Engine warning light

Anonymous · July 17, 2006, 15:15

Hi.

Just been out in the car, obviously its a fairly warm day. The engine warning light has come on. Everytthing still seems to be running absolutely fine. Should I take it in to Toyota or is there anything I can try first ? For some reason I had trouble starting yesterday. But as I say it starts and runs fine again now. Ive been de catted for about a yeear now !

kanujunkie · July 17, 2006, 15:30

yeah you need to get that read ASAP, there may be someone with a code reader down your way or go to Mr.T. Could be worthwhile giving the maf a clean first however

spit · July 17, 2006, 17:01

Always best to get read if you can, otherwise its just guess-work s:? :? s:? So the rest of this reply should be taken as purely anecdotal!!

I can't read J-Spec CELs but I had several when I first imported the car. Coincidentally these all occured on a blistering hot day and self-extinguished after a period of shut-down, only to return a few miles up the motorway. Car ran fine throughout.

No idea what caused it, although I did look at the MAF when I got home and it was filthy. Cleaned it & no hot-day problems since.

Anonymous · July 18, 2006, 09:27

OK. Ill drop into Toyota today. Hopefully it will be MAF related. I cleaned mine probably a year ago and ive done about 15K since. Ill let you know how I get on.

If the problem sorted itself out would the light go off or do I need to get the memory reset. ?

nickyb · July 18, 2006, 17:42

Hi guys - my engine light came on about 500 miles ago, intermittently for a while, now on constantly (the car's done only 23,000 miles, had the pre-cats taken out this week with no degradation apparent).

Toyota Horsham charged me 40 odd quid to find out that they can't read the codes 'cos it's a Dutch import' and suggested I try an import dealer/garage....can anyone help/suggest what or where to try? I'm on the Surrey/W Sussex borders between Dorking and Horsham.

Thx,
NickyB

nickyb · July 18, 2006, 17:45

PS sorry to be a girlie...what's a MAF...sommat to do with the manifold??

Cheers,
NickyB

Anonymous · July 18, 2006, 17:57

s:? :? s:? as far as I'm aware if it's a dutch (EU) import then they should be able to read the code just fine. it's only the Jap cars that have a diff ecu.

the Mass Air Flow sensor is just on the engine side of the airbox (where the air filter is), it tells the engine just how much air it's getting...

markiii · July 18, 2006, 17:59

all EU cars UK cars and US cars can be read by a UK dealers equipent only Japanese imports have problems

spit · July 18, 2006, 20:58

Quote from: "markiii"all EU cars UK cars and US cars can be read by a UK dealers equipent only Japanese imports have problems

That shouldn't be happening if equipment is up to date. Toyota UK were supposed to be on the case with this some time ago s:? :? s:?

Anonymous · July 19, 2006, 12:14

Took the car in. The code that registered was to do with iddle speed. I have actually noticed that the car does often idle at a lower speed than I would expect. (Around 500 - 600rpm)

It normally drops off as you pull up to a junction and sounds like its gonna stall. My car is an SMT so you cant just blip the accelerator unless you engage N.

Think ill get my MAF cleaned at the weekend. See if that makes any difference.

Anonymous · July 21, 2006, 10:22

I have recently had a new engine fitted to my J-spec MR-S. The engine light is on but they cannot read the code as their machine cannot recognise the ECU. Mr T tell me that they will be unlikely to read it but if I pay them £50.00 they will have a go!! I'd rather not waste my money for them to tell me "sorry cant read it" So, Is there anyone in the South Wales area that has a suitable reader that would be willing to meet up for a six pack of Stella?

Many Thanks

Mike

roger · July 21, 2006, 11:04

Mike, presumably you have gathered you need a J-spec reader, so do not spend £50 with your garage unless they can assure you there will be a reading.

Not sure who might have one, but most of the likely suspects are at JAE this weekend, so you might want to bump this thread next week.

Anonymous · July 24, 2006, 08:48

Cleaned out my MAF yesterday and all now seems cool. Disconected the battery for twenty mins or so too.

Seems to have sorted the low revs issue. Cheers guys.

Wabbitkilla · July 24, 2006, 11:42

As an aside, what's the best way to clean the MAF?
Alcohol?
Brush?
Cloth?

Just in case i ever have to do it!

spit · July 24, 2006, 11:56

You don't wanna be touching it directly Nic. The filament inside the housing is v delicate.

Carb cleaner works, but you need to remove the rubber seal around the neck cos the two don't mix.

I use an aerosol electrical contact cleaner which seems to work well. With the straw attached to the can it delivers a good blast onto the filament to clean it and evaporates with a few shakes. I imagine that meths or alcohol would work as a de-greaser too, but you really need an aerosol for the application. Try shaking up a can of Tennants super-strength s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

kanujunkie · July 24, 2006, 11:59

m http://www.spydermagazine.com/2002/Marc ... _clean.htm m

Anonymous · July 30, 2006, 17:44

Came back from a drive this afternoon and the engine light came on just before we got home s:(

s:(

Cleaned the MAF and did an ECU reset and everything was back to normal for 10mins then *pop* on comes the light again s:cry: :cry: s:cry:

We have only had the car for a couple of weeks and we have a warrenty with it but can anyone recommend a garage in the fife/edinburgh area?

Car is a SMT/Import 2001.

PS, car sounds fine and runs as it has always done since we got it!

Anonymous · July 30, 2006, 18:51

anyone s:(

s:(

Anonymous · July 30, 2006, 19:06

Todd, do you lose any power when the light comes on???

Only real way to find out what it is is to have the problem read, anyone near you got a reader or are you a member of AA/RAC? they also have readers i believe

Anonymous · July 30, 2006, 19:31

You say import... Jap import? If so, then you'll be unable to read the code (see the rest of the thread for why) and without that code (and the fact you've cleaned the MAF and got no unusual symptoms) then I'm not sure there's much we can do. s:(

s:(

roger · July 30, 2006, 19:36

Quote from: "todd"We have only had the car for a couple of weeks and we have a warrenty

Yes, you must get the codes read. If the MAF is OK it could be an O2 sensor, they have a habit of being OK after a reset, then coming back later.

You said "import". If Japanese, the code readers are different to UK, and as far as I am aware they are few and far between, nay, non-existant.

You should really go to your warranty. You don't want anyone (how ever technical) fiddling around that might cause them to nullify it.

Anonymous · July 30, 2006, 19:47

Thanks, I'll take it up to Mr.T tomorrow and see what they can advise.

Excuse my ignorance on this subject but what ever happened to the good old paper clip and read the number of flashes code reader?

PS, yes it's a jdm

Anonymous · July 30, 2006, 19:50

As it's JDM, then I very much doubt you'll find a Toyota dealer anywhere in mainland Europe that'll be able to read it, let alone the UK. Good luck though, and if you do find one be sure to let us all know: There's about a million other people on here who could use that piece of info! s:D

s:D

Anonymous · July 30, 2006, 21:05

So short version, buy a import and if something goes wrong with it you can never get the codes and it's a guessing game to fix it s:? :? s:?

Anonymous · July 30, 2006, 21:06

Not really, a decent mechanic should still be able to work out what the problem is. After all, they used to do it back in the old days (or at least, that what Stu tells me as I'm too young to remember s:wink: :wink: s:wink: ).