I've had my "maint required" light on for a while... i know i know, i should've taken it to the dealer to have it reset a while ago, but i've been doing my oil changes every 3k miles so that was ok.
Then this morning on my way to school, my "check engine light" goes on. And i have no idea why, my car feels fine, seems to be running fine (???) the only thing different is the catback (magnaflow) exhaust that was bolted on 1500 miles ago - may this be causing it? All other mods i've had on have been on for more than a year so i doubt it's anything else. Can it be serious, there's no way i can take my car to the service center before saturday so my car's just gonna have to hold out till then. My xA has 24,300 miles on it and this has never happened before.
Anyone got any ideas???

 

It's possible it's the exhaust... but very unlikely IMO. A "maint req" light isn't a big deal, but if you have a CEL, and you don't know why, you need to get it checked.

Easiest suggestion is to take it to AutoZone, I think they'll read the code off of it for free. Then you can decide what to do from there.

 

... yea i could do that. I already called my local toyota service center and i have an appointment for saturday. honestly, the last thing i wanted to do was it take it to a service center - i hate those places i always seemed to get ripped.
but if i took it to autozone and they read the code - would it get cleared (ie, no more 'CEL" light on)?? i'm by no means a mechanic and wouldn't be able to fix it myself, especially in the case that it's a timing issue but i doubt it would even be that.... what to do, what to do

 

I haven't much experience pulling codes on Toyota's. If it's anything like my old Jetta, even if you went to AutoZone and got the code read, you'd still kinda be in the dark. The code will not be very specific on the reader and needs to be looked up in a book which I doubt AutoZone has....but who knows?

If they cleared it, it would mostly likely come on again. If the light doesn't go away on its own, it's not going to go away with a reset without fixing the problem first.

Just save some time and bring it to the dealer...go to Oakdale if Amityville is ____ing you off. I'm from Lindenhurst and know the pains of Atlantic Toyota.

But before you do that, check all the easy stuff, like the fluids and if the gas cap is not one tightly. My girlfriend's Nissan threw a code when she gassed up and didn't tighten the cap!

 

did you fill up before the CEL came on???

if the cap is not all the way on, you get a CEL (for evap leak)...

take the cap off and put it back on again. then reset the ECU.

see if it does the trick....

 

hey thanks for your replies...
i'll try that 2morrow, i tanked up on sunday, but the CEL light d/n come on until this morning, so we'll see what happens.
and about the amity srvc center, you've had problems there? i've been there a few times w/o much of a fuss, the place i absolutely detest!! (HATE w/ a passion) is westbury toyota - but that's a topic best saved for another forum.
thanks again guys.

 

how do you reset the Ecu?

 

you can look in the tech section for how to on the tC (pull a fuse somewhere)
or you can disconnect the battery....(this will erase your radio presets, clock, etc....)

 

I actually haven't been there for service yet... The sales people I talked to were very rude and one even commented to my girlfriend while I was outside looking at a car: "Let's be honest, he's not serious about buying a car is he?" Well, after I heard that I took my business to Oakdale and they were really nice to me from the sales people to finances. I also had experience with their body shop. The top guy there, Gary, was very nice and made me feel comfortable about them doing the work for me.

I've purchased some parts from Amityville and the service center seems very clean and the people who helped me were nice. I actually have my 15k maint. there on Saturday..so maybe I'll see ya there ...

 

i tried the gas tank open and close this morning... nothing, i'll just wait till saturday, i'm also noticing a slight loss of power too, could an exhaust leak cause this?

yea i'll be there at 9am in amityville

 

UPDATE!!
okay, this morning now (after 3 days of driving below the speed limit and keeping my revs under 3k) the CEL turned off (????) what the eff? Anyway, the xA just d/n feel the same so i'm still going in on saturday. just figured i'd let ppl know; see what they thought of all this.

 

had the code read at the service center and toyota informed me that it was an "inefficient cat" code and that it would be covered under the warranty and that 'these things just happen, especially in a car w/ over 25k miles'... if only they had actually bothered to look and noticed i had a DC header installed which may have in effect, voided the warranty. in either case it got fixed, and i noticed i regained that slight loss of power i had in the low-rpm range.
Lets see how long i go w/o throwing another code, i'm definitely goin to need a high-flow cat now (at least i think i will)

 

Good luck.

 

gas cap gas cap gas cap. if you install your mods right you wont get CEL. ive been there. didnt belive it, but i didnt put my gas cap on tight enough.