My sister's corolla freezed up.. CEL

[ek9cusco]

today, my sister called me and was freaked out. her 2003 corolla with only 36K local miles, suddenly stopped in the middle of the road while waiting for a green light.

we tried cranking it.. and it wouldn't fire. thought it was the battery, but nope.. even new bat didn't solve it.

we pushed the car home and cranked and it started for about 1 min then gave out. then it wouldn't crank anymore.

the CEL is on, but i don't have a OBD2 scanner and the nearest kragen or pepboy is far far away.

i have a 2000 civic where i can use a paper clip and plug into ECM and it the CEL will give a long or short blink. not sure if corolla can do the same.

if not, then next questions is.. any difference in ODB2 scanners? I saw a lot with different in price range. prefer to get on that would work on both toyota and honda from 2000 and up.

any suggestions? need help soon... thanks!!

[mikered30]

The paper work clip does not work on 9th gen corollas. Too bad you are in CA, as anywhere else in the US autozone or major parts store reads codes for free. You need to get a CAN compliant OBD-II scanner. You just need a scanner that reads and clears codes.

Nothing really can be done without knowing the code. Maybe you could borrow someones scanner. There are many things it could be, ECU, other electrical problem, etc. Code will help with diagnostics.

[ek9cusco]

Ok, so most obd2 scanners in autozone or kragen are all CAN compliant?

[mikered30]

I believe most are, it will say CAN compliant on the box. The cheapest will probably work, you do not need anything fancy. Walmart has one for $50, might be able to find them cheaper.

[ek9cusco]

Will all of the have the ability to reset the code?