I am gonna take it to AutoZone anyway but figured id ask here first...is it possible that a dying battery would cause the CEL to come on? Only reason I ask is bc last time I was at Toyota, they measured the volts and it was really low and now when I leave for work at 5am and its 300 below zero, everytime I crank up the car the CEL comes on. Ya think theres a connection or is it probably something else? Thanks!!

 

yes sir, a bad battery or low charged battery causes a CEL

 

300 below zero and in NC? lol

I've never once heard of a bad or low battery causing a CEL. For a CEL to appear there needs to be a sensor tripped. There is a BATTERY light that can appear if you have low volts or if Alternator output is low. Have Autozone run the code, and report it back.

 

A dying battery or a dead battery will not throw a CEL. A bad alternator will throw a CEL and/or could flash three of the dash warning lights (mostly on early Toyotas).

 

yes a low or dying battery can throw a cel on. there are codes that get tripped for low voltage to the computer or on the bus side. So yes its possible for a low and bad battery to cause a cel to come on.

 

thanks for the info

 

PEOPLE if you dont know what you are talking about please dont quote, a dead battery or a low voltage battery when you try to turn on the car and it doesnt start because of a dead battery or a low voltage battery it causes the CEL to go on, it happened to me about two weeks ago and it has happened about 5 times before to me on toyota cars, trust me i work with these cars daily including mine.

to the op:
get a new battery and as soon as you start it will be gone