engine chk light - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

ReFLeX · 11-07-2003, 07:05 PM

my damn engine chk light is ALWAYS on and i kno for sure theres nothing wrong..how do i get rid of this thing?

brink · 11-07-2003, 07:08 PM

Remove negative battery cable. Wait a couple seconds, put it back on.

88 LE · 11-07-2003, 08:01 PM

Why does everyone say to remove the battery cable?

Just pull the efi fuse, then plug it back in. Alot less work.

brink · 11-07-2003, 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by 88 LE
Why does everyone say to remove the battery cable?

Just pull the efi fuse, then plug it back in. Alot less work.

Probably cause I always forget about that

OEMonkey · 11-07-2003, 10:17 PM

what year is your car? what makes you so sure theres nothing wrong? pulling the efi fuse will ERASE the dtc. and if yours is obdII, it will erase data freeze frame. if a problem does exist, your cel will come back. why wont you pull the code before clearing it?

Bob86ZZ4 · 11-07-2003, 10:33 PM

It looks like you have a '96 Avalon. If that's the case isn't that an OBDII car? You cannot erase codes by unhooking the battery or taking the fuse out on an OBDII car. It will extinguish the dash "check engine" light but it will still have the code stored. If the condition that caused the fault code to trip doesn't happen again the dash "check engine" light won't come back on. But the code will still be there in memory. I agree with OEMonkey tho, get a scan tool hooked up to it and read the code(s). Then scan the live data to see what is happening with the particular sensors that set the code(s) to begin with. Then clear the codes and see if any come back. It'll cost you some money but it may save you some money in the long run if you find that there is in fact something malfunctioning somewhere. Most of those rapid tune places will do this scanning for about $75.00 I think.

ReFLeX · 11-08-2003, 12:25 AM

that was confusing..should i jus take it to autozone or something?
this light has been on for like about a year now..jus ignored it but i figured i should do something about it now
the cars been to dealerships plenty of times and they said theres nothing wrong and theyll do something to make the light go off but then it comes back on in like a week

thx a lot for the help

OEMonkey · 11-08-2003, 03:15 PM

Quote:

the cars been to dealerships plenty of times and they said theres nothing wrong and theyll do something to make the light go off but then it comes back on in like a week

I hope you didnt pay em to diagnose it. because all they did was hook up a scanner and go to "clear all codes command". a pending code can stay in memory for some time while it waits for the exact condition to repeat itself. when the condition repeats, the pcm checks the fault, sees if its still present, stores a code and lights the cel on the dash. 2 trip monitors are those that require a 2nd trip to set a code.

TRDragoon · 11-08-2003, 07:08 PM

what car are you drving and what year is it???.....very common problem is O2Sensor failing....

ReFLeX · 11-09-2003, 01:15 AM

Bob's right..its a 96 avalon
i dunno how he found out tho..kinda scary

i hope the chkups werent paid for...my dad took it in so i dunno

whats the easiest way to do this without taking my whole car apart?

ReFLeX · 11-09-2003, 01:18 AM

o ya..i had a guy do the scanning thing for me and the code popped up that said there was something wrong with the circuit board??

i have no idea...

the lights on the whole bottom left of my center console wouldnt work for about 2-3 weeks but it worked fine again after that..correlation maybe?

Bob86ZZ4 · 11-09-2003, 07:22 AM

I looked at your profile and it says you have a '96 Avalon. Okay, did you get the exact fault code number? It should be a P-XXXX. If you post that code it would be more help than just "something wrong with the circuit board." A good scan tool will show you any code numbers and then give a description of that code. And then you can switch over to "view data" and see exactly how that circuit is performing while the engine is running. If it appears to be working correctly just clear the code and see if it comes back later. It sounds like your code was cleared and came back? I would fix whatever is wrong then if I was you. Too bad you're not in MN. I scan and clear codes for friends for $20.00. I figure since I spent $800.00 for my scan tool I should charge a bit for others to benefit from it. They are happy because I save them money too. Works for all of us. Good luck and let us know the exact code.
If you have the number and want to look it up, check here:
http://www.actron.com/code_lookup/index.php

OEMonkey · 11-09-2003, 11:56 AM

Quote:

whats the easiest way to do this without taking my whole car apart?

theres nothing to take apart. obdII cars have a standard dlc location(well almost) regardless of make and model. thats where you connect your scanner and pull code(s). bob is right, it will have a 5 character alphanumeric code. so, take it to someone who will not only pull the code, but also find what caused it and correct the problem.
diagnosing involves more than just pulling a code. you havta know what to test, how and when to test it. you just dont go around replacing sensors.

ReFLeX · 11-09-2003, 11:39 PM

holy crap that thing cost 800

well i dun remember the code i jus remember what he told me..that it was a circuit board problem
he cleared the code and the light was off the next time i turned the car on but the following time i turned it on the light came back on
should i take my car somewhere to get this fixed?

Bob86ZZ4 · 11-10-2003, 06:58 PM

Well, I guess that's up to you. If it was my car I have told you what I would have done above. Good luck.