Check Engine Light

***Eye8Pussies*** · 10-15-2003, 10:34 PM

My check engine light recently came on....

The first time, it happened as I got off he highway, and then after I put the car into neutral, and it rolled backward slightly, I pushed it back into drive and then took off.....resulting in a little jerk...... I do this all the time, and I can only think that its bad for the tranny, but I do it by accident so it doesn't happen ofter.....

this morning, I disconnected the battery to reset everything, and my check engine light went off.....I was happy

but then after a whole day of driving, on my way home on the highway, it came back on again......

from what I can tell, there are no adverse driving affects, but I'm going to get it checked out by basil at T-Lex as soon as possible.

I checked under the hood, and all vaccuum lines seem ok, there's nothing leaking out of my car, no smoke, no bad idle, etc etc. I had my oil changed recently also at a jiffylube place

Now, this is to the gen3 ppl out there......to the ones of you who have had their check engine lights come on before, what was the problem?

and of course, all other expertise advice is welcome too. thanks ppl!

dj14901 · 10-16-2003, 08:24 AM

If you drop the transmission in drive when rolling backwards, it's really bad for your driveline (and especially motor mounts). But, I'm guessing that's not the reason for your Check Engine Light.

Try getting it scanned, if you have the code it would be much easier to throw some suggestions out there. For example, on my '98 I was getting an EVAP code, which turned out to be a faulty Vacuum Switching Valve (VSV). I replaced the original with the redesigned model from Toyota and the light went off and hasn't (knock on wood) come back on in the past year.

CELs come on for such a wide variety of reasons that it's tough to diagnose without the particular code...

HTH -

DJ

BooKoo · 10-16-2003, 04:59 PM

My light has been on since i have gotten the cart and now i am finally getting around to taking it to toyota.

i went down to autozone and they check it for free and it comes up as my egr valve wich is odd since it is a '96 but the car was in a crash before i got it, but i have gone through two egr valves and have had it cleared acouple of times and it still won't go off.

but it can be a hundred different things. so i hope its nothing too expensive.

kingoleer · 10-16-2003, 06:57 PM

i had a similiar problem with my egr valve having carbon build-up in it, we took it out and cleaned it but it would only solve the problem temporarily...turned out to be the pollution control valve needed to be replaced, you may wanna even try your oxygen sensor

kingoleer · 10-16-2003, 06:58 PM

oh, those pollution control valves are only $2.99 and my light hasn't been on since we replaced that

***Eye8Pussies*** · 10-16-2003, 08:51 PM

hmmm....thanks for the info guys....I really have no idea......

but I'm going to get it scanned at T-lex tomorrow so I guess I'll find out then....

hopefully it won't be anything big/expensive, but if it is, oh, well....what do you expect from a 10 year old car?

fe519 · 10-16-2003, 11:55 PM

what is a "pollution control valve" anyways? where would that be located?

jornie14 · 10-17-2003, 01:05 PM

polution control valve? I am assuming they are talking about your positive crankcase ventalation (pcv) valve. It vents blow-by gasses that get into your crankcase into the intake. It works with your Fuel evaporative emission control (evap) system and your exahst gas recirculation (egr) system to reduce emissions.

-jornie

jornie14 · 10-17-2003, 01:06 PM

oops.

It's located on your valve cover. If you have a V6 this can be a bitch to get at because they put it under the plenum.

Doug96 · 10-18-2003, 11:35 PM

My check engine light was on for a while. Finally got around to getting it checked out and it was my oxygen sensor. it was like $130 to get it replaced from toyota. You might wanna check that. Otherwise im not sure.

Doug

takkie · 12-16-2003, 08:59 AM

Howmuch to replace a egr valve? my check engine light went on yesterday, the shop said its the egr valve...

can this be diy??

thanks.
t

biggriggs · 12-16-2003, 02:19 PM

When I had my Corolla the check engine light went on, I had a friend use a computer diagnostics and it said there was something wrong with the knock sensor. With my camry it was going on because of the Mass Airflow Sensor when I had my worthless intake on it. It could be one of many things, get it checked out.

Nico · 12-16-2003, 02:35 PM

I also had a problem with knock sensor, it can be so many things indeed, from what I heard, it might be a good thing to check the 2 temperature sensors (on water housing), they often go wrong on this car). The best thing would be to go for a test.
Good luck !

arcasmachineracing · 12-16-2003, 04:19 PM

Why don't you do your own oil changes?

jimmouse · 04-27-2004, 09:19 PM

Hi, dj14901,

Could you please give more detail about changing your VSV? My want to change the VSV by myself. So, please tell me where you get the part, the price, and where & how to change it.

Thanks a lot.

Quote:

Originally posted by dj14901
If you drop the transmission in drive when rolling backwards, it's really bad for your driveline (and especially motor mounts). But, I'm guessing that's not the reason for your Check Engine Light.

Try getting it scanned, if you have the code it would be much easier to throw some suggestions out there. For example, on my '98 I was getting an EVAP code, which turned out to be a faulty Vacuum Switching Valve (VSV). I replaced the original with the redesigned model from Toyota and the light went off and hasn't (knock on wood) come back on in the past year.

CELs come on for such a wide variety of reasons that it's tough to diagnose without the particular code...

HTH -

DJ