Corolla - Check Light

The Toyota dealer kept my car overnight and still did not come up with an answer. They offered to arrange a rental for me at their expense and they would keep looking but I turned it down. When I tried to find out what the codes indicated the answer was "....well there were five or six codes showing, indicating a BIG problem" but would not say what the codes were or what they indicated. When I asked for a copy of what they had checked they said they just had a scanner not a printer and couldn't give me a copy.

I signed a paper saying I had refused repairs and left....there was no charge.

I am not going back to them. Don't feel "good" about it. May drive around with the light on.

Reply to
Dorot29701
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Go to Autozone. They will give you the codes for free.

Reply to
someone

This happened to me shortly after buying my ( Used ) 01 Corolla. There did not seem to be anything wrong, so I simply disconnected the battery cable for a minute or so, to let the computer reset. (I figured that if there was a fault, it would return)

It has been over a year now, and no recurrance of the alarm.

You will have to re-set the radio, of course, after.

KevinMac

Reply to
Birch Plain

It's probably not a good idea to do that.

You didn't say where you live, but if they have AutoZone auto parts stores in your area, AutoZone will let you use the code reader for free. It is really very easy.

  • Turn the ignition Off.
  • Connect the code reader to the data port located along the bottom edge of the dashboard.
  • Turn the ignition ON, but not Start.
  • Read the codes and write them down. They will be something like P0440 -- five digits, the first is an alpha character and the other four are numeric characters.
  • Reset the codes and go home.
  • Come back here and post the codes.

In the coming days, watch to see if the light comes on again, and repeat the code reading procedure and compare the codes to see if any of them repeat from the previous list.

In the mean time, we'll tell you what the codes mean that you see, and we might have an idea of what the car thinks is wrong with it.

At the very least, we will arm you with information to judge if anybody is blowing smoke you your skirt.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

Thanks. I may do that. Last month when this happened the first time, the notation on the statement said "customer states check engine lamp lit on dash VVTI failure code. Remove valve cover, made sure everything operating as designed.

That's another reason I think things are really okay. They just checked, turned the light off and sent me on.

Reply to
Dorot29701

Doesn't sound to me like the most brilliant decision that anyone has ever made...

Reply to
Gord Beaman

Sounds like a Huge Steaming Pile of Bullshit to me, Skippy. ;-) And one big bald-faced lie makes everything else they say suspect.

They don't have a printer? Doesn't take them much effort at all to take a pad and pencil and write the codes down as they are pulled from the car's computer, and then type them into the office invoice computer terminal. Even if that list grew to several dozen codes... Matter of fact, that would be part of writing a proper repair ticket, to prove what they did, what they checked.

That was the wrong thing to do - they can point at that record and claim "Problem? There was no problem!" When in fact there was a problem, they just couldn't figure out what it was in the time you could allow them for finding it.

If there were enough codes set to indicate "a big problem" (which sounds like an effort to introduce FUD - Fear Uncertainty & Doubt - into the picture) you would expect some serious drivability problems to accompany them, which should quickly point to the affected system.

Hell, I would be worried too if they tried telling me a whopper like that. Call the Toyota Regional Service Manager, and tell them the whole tale - including the parts that made you feel uneasy about having that dealer do any more work on your car.

The Regional manager may go have a heart-to-heart discussion with the manager/owner of the dealership on your behalf (As in, "Do you like your franchise? Do you want to keep it?") and get them to alter their attitude. Or he can send you to another dealer where you'll get treated with some honesty and respect.

Toyota Corporate wants your repeat business even if this particular dealer doesn't seem to... So let them go to bat on this - as mentioned above, they have a bit more leverage.

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Reply to
Bruce L. Bergman

There is another Toyota dealership about 10 miles from here. It's larger and according to my neighbor, better at solving problems. If it appears that I really do have a problem I will go there. I had talked to another man Thursday who told me they checked each code listed and nothing had panned out. So when the second man started his hard sell, I was really turned off. I prefer a simple "we tried to find the problem and nothing showed up" answer....it's more honest. The light is off now. If it comes back I will take it somewhere else for diagnosis.

Reply to
Dorot29701

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