CEL, no obvious reason - what do you guys think?

[cam_n_scott]

Went out last night, everything was fine. Parked the car, went to eat dinner, came out, started the car, got a CEL immediately upon startup.

Checked it this morning, all fluids OK, Injen hoses etc all ok too. Listening to the engine sounded ok for a minute, but with the hood open you could tell it was sputtering intermittently for sure. Maybe once every few seconds or so.

1. It was cold and slushy last night but not until AFTER I came out of the restaurant.

2. The time I started the car and the CEL came on was the first time the car had been started after 19,000 miles. I've never heard of the CEL coming on in milage intervals in our cars, so thats probably just coincidence.

If anyone can offer anything else to check myself, that would be great. Otherwise I guess my only real option is to take it to the dealer. I am reluctant to do this only because they will probably charge me quite a bit, and also the issue about the intake (I'm really not crazy about trying to replace the stock air box to take it in).

Any other suggestions / insights would be greatly appreciated as well. Thanks in advance you guys

Cameron

[cam_n_scott]

Oh yeah, also, listening to the engine there was no ticking / clicking, anything abnormal in terms of sound. Nor had I been driving it hard at all last night.

[Kit99bar]

I had a CEL light earlier to my horror.

what I did was check all hoses on my injen 3rd gen
especially the ECU tube!

then I disconnected the negative terminal on the battery for 30 mins to let the ECU reset.

the CEL never came back, it's been 2000+ miles since :)

[4B]

Check your gas cap. My cell has gone on twice because i didnt tighten the gas cap down tight enough. The ECU detect a loss in fuel pressure and automaticlly goes on. Reset the ecu by dicconecting the battery and tighten the gas cap down. if it goes off again take it to the dealer. Hope this helps.

[atehrani]

I had a similar experience. CEL came on after 30,000 miles on the car (14,000 of them with the CAI). Took it to the dealer, told me that my cylinder head was "leaking", causing oil to enter the #2 cylinder thereby causing a mis-fire.

They replaced the cylinder head, #2 coil, water pump...etc. $2000 of warranty work, thank goodness.

Hope yours is not as serious!

[cam_n_scott]

Well, I called the dealership I bought the car from, and they told me it would be no charge to check it out to see what was wrong. I assume that for that step it doesnt matter that I have the CAI on there.

So, we'll see what kind of luck I get with the dealer. I know people on here have had varying degrees of success with Toyota.

Cameron

[SloGTS]

I got my first CEL at about 19.5K miles....

Take it back to Toyota, I had them take a look at my car and they found that i had cylinder misfire. So the ended up replacing the ECU and fuel Injectors. Which was covered under warranty work even though i had a intake on...

Then a week later, they i had another CEL...They found it to be #4 cylinder misfire.... So they ended up changing the number 4 injector...

After i left the lot, i got another CEL.....They ended up having the car over a month and they ended up replacing 6 intake and exhaust valves...then upgraded the transaxle assembly and water pump and so forth... That was a wait and a half....

Two days after i got my car back, guess, the infamous CEL, i took it back.... I supposed they connected the wrong hoses on the intake and got an error code... regarding the VSV hose,incorrectly connected the hose that was supposed to be connected to the butterfly and VSV which also senses low fuel pressure like when you dont tighten your gas cap... they switched it back and since then, no CEL and thats been over 400 miles...

So, since you have a intake and replace the stock intake box, you leave hoses unattached. Check them, you can tell if you switch the hoses when you idle real bad getting gas. I had my intake on for several months and no idle problems until Toyota connected them inproperly...

Also you can check another problem, to see if you have low compression in your cylinders....I forgot how to do it but if you go to the mods forum and check the TSB reports, youll see on thats does a compression check....

[cam_n_scott]

Very interesting SloGTS, I just got back from the dealer and they are going to do the exact same thing (injectors, ECU) to my car. I guess after they are done I'll have to check the hoses myself to make sure they hooked everything back up ok.

My dealer was cool about the intake, no problems there. What I find interesting is that when I called to make a 15,000 mile checkup appointment, they said it was going to be $280. Now I throw a CEL and take it in, and they replace things that likely have nothing to do with the CEL, and it costs nothing.

I should have gotten the error code from them, but I forgot. However it wouldnt have suprised me at all if the car had run very lean just for a second right upon startup, throwing the CEL. They reset it at the dealer and I drove all the way home and didnt throw it again.

Cameron

[cam_n_scott]

Just got back from having ECU, injectors, and a belt that was squeaking replaced. Car is running very smoothly and feels much better than when I brought it in. So the fuel cutoff is at 7800 but I personally dont really care much because I dont race or anything. Just thought I'd let those who are interested know...

Cameron

[SloGTS]

Well, just dont push it just yet...Wait a week or more and see if any other CEL will come on, my second didnt come on until a week later.....