New to the forum.. got a prob..

[Steveo411]

Hey guys..

I'm a car fan but not a crazy one. So if this question seems stupid sorry LOL..

My "Malfunction Indicator Lamp", you know the orange light that says "check" below the picture, it is on and won't go off. I don't get it.

If its my gas tank I allready made as many clicks possible to put it back on.

Anyway I need help.. I don't want to go to toyota because they told me I had to pay and my money is basically VERY LOW right now. I beleive they said $80 or so to just turn the light off.

I saw a thread talking about the battery but I don't know how to disconnect my battery.

Any brave souls that can help?

Thanks

-Steve

[Steveo411]

Forgot to say I got a Gen8 (2001) Corolla CE..

Please I am in dierneed!!

[cam2Xrunner]

Take it to autozone if you have one in the area and ask them to check what the code is. If it is a fuel evap. code then make sure the gas cap is tightened and then turn off the light by either turning it off with the scan tool or disconnect the negative battery cable. If the light comes back on again then it's not the gas cap and you should have the dealer look at it. And remember emmissions are usually covered for 8 years.

[hachi_slow]

Take out your gauge cluster and remove the bulb that lights it up.

or

Pop your hood, go to the battery (I'm assuming you know what that looks like) and disconnect the negative terminal (you'll need a wrench to loosen it) and after after a minute or however long you want, reconnect the negative terminal. CEL should be off.

Seriously, get a FSM and see what code is being thrown up.

[Ukrainian102]

To disconnect the battery:

1) Know your radio code if your radio is anti-theft.

2) With the car off, pop the hood and find the negative battery terminal.

3) You will usually have to unscrew some kind of nut or something to remove the wire from the terminal, so do that and take the wire off.

While you're doing this, don't do anything that would electrically connect the positive and negative terminals, in fact, don't touch the positive terminal at all. Remember you are working with the negative side only. After you disconnect the wire, leave the car to stand like that for about 10 minutes, and that should reset the system.

[Ukrainian102]

Originally posted by hachi_slow
Take out your gauge cluster and remove the bulb that lights it up.

or

Pop your hood, go to the battery (I'm assuming you know what that looks like) and disconnect the negative terminal (you'll need a wrench to loosen it) and after after a minute or however long you want, reconnect the negative terminal. CEL should be off.

Seriously, get a FSM and see what code is being thrown up.

Ah he beat me to it.

Yea go to Autozone really and get them to check the code.

[Steveo411]

Allright, your posts are very helpful but I think I know what it is.

I was having problems with my radio and I wasn't sure what it was.. So I disconnected a cable in the middle under the engine going to the dash.. Anyways my odometer wasn't moving then I figured that I unhooked my odometer!! Seems like I'm fucked now.. Anyways that is the reason I think (atleast after reading over the manual) Because I always put my gas cap back on tight.

The engine check light came on but then went off for a while and just today it came back on.

Maybe I can still unhook the negative on the battery or something but I'm sure they have a computer to tell them I unhooked the wrong part of the engine.

I guess I'm fucked to be quite honest, it goes to show you that you should never play with your own vehicle unless you know what your unhooking..

[Steveo411]

Whats a CEL?

Also, I don't think my car is anti-theft.

[Steveo411]

Anything I can do from here?

[FC_RX7]

cel= CHECK ENGINE LIGHT

[Steveo411]

I take it their is no code for pulling the odometer.. I mean its not a fuel evap. code.

I don't think it will go off considering it was pulling the odometer that did it.

Any opinion?

[CraigW]

If you loose the pulses from the speed sensor it will give a CEL. Try the - battery lead reset method. It will make it go out.

[Ukrainian102]

Hm, you pulled your odometer but your speedometer still works? What about your trip odometer? That's weird you couldn't have pulled just the odometer cause the cables for the odometer are bound together with the speedometer and tachometer and fuel gauge cables into one big thick cable and they only separate at the instrument cluster.

I dunno man, at this point I would just pay the $60 or whatever to get your car checked out. And don't disconnect the CEL or take out the bulb. That's just dumb cause when something is really wrong you won't know.

[Steveo411]

I did pull the big cord which contains all the wires including the odometer.

I am going to try to unhook the battery today for about 10-15 minutes and see how that goes.

By what everyone is telling me the light should atleast go off. I just which I can set me odometer back the few miles I had it unplugged.

[Flashmn]

if you pulled that big connector, the error code could be from anything and I think the only way to get it off is to go to the dealer.