CEL weirdness

[nfsuw]

hi all, i've got the weirdest problem, and i attempted to search it with no luck, so im hoping someone here might know whats going on with this car.

my 97 camry 4cyl never turns on the CEL for errors. when u first start the car, and all the lights turn on, it turns on, and goes away (which is what its supposed to do normally), but it also goes away even though there are codes in the ecu (p0446). has anyone had this problem before, i find this quite random, normally if it doesnt work, it never turns on, but it does turn on during the 'test' phase when you first start the car.

i just need to get this working before i attempt to take it to the dealership and see if toyota canada will acknoledge the 'extended emission warranty' (http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resour...aa/toyota.html) since the error code has to do with the emissions. i just dont want them to find excuses like, the light isnt on, so nothing is wrong.

just some background info, i've cleared the code many times before, and it always comes back, but the CEL never turns on.
thanks for any help anyone can provide.

[JohnGD]

Yeah, that generation of EVAP system was bad news.

Why not call a couple of dealers and tell them the P0446 vent control malfunction? And give Toyota a call too just in case the dealer tries to sweep you under the carpet.

I don't know if this specific code is two-trip set code or not. If it doesn't happen two consecutive times the CEL won't set and in fact would get cleared.

Originally Posted by nfsuw

hi all, i've got the weirdest problem, and i attempted to search it with no luck, so im hoping someone here might know whats going on with this car.

my 97 camry 4cyl never turns on the CEL for errors. when u first start the car, and all the lights turn on, it turns on, and goes away (which is what its supposed to do normally), but it also goes away even though there are codes in the ecu (p0446). has anyone had this problem before, i find this quite random, normally if it doesnt work, it never turns on, but it does turn on during the 'test' phase when you first start the car.

i just need to get this working before i attempt to take it to the dealership and see if toyota canada will acknoledge the 'extended emission warranty' (http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resour...aa/toyota.html) since the error code has to do with the emissions. i just dont want them to find excuses like, the light isnt on, so nothing is wrong.

just some background info, i've cleared the code many times before, and it always comes back, but the CEL never turns on.
thanks for any help anyone can provide.

[nfsuw]

Originally Posted by JohnGD

I don't know if this specific code is two-trip set code or not. If it doesn't happen two consecutive times the CEL won't set and in fact would get cleared.

yah i thought so too, but the obd2 scanner picked up the code twice, one was pending, the other was MILon (the readers way of saying the CEL should be on) so thats whats confusing me.

edit: so got an email back from toyota canada, they said that this settlement was for the US market which is handled by "Toyota Motor Sales", and "Toyota Canada" will not cover it. funny thing is, the settlement states Toyota Motor Corporation, which would be assumed as the entire Toyota label as a whole, oh well, gona go talk to the dealer and see what they say about it, probably just got the runaround by the office people at toyota canada.