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my 99 toyota camry LE is out of control!!

hi everyone, I bought the 99 toyota camry in 2004, and it was running smooth till a year later where I had to replace the vapor pressure sensor at the dealer. However, starting in May this year, the maintenance signal kept showing up, and i ended up brought it to a body shop and...

5/15 : replace the vapor pressure sensor (again!!)

7/6 : in late June, the signal light was on, and did a fuel induction service (a 3 part induction cleaner)

7/24 : a day later, the light was on again, the shop people found a leak in the evaporative emission ctrl canister and installed a hoses recommended by toyota and also an O-ring on the air inlet port on the canister

8/1 : brought it to the dealer service center and they said something wrong with fuel cap and the charcoal cannister was broken.

8/4 : the guy in the body shop said the fuel cap is totally fine but he did replace the charcoal cannister for me

8/10 : after i picked up the car and drove for less than 20 miles, the maintenance signal was again, on, brought it back to the body shop and they turn it off for me.

8/11: someone did a hit and run on the car, and the signal was ON

9/7 : when i picked up my car and drove for less than 30 miles, the signal was ON again.

today: i took the car back to the repain shop yesterday and they reset the computer, however, when i drove to work today, it was ON again!!

although the dates are kinda spread apart, but i promise, that signal light came back on the next day i picked up my car!! even the guy from the body shop told me people from other body shops had no clues what's going on, ( it's a business center with several body shops) they did everything the computer said and the car should have no problems at all.

i really have no idea what to do now, i've spend almost $1500 on it within these months, and i also don't know should i bring it back to the dealer and trust their service anymore since they are famous on "ripping off" their customers and as i mentioned above, the fuel cap is good in shape while they said something was wrong with it.

is there anyone know what's going on with my car and what should i do??? getting a trade-in or another car is currently not possible since i just graduate from college.

THANKS!!!!

Reply to
tsoi_cabbage
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Do you have access to an OBDII code reader? They will lend you one for free at some auto parts stores in the US, or you can buy one for $150 or so. Read the codes and tell us what they are. Some codes do not require immediate attention.

Reply to
Nobody Important

I meant to reply on this message board, but i think i click the wrong link and it sent to your email. sorry about that. but yea, the code is PO446, got it from the dealer invoice and it's also the same code the guy from the body shop found every time he diagnosed the car. besides the services already did, what else could go wrong? will it expode all in a sudden due to some unknown clotting or overheating or anything since i've basically driven it with the light on for months?

thank you

Reply to
tsoi_cabbage

This is not a code you need to attend to right away. Basically, you're venting a bit of gasoline vapour to the atmosphere but you can drive with this condition indefinitely.

I don't recall your original post right now, but if you paid someone to resolve this in the past, it should have been resolved.

Reply to
Nobody Important

hmmm.... so that code means the car is burning a bit of extra gas?? weird that both the shop and the dealer didn't catch that, and do you also know approximately, how much to fix this problem?

thanks

Reply to
tsoi_cabbage

In a sense. Some gas vapour is escaping from the gas tank through a hole somewhere in an environmental protection system. It won't affect the engine in any way. You're polluting a bit more than you should, but we won't hold it against you if you attend to it after you've got a bit more money in the bank.

Sorry, no idea. Try a search in the forums on toyotanation.com, using the code as a keyword. You could also search for the price of an evap canister on one of the online parts stores. (toyotadiscountparts.com for example)

Reply to
Nobody Important

Reply to
<psommerhalder

the smog test is gonna be on this november, i just hope the CEL will be off by that time, and if the CEL still on by that time, i wonder will the guy turn off the light for me before testing.... btw, if the car failed the smog test, what's gonna happened??

Reply to
tsoi_cabbage

i do wish this is not going to be a serious problem, but one thing i noticed today was when i was "playing" with the fuel cap, the smell of gasoline was really heavy. kinda feel like the pressure inside the gas tank is pretty dense that it might explode anytime..

Reply to
tsoi_cabbage

The car wont fail emission test because of the vacuum sensor, but once the CEL is ON they will not accept the car. That's because when I was on the DMV there's a sign that says all cars with CEL ON will not be inspected. Drive by your local DMV and ask just in case.

Reply to
EdV

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