Service Engine light on 2000 LW2 Wagon

I have the 2001 LW300 with 100K and have had some similar experience. The Evap canister vent solenoid caused an intermittent SES light but also threw a code. The solenoid located behind the gas fill neck was sticking open and would sometimes mimic a gross leak in the evap canister system.

Also had the MAF go a couple of times on me. A low signal caused the SES light to come on. Once reset, the light stays off until the next time the engine is started then it comes on. Again throws a code. I had just had the timing belt replaced a few weeks back and was getting on the highway when there was an awful shudder and the car lost all power. For a moment I thought that the timing belt had failed and my 24 Valve quad overhead cam was now a paperweight. Coasted to the shoulder and made the sign of the cross as I turned the key again. It started but the service and SES lights were both on. TRAC light was off and the car shifted like . I put a diagnostic tool on it the next day and found that the MAF had failed.

Seems that many of the conditions that cause the SES light to come on will totally mess with the shifting.

I rarely bother with the dealer anymore. I have a good relationship with an independent mechanic. He doesn't have a tech-2 which is needed for some operations but does have a decent Snap-On tool that reads codes and the live data. There is also a provision to have it monitor codes as your drive to log intermit tents as you seem to have. The problem is always to first find a technician that actually cares about getting it right and not just the hourly rate...

Oppie

Thanks - this was very helpful.

I live out in the country a ways and getting any auto service is somewhat tricky. Getting quality service is not an option without driving into town,

Reading between the lines, it sounds like I will be ok driving the car as long as the light is not on. So, I guess I will do that until something happens that is actually findable.

Thanks again

Glad to help. IIRC, if the SES light is not flashing, the car is still driveable. If it is flashing, it means a misfire or something that may overheat the cats. Flashing SES = have it towed! On steady, it may run poorly but it's in limp-home mode.

To reset the SES lamp, pull the Controls B+ fuse from the under hood fuse panel. I believe this works on all L series cars.

Oppie

interesting, I did not know that. Thanks again.

There's a bit of non-intuitive information included in the owner's manual. I read it three times cover to cover over the course of a couple of weeks (but then again, I'm dyslexic) and picked up a few useful tidbits. When I read the section about the dash indicators, I realized that the ABS check light was not coming on at start-up. Complained to the dealer while my (previoulsy owned) car was under dealer warranty. They were not happy about loosing more of thier profit margin but did wind up replacing the body control module and re-programming it. I also have the shop manual in print. The original was available on CD and the print version has pretty poor organization and almost no indecies. Guess that when you have it in CD version and you can search by keyword, an index is not all that important.

Information sometimes is expensive but often a lack of information can cost you more.