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Before you buy a used Toyota Previa (II).

2000–2006 · Petrol / Diesel · 2 engines

Taken only from Testigo's sourced sheets. Use it to question the seller and on the test drive: it does not confirm that any particular car is affected.

Toyota Previa (II), real photo of this generation
Dinkun Chen · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Photo source

The essentials.

Typical faults by engine

The period and mileage are those mentioned by each sheet's sources. They are not a maintenance interval and do not predict that any particular car will fail.

2.4 VVT-i

Petrol

  • Oil consumption on the 2.4 VVT-i (2AZ-FE)Engine
    Period mentioned
    Approx. 2000–2012
    Mileage mentioned
    What the sheet says: Oil must be topped up between changes (in the US the warranty-extension threshold was more than 1 quart, almost a litre, per 1,200 miles); it usually starts at around 60,000–75,000 miles; bluish smoke and fouled spark plugs.

2.0 D-4D

Diesel

Which engine has the fewest documented faults?

Documented faults and recalls by engine for the Toyota Previa (II)
EngineDocumented faultsRecalls
2.4 VVT-iPetrol11
2.0 D-4DDiesel11

According to the data we have, all its engines have the same number of documented faults.

We only count the sourced sheets we have. An engine with fewer is not guaranteed to be more reliable: it may have been studied less or sold in smaller numbers.

Official recalls: ask before you pay

A recall existing does not mean this car is affected or that it is still outstanding: it depends on the chassis number, the market and the production date.

  1. Ask the seller for the chassis number (VIN): it has 17 characters, appears in the car's documents and can usually also be seen at the base of the windscreen.
  2. Ask an official Toyota dealer, or the brand's official website if it lets you check by chassis number, whether each recall has been done or is still outstanding for that VIN.
  3. Manufacturer recalls are normally carried out free of charge by the official service network. If one is outstanding, ask for it to be done before you close the sale.
Toyota body, seat and fitting recalls (2002–2024)Bodywork

How to check it: Check by VIN whether any of the recalls is outstanding (at the dealer or on the DVSA website) and carry out the inspection or replacement it requires.

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On the test drive: what to look and listen for

Taken from each sheet's symptoms and checks. You can tick off what you have already looked at: it is saved only in this browser.

0 of 2 checked

Engine

  • Look out for: Oil must be topped up between changes (in the US the warranty-extension threshold was more than 1 quart, almost a litre, per 1,200 miles); it usually starts at around 60,000–75,000 miles; bluish smoke and fouled spark plugs.

    Ask them to check: Measure consumption between two changes with the level set correctly and check the spark plugs and catalytic converter. If consumption is high, the lasting fix is new pistons and rings.

Injection / turbo

  • Look out for: Hard starting, hesitation and loss of power, black smoke; EGR (P0400) or turbo-control codes; flywheel noise.

    Ask them to check: Read the codes, check the fuel filter and for air ingress, test the injectors and SCV valves and clean the EGR before replacing expensive parts.

OBD codes worth looking for

If they let you read the fault memory with an OBD reader, these are the codes mentioned in this model's sheets:

P0400

Sources

Every fact on this page comes from these Testigo sheets and their original sources. Sources are not checked in real time.

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