brucesw Posted July 31, 2008 Share Posted July 31, 2008 Month and a half ago, $400, two emissions system parts replaced. They told me the OBD system only stored the last 2 codes and there could be other problems. The car had just passed State Inspection a week earlier.Light's on again; no noticeable performance problems.I searched all over the internet for some answers but found no answer for one question: were they telling the truth about only being able to see the last 2 problems the system detected, or were they setting me up to string me out on a series of repairs? I'm not inclined to go back to this dealer because they kept me cooling my heals for an extra 2 hours because the service rep decided to take off for the day without turning in the paperwork on my finished car.FWIW it's a 99 Toyota with 123K. Maybe the OBD systems were a little less sophisticated back then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
memebag Posted July 31, 2008 Share Posted July 31, 2008 Talk to Scotty Kilmer. He's the best mechanic I've ever had, and he knows Toyotas inside and out.Scottykilmer@scottykilmer.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jm1fd Posted August 1, 2008 Share Posted August 1, 2008 Month and a half ago, $400, two emissions system parts replaced. They told me the OBD system only stored the last 2 codes and there could be other problems. The car had just passed State Inspection a week earlier.Light's on again; no noticeable performance problems.I searched all over the internet for some answers but found no answer for one question: were they telling the truth about only being able to see the last 2 problems the system detected, or were they setting me up to string me out on a series of repairs? I'm not inclined to go back to this dealer because they kept me cooling my heals for an extra 2 hours because the service rep decided to take off for the day without turning in the paperwork on my finished car.FWIW it's a 99 Toyota with 123K. Maybe the OBD systems were a little less sophisticated back then?They might have been a *LITTLE* less sophisticated but not by much. Your car has OBDII which is a pretty advanced system as it is. I kinda doubt that the ECU can only show the last two problems....except for certain problems which might mask the presence of other problems. You'll never know if they were lying or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BryanS Posted August 1, 2008 Share Posted August 1, 2008 Just curious, what codes are they? The last codes... and now, the new code? Auto parts places will read the codes, for free.Also... it's not the gas cap is it? You do know that something as simple as that can also cause the light to come on and will register as a fault in OBDII (anything that causes the light to go on, will register as a code)... Given the age of your vehicle, that could be a problem (shooting in the dark)... Emission control problems are some of the worst, most frustrating problems to deal with in a car... "EGR problem" ... OK... is it the valve? port? vacuum tubing? Where's the damn leak?!! Those kinds of frustrations... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted August 1, 2008 Share Posted August 1, 2008 I've had the check engine light come on due to not turning the gas cap tight enough, and due to faultyu oxygen sensors. I drove a VW Jetta for 3 years with the check engine light on with no impact on performace. I only had the error cleared when we wanted to trade in the car.Tehre are a number of places that sell OBDII diagnostic tools for less than $200. Do a Google search for OBDII. Then you cna find out what the codes are, and whether you want ot get it fixed. There are also tools that let you hook up a laptop to the car and see all of the data. I've always wanted one of those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vertigo58 Posted August 1, 2008 Share Posted August 1, 2008 Just curious, what codes are they? The last codes... and now, the new code? Auto parts places will read the codes, for free.Also... it's not the gas cap is it? You do know that something as simple as that can also cause the light to come on and will register as a fault in OBDII (anything that causes the light to go on, will register as a code)... Given the age of your vehicle, that could be a problem (shooting in the dark)... Emission control problems are some of the worst, most frustrating problems to deal with in a car... "EGR problem" ... OK... is it the valve? port? vacuum tubing? Where's the damn leak?!! Those kinds of frustrations... I had that same scary issue with a past car. The gas cap I am convinced was the culprit. Nothing scarier than seeing Check Engine in glaring red in the middle of nowhere. Yikes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
memebag Posted August 1, 2008 Share Posted August 1, 2008 I had that same scary issue with a past car. The gas cap I am convinced was the culprit. Nothing scarier than seeing Check Engine in glaring red in the middle of nowhere. Yikes! Just pull over, open the hood, and make sure the engine is still there. Seriously, to the OP: Call Scotty. He will solve your problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucesw Posted August 1, 2008 Author Share Posted August 1, 2008 Thanks for the replies. I'll have it checked out at a parts store then maybe Kilmer if it's not something I can fix. Gas cap lid was the first thing I checked; there was what seemed like a lot of pressure in the tank when I took it off., but not when I filled it up a couple of days later.According to the invoice the code was PO401 - EGR Valve malfunction. They replaced the valve and VSV modulator.The car has been so trouble free it's amazing but I realize with the age..... Still I'm not inclined to spend $200 for the tool. I just thought it was sort of fishy that a computer might only record 2 problems; maybe I misunderstood. The rep was obviously kind of a flake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
