was still running fine with 120k+ on the clock when we part-exed it for my wife's C-HR hybrid a couple of months ago. Incidentally mine was run on the 'wrong' 5W-30 grade oil for most of its life, with no apparent ill-effects. It does appear to be specifically the 2010-11 cars which have issues, often at quite low mileages.

[olsi20]

Hello, 

Same problem, Auris 1.6 132 hp 155.000km. Fault code P1047 and U011B, unfortunately this is the only forum i found information about the problem. I drive the car normally it repeats the problem periodically, while driving it now it has Check Engine On light but power looks fine. I am trying to find a second hand part as i expect the problem to get worse. New it is quiet expensive ... while the cost of the car is around 3500-4000 euro, buying a small part for 800-900 euro sounds not a good idea. Does anyone know if the problem of the controller is located at the electronic part of it, or at the "manual" part? Because maybe the electronic packet get repaired. 

[furtula]

In your case it looks like the issue is on the electronic side.

I would certainly try to fix it, or get someone who works with electronics to take a look. Usually the modules are pretty rugged, and parts are bulky.
Try to disconnect it for 10 minutes, clean the contacts, check if there is anything obvious, check the fuse for it.

Maybe try what they mentioned here, in 2nd post >> https://mhhauto.com/Thread-Toyota-Verso-P1047-and-U011B-SOLVED

[olsi20]

1 hour ago, furtula said:

In your case it looks like the issue is on the electronic side.

I would certainly try to fix it, or get someone who works with electronics to take a look. Usually the modules are pretty rugged, and parts are bulky.
Try to disconnect it for 10 minutes, clean the contacts, check if there is anything obvious, check the fuse for it.

Maybe try what they mentioned here, in 2nd post >> https://mhhauto.com/Thread-Toyota-Verso-P1047-and-U011B-SOLVED

I suspect that the problem is at the electronic part of the lift controller, i will check and double check all the circuits but as far what i have seen in forums, everyone have changed the controller and thats my problem. if i find someone/technician who will take the responsibility to fix mine i will try it. 

thanks for your reply

[furtula]

Everyone is taking the easy way out, which sadly is the expensive one. 

I had issue with power steering module, opened it up, looks more like 1960's TV than something modern, so i presume it might be the same for the lift controler.

If you have a multimeter, you can check out Toyota's documentation (paid per hour/day, depends what you need), there should be some troubleshooting info how to check the module, what to expect in terms of values, etc. I think the cheapest subscription is 3 euros, for 4 hours (not sure).
Anyway, it's possible to save/print the pages, so i think it's well worth the money.

 

[Türkkk]

hi, my car is 2010 model avensis 132 hp.  My vehicle shows p1046 and p1047 as fault codes.  Service says valvematic is faulty and needs to be replaced.  This malfunction occurred for what reasons and can anyone help who knows what the solution is?

[furtula]

21 hours ago, Türkkk said:

hi, my car is 2010 model avensis 132 hp.  My vehicle shows p1046 and p1047 as fault codes.  Service says valvematic is faulty and needs to be replaced.  This malfunction occurred for what reasons and can anyone help who knows what the solution is?

You need to replace the valvematic controller, quite expensive fix, but sadly, very common.

[Tonies]

Hade 1049 and 1047 keep coming up loss of power Erratic running of engine couldn’t find any answers to 1049 or 1047 apart for most would say replace Parts stumbled across a comment to reset valve learning

start engine and ideal for 20 seconds approx stop car for 10 seconds and repeat this 5 times do not throttle the car wile doing this  six time no light or codes 😀worked for me it runs fine now hope this helps someone