CEL on my tC
#1
CEL on my tC
Hey everone I have an 09 tc with a cold air intake and the rain has been really stupid here in houston for the past week anyway while driving I feel my car start to lose power and jerk once I hit around 65 mph and just recently it threw a CEL. I'm going to hook it up to a scanner after work. In the mean time would anyone care to chip in on what the CEL could be? And I haven't run into any puddles...Any help would be appreciated thanks.
#5
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Join Date: Oct 2009
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To be honest, that isn't near enough information to diagnose the problem. When you find out what the CEL is post it up here, and someone can probably help. Also, is it an automatic or stick? If you think it might have water in the intake then pull the top end of the intake pipe and see if there's anything in there. It should be very clean - any moisture, rust, dust, sand... anything like that is bad.
#7
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Location: Living in the Omaha, NE area, traveling all over the continent
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P2195 means that the A/F sensor is stuck lean (too much air or not enough fuel in the air/fuel mixture). The A/F sensor is actually the O2 sensor that's mounted in the exhaust manifold.
This is fairly common for people with aftermarket exhaust systems. The two O2 sensors both check for oxygen flow in the exhaust - one before, and one after the exhaust is filtered through the catalytic converter. If the ECU doesn't detect enough of a change in oxygen levels between the two sensors then it throws this CEL. Different exhaust components can cause the second sensor to misread the oxygen levels. This can be fixed with an anti-fouler (search the boards for this - there are a lot of options and opinions), or sometimes by resetting the ECU. (Actually... I think that might be a different code for the second O2 sensor... anyways...)
Resetting the ECU is generally a good first step to take. If you reset it and the problem dissapears, then you're fine, if it comes back, then it's time to try something else. ECU reset instructions can be found here, with a tC diagram on pg. 3:
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/general-tech-diy-1821/ecu-reset-without-disconnecting-battery-12220/
This was also a common problem on '05 and '06 tC's, due to substandard sensors (per Toyota), though I haven't heard of that particular problem on the newer models. This can be solved by replacing the O2 sensor in the manifold.
There is always the possibility that something else is wrong. For example: if you damaged the sensor in the intake when you were installing your custom setup it could be sending a signal indicating low levels of oxygen density. To compensate it would reduce the amount of fuel in the mixture which would result in more unburned oxygen in the exhaust - which could result in the code. Or, if you used an oiled air filter, it could have sucked some oil through that just needs to be cleaned off with electronics cleaner.
There's no way to tell exactly what's wrong without checking everything out in person. If you can't find a simple solution, then you may just have to put the stock intake back together, reset the ECU again, and see if the CEL goes away. If it doesn't then you may have to take it to a shop or dealer.
I hope something in this is helpful! Good luck!
~Laken
This is fairly common for people with aftermarket exhaust systems. The two O2 sensors both check for oxygen flow in the exhaust - one before, and one after the exhaust is filtered through the catalytic converter. If the ECU doesn't detect enough of a change in oxygen levels between the two sensors then it throws this CEL. Different exhaust components can cause the second sensor to misread the oxygen levels. This can be fixed with an anti-fouler (search the boards for this - there are a lot of options and opinions), or sometimes by resetting the ECU. (Actually... I think that might be a different code for the second O2 sensor... anyways...)
Resetting the ECU is generally a good first step to take. If you reset it and the problem dissapears, then you're fine, if it comes back, then it's time to try something else. ECU reset instructions can be found here, with a tC diagram on pg. 3:
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/general-tech-diy-1821/ecu-reset-without-disconnecting-battery-12220/
This was also a common problem on '05 and '06 tC's, due to substandard sensors (per Toyota), though I haven't heard of that particular problem on the newer models. This can be solved by replacing the O2 sensor in the manifold.
There is always the possibility that something else is wrong. For example: if you damaged the sensor in the intake when you were installing your custom setup it could be sending a signal indicating low levels of oxygen density. To compensate it would reduce the amount of fuel in the mixture which would result in more unburned oxygen in the exhaust - which could result in the code. Or, if you used an oiled air filter, it could have sucked some oil through that just needs to be cleaned off with electronics cleaner.
There's no way to tell exactly what's wrong without checking everything out in person. If you can't find a simple solution, then you may just have to put the stock intake back together, reset the ECU again, and see if the CEL goes away. If it doesn't then you may have to take it to a shop or dealer.
I hope something in this is helpful! Good luck!
~Laken
Last edited by Un4Scene; 07-10-2010 at 06:04 PM.
#9
took my tC to the dealership today, you were right un4scene it was the o2 sensor on the exhaust manifold, they replaced it since it was still under warranty, the guy told me he had never seen one go out on a tC yet, so i was wondering what could make the o2 sensor go out on a fairly new car?
#10
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Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Living in the Omaha, NE area, traveling all over the continent
Posts: 194
This situation sounds very familiar to the "substandard sensor" problem that the early tC's had. There's not really anything you can do, that I know of, that will make the sensor go bad.
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