CEL blinking, truck running like garbage - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

***Dana_15*** · 11-24-2008, 08:09 AM

I'm getting pretty sick of making these kind of threads

.

Started the Tundra up today in the garage where it was 40 degrees. Started up immediately but sounded like complete crap, almost like a diesel, black smoke pouring out of tailpipe, idle was completely uneven.

I shut the thing off, checked the oil, it was and is fine. Right belows the fill line and dark amber, about 2000 miles on the oil. Let the truck sit for a few minutes and started it up, CEL is completely off but the truck does not seem to be idling correctly.

Called the dealership (who always has been good to me), got an appointment at 1pm....if it makes it

Also I have 3/4 of a tank of gas and filled it up last week.

***Dana_15*** · 11-24-2008, 04:32 PM

Truck ran fine the afternoon, no CEL, no hesitation, nothing. The dealer (who has always been good on repairs) found nothing wrong with the truck and no codes were "stored"

Oh well

***lotust*** · 11-24-2008, 04:34 PM

thats really weird Dana. I have never heard of that before. I have a feeling it was an ECU hickup. I hope this does not become a regular problem.

***Dana_15*** · 11-24-2008, 04:49 PM

^^I hear ya. I have a young kid (16 months) and its pretty cold out, needless to say we didn't do much today!

The service rep told me if I am driving and the CEL comes on blinking pull over right away and call them, and more than likely it will be towed.

Blinking CEL = bad

***lotust*** · 11-24-2008, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dana_15

^^I hear ya. I have a young kid (16 months) and its pretty cold out, needless to say we didn't do much today!

The service rep told me if I am driving and the CEL comes on blinking pull over right away and call them, and more than likely it will be towed.

Blinking CEL = bad

Yeah its bad to drive it its blowing black sooty smoke. Im surprised you did. But I dont know what your situation was. Or how bad it was running.

Keep us posted on this.

seadragon · 11-24-2008, 06:35 PM

Could it have been bad gasoline or water in the gas tank? I think I read a post somewhere about a similar problem that turned out to be sludge in the gasoline.

***Vmax2007*** · 11-24-2008, 07:03 PM

Computer glitch...no biggie. My 2000 GMC did this 2-3 times over a 7 year period and it always cleared up and ran fine afterward. Although I do not remember any black smoke. It would just start up and run really rough, I would shut it down and restart it and it was fine.

***Dana_15*** · 11-24-2008, 07:10 PM

^^Thats what I'm thinking, it was only blowing smoke when I originally started it up, which I let it run for about 10 seconds. Since then it has run pretty good except when I started up a few minutes after the original start, even then it wasn't smoking but idling funny.....

Oh well, maybe it had a 24 hr bug

Impelled · 11-25-2008, 03:50 PM

The pesky gremlin....that's what it is!

***new echo owner*** · 11-25-2008, 05:33 PM

Any time the CEL is blinking, it is a potential problem that may damage the cat. Usually it would at least set a pentending code when the CEL blinks.

A leaky injector may also cause that, allowing fuel to leak into the cylinder when sat overnight.

N.E.O.

TACOMA915 · 11-30-2008, 12:32 PM

It should have stored a sporadic fault.

***lotust*** · 11-30-2008, 05:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TACOMA915

It should have stored a sporadic fault.

I would think so too. Unless it was the ECU itself.

TACOMA915 · 12-02-2008, 12:14 AM

If the ECU did it, it would have still stored a control module defective fault and the truck wouldnt have started at all. Did you pressure wash the engine?

***Dana_15*** · 12-02-2008, 03:48 AM

^^No, it was sitting for a couple of days the only time it happened, and it has not happened since. I let it sit for two days until yesterday when I fired it up, no problems...its very odd

***new echo owner*** · 12-02-2008, 08:59 AM

How many miles have you got on the truck?

N.E.O.