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Check engine light

1995 Toyota Tercel. Bought it at 160,000 miles and the seller says that nobody is able to cancel the "Check Engine" light. Told me not to worry about smog test, it will pass. He was right it passed quite cleanly.

I have another identical parts car. (Body damage, it runs quite well). Can I simply swap computers from car to car, or, is the computer specific to the car. The donor car has air conditioning and mine does not. That is the only difference. Can I do the switch to fix this problem?

Any other ideas of how to fix this would be appreciated. Seller tells me others have tried and failed.

Thanks for all comments.

Ivan Vegvary

Reply to
Ivan Vegvary
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What codes do you get from the computer?

Reply to
Noozer

Thaks for your reply Noozer. I get no codes because this is an OBD1 and nobody seems to sell scanners except for OBD2.

Advice? How can I get a reading?

Thanks, Ivan Vegvary

Reply to
Ivan Vegvary

This site will tell you how to pull your codes:

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The check engine light is on for a reason. You need to pull the codes and find out why. It may or may not be something worth fixing but you should at least find out what it is. Pull the codes and post back if you need more information.

Reply to
autorepairbot

You may not need a scanner since many pre-1996 cars have ways for codes to be read without any special equipment, by shorting certain connector pins together. Check a Toyota or Mitchell manual for information or a Toyota owner site, like ToyotaNation.com. If your Toyota has OBD I, there are scanners that will read that format. The Check Engine light shouldn't stay lit, period, and it was possibly illegal for the car to have been sold in that condition.

Reply to
do_not_spam_me

Possibly. And depending on how inspection rules change over time, this car may not pass in the future. Where I live, simply having a check engine light on is grounds for failing a test. The OPs state may eventually adopt similar rules.

Reply to
Paul Hovnanian P.E.

The directions are in the service manual for the car, and even the Haynes manual will have the procedure to get the codes off the processor. I think on your car there is no scanner required; it's just a matter of reading the flashing light, but the manual will tell you for sure.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

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