editor Posted August 1, 2008 Share Posted August 1, 2008 It happened to me once and the problem was a gas cap that wasn't seating properly. I think it cost $20 for a new gas cap. The estimate to reset the computer so that the Check Engine light would go off was something like $200. No way. I continued to drive for years with that Check Engine light on. I think it eventually turned itself off because I don't remember worrying about it when I sold the car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marmer Posted August 1, 2008 Share Posted August 1, 2008 On a vehicle of that age it's, unfortunately, quite possible that a different, newer, problem altogether might be setting off the light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fringe Posted August 1, 2008 Share Posted August 1, 2008 You don't need to spend $200 to get a decent code reader. Here's one for $60. They are quite handy. Actron at Amazon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HtownWxBoy Posted August 1, 2008 Share Posted August 1, 2008 I've had the check engine light come on due to not turning the gas cap tight enough, and due to faultyu oxygen sensors. I drove a VW Jetta for 3 years with the check engine light on with no impact on performace. I only had the error cleared when we wanted to trade in the car.Tehre are a number of places that sell OBDII diagnostic tools for less than $200. Do a Google search for OBDII. Then you cna find out what the codes are, and whether you want ot get it fixed. There are also tools that let you hook up a laptop to the car and see all of the data. I've always wanted one of those.I had the same problem in my old car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BryanS Posted August 1, 2008 Share Posted August 1, 2008 Thanks for the replies. I'll have it checked out at a parts store then maybe Kilmer if it's not something I can fix. Gas cap lid was the first thing I checked; there was what seemed like a lot of pressure in the tank when I took it off., but not when I filled it up a couple of days later.According to the invoice the code was PO401 - EGR Valve malfunction. They replaced the valve and VSV modulator.The car has been so trouble free it's amazing but I realize with the age..... Still I'm not inclined to spend $200 for the tool. I just thought it was sort of fishy that a computer might only record 2 problems; maybe I misunderstood. The rep was obviously kind of a flake.If your check engine light is on again... don't spend any money. Go to O'Riley or Advanced Autoparts (I miss Autozone)... and ask them to read the code. They'll do it for free. No obligation to buy anything. Don't buy a reader for this type of thing. See what the new code says...EGR Valve!! Ha!!! It's always something like that (or something simple like the gas cap). In my crappy 2000 Honda Accord, I got the same error. The problem was that the EGR port, after getting just the smallest amount of carbon build up, would "clog" just enough to turn on the light. So the problem was NOT PO401... It was a mechanical defect that Honda had to fix, under recall. It just looked like the EGR valve was the issue...Go get the code read for free, call someone to fix it. Tell them what the code is... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BryanS Posted August 1, 2008 Share Posted August 1, 2008 It happened to me once and the problem was a gas cap that wasn't seating properly. I think it cost $20 for a new gas cap. The estimate to reset the computer so that the Check Engine light would go off was something like $200. No way. I continued to drive for years with that Check Engine light on. I think it eventually turned itself off because I don't remember worrying about it when I sold the car.Complete rip-off. On most cars, just disconnect the battery. But make sure you have the factory code to unlock your radio! That worked on my Accord...Here's the deal though... I kept trying to get the light to go out so that I could pass inspection.So I figured, hey, I'll just disconnect the battery, reset the code, and get it inspected before it comes back on again (you cannot pass inspection with the light on)....but... when you get it inspected, the computer will indicate that not enough miles have been driven in order to register any new faults. Usually, that's 50 miles. So if you get turned away after trying to cheat on your inspection, they will tell you to put 50 miles on the car, and come back. In my case, the light always came back on... so I was forced to fix it. Curse you Honda! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MovingSoon Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 My subaru dealership charged me once $99 to check engine diagnostic and told me it's a loose gs cup. Since then I learned about Autozone doing it for free and went their next time it lighted. The code mentioned catalytic converter, dealership quoted $800 to replace...Mechanic next door (Miguel at Downtown Radiator and repair, across the street from barnabys on fairview) told me to get a cleanser additive (Guarantted-to-pass) and fill up with Chevorn for the next couple of tanks. The light went off in a month and never came back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark F. Barnes Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 brucesw, the most common cause of this code comes from the failure of the VSV sensor by the Charcoal Canister. What happens is the canister itself begins to break inside and creates a lot of debris which can penetrate the VSV sensor passages. When this happens, it will disrupt the sensor setting when the sensor closes or opens triggering the code. This is very common on this year model and you are better off replacing the charcoal canister assembly. The canister comes complete with new sensors but you need to blow the lines to remove the unwanted charcoal particles inside. A lot of todays so called mechanics is they just read a trouble code and change parts until the accidently fix the issue. If they just changed the VSV and didn't address the charcoal filter and lines, the code will return, as it has in your case, might check into that bruce. You can pull the ECM fuse to clear the codes in most cases. Or as you were told before, Remove the negative battery cable for 6 minutes and then replace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucesw Posted August 4, 2008 Author Share Posted August 4, 2008 AutoZone read the same code, cleared it. Said maybe the dealer hadn't cleared it but if it came on again I should go back to the dealership.I drove it for 7 weeks after the repairs without the light so I think it was cleared correctly and I'm expecting to see it come on again.Thanks for all the replies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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