I have a 2002 Corolla with a little more than 9,000 miles. I only drive it around town. On Oct. 18 the light on the dashboard came on - the "check" light. The manual says take the car to the dealer. The dealer kept it all day and found nothing wrong. Only suggestion was that the next time it was serviced I have them do something called a "p and ?"....it's supposed to help with cars that never are driven fast on the highway. Yesterday the same thing happened and it's back at the dealers.
Question: Has anyone with a 2002 Corolla had a similar problem? I was going to have them do the "p and ?" (whatever it is) next month when the oil change is due.
Any suggestions about what could be causing this would be appreciated.
We had a similar situation on a 2003 Corolla at 32,000 miles. Light came on, and I went to the Toyota dealer. They put their computer code reader on it and when they did, the light went out, and no codes were listed. They said it happens, and that if it is a major malfunction (loss of oil pressure, overheating, etc...), the code will remain in your computer until it is fixed. They also said that starting and stopping the engine several times will usually clear a minor code. No charge for the check, and the light has remained out. The only thing I think might have caused it to come on was water sprayed on the car the night before and it may have gotten into the engine compartment causing the check engine light to come on.
Your car is OBD II (On Board Diagnostics, Level 2) compliant. There is NO REASON for the dealership to keep you car all day, then bring it to the front without doing anything more than scratch their head.
If you look along the bottom edge of the dash board in the area where your left leg rests while you drive, you will find a connector. (You might find a cover with OBD II or a variant molded on it.) This connector is where you would connect the code reader. It is so easy that the Service Writer of any dealership should provide the service for free when you pull into the driveway. The Service Writer can pull the codes in less than a minute, and tell you precisely what the expected service activity will be. Any dealer that charges for pulling codes should be charged with highway robbery, but that's just me I suppose.
The code reader will spit out a code like P0440, and the Service Writer should tell you, "Mrs. Jones, the code reader says the framis valve is complaining. We'll be looking at the framis valve and its wiring to see where the trouble is." Then he should write on the service ticket, P0440, Framis Valve. If there are other codes, then they will all come up at the same time. More often than not multiple codes are all variants on the same code. Fix the root and the other codes will be fixed at the same time.
If you wanted to drive down to an AutoZone store, they will let you pull codes with their code reader for free. They (I think) are prohibited from pulling codes for you because they are taking food out of the mouths of service centers that charge for the service. But the service providers can not prevent you from pulling your own codes and then affecting the repairs. I understand that you might not be able to affect the repairs, but you can pull the codes and know something about what is wrong with your car before you take it in.
PS P0440 is a malfunction of the Evaporative Emissions Control System, and most often this is a fault that is rooted in the gas cap. I should have picked a different fictitious code. Sorry.
I just talked with someone in the service department. They have are going to keep my car overnight. They still don't know what the problem is....the computer is giving them several codes and none of them have checked out. The team leader is busy on something else and they want him to look at the car and see if he can figure out what is wrong.
I sure hope it doesn't turn out to be some "computer glitch" that keeps on happening. Also hope it doesn't turn out to be some expensive problem. The last time there was no charge. Don't know about this time. The warranty must be almost out.
They know what codes it set, and they've obviously checked those systems over and nothing shows up. There are always going to be those intermittent problems that won't show up when you are actively looking for them - it's all part of life when dealing with very complex mechanical & electronics systems.
Let them keep it and put one of their Master Diagnostic Techs on it, he might have seen that glitch once before and know where the part is that works when they test it, but not when driving.
If nothing else is found, make sure they write out every trouble code the computer threw and everything the checked on the work order, in detail. That way you have it all documented if it breaks for real just as the car hits two weeks out of warranty.
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