Huh. The shops told me this, and a co-worker with the same issues was told the same thing.
That makes me feel a little better – I was picturing having to pull over on the highway and DRIVE NO FURTHER. Roads are not heavily populated here so I would be able to drive slowly to the repair shop near me without too much risk to others.
Hampshire, thanks for the reminder about the sensor too. Someone else mentioned that in passing but it could the next step if the cap doesn’t help.
Or less than $10 if you have a smartphone: http://www.amazon.com/Version-Bluetooth-Diagnostic-Interface-Scanner/dp/B008UR7J6I/ref=sr_1_5?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1421372215&sr=1-5&keywords=elm327&tag=viglink20265-20
In addition to the codes, those can send realtime sensor data to your phone. Nifty!
It depends on the car. On some, they use passive leak detection where it looks for a change in pressure in the tank as the outside temperature changes. So, basically, when the car is sitting overnight. On other cars, though, they have an active system that has a pump that slightly pressurizes the tank to test the integrity of the tank after the car has been parked for a few hours. I think this vintage of Toyota has an active system, but I’m not 100% sure.
FWIW, I had a Mustang that failed emissions because of an Evaporative Emissions Control failure. I replaced the gas cap, and it still failed. So, I got under the car, and found that at some point I had drove over something tall enough to snag the metal emissions vent tube and bend it, at which point it popped out of the rubber tube it mated with. I bent it back as good as I could, cut a longer piece of rubber tubing to replace the original one, and it passed the next time.
Umm yes they were violating the law. In California to diagnosis and repair automobiles you must be a licensed Automotive Repair Dealer (ARD). California has the strongest consumer protection laws in the country when it comes to auto repair. They protect the consumer and the shop.
So what would happen is customer would take car to Auto Zone they would read code.
The next thing out of the customer’s mouth would be what do I need to buy to fix this? As soon as the employee answers he is interpreting and diagnosing the car.
If he is right it is kind of a no harm no foul deal. The problem is they didn’t have a very good batting average. What happened was there was lots of piss poor diagnostics done and some customers laid out $1,000s of dollars on unneeded parts. Complaints to the Bureau of Automotive Repair soon followed.
The state takes a very dim view of that shit so they went after Auto Zone for being an unlicensed ARD. Damn there goes the state trying to protect the consumer again. Who do they think they are?
I can give you numerous examples of read the code and misdiagnosis the car right here on this board.
Oh and has been mentioned up thread don’t buy an aftermarket cap as they don’t always work.
nevermind describing oneself as a “car guy” and not knowing a flashing CEL means “stop the car as soon as possible.”
I didn’t know if it had anything to do with the temperatures being at their lowest these days.
I get 87 gas and my co-worker says get the “middle” one (89?) and that will help with the CEL. I can’t imagine it would matter??
This is correct. Some systems pull a slight vacuum while the car is running. Others pressurize the tank with the engine running, still others pressurize the tank after engine shut down. It depends on the car maker model year and model.
It doesn’t really matter what the temperature is, just that there’s enough of a variation between daytime and nighttime temperature to create a pressure difference in the tank. (If you live in some place with a screwy climate that has long periods where there isn’t much day to night variation, it won’t cause the light to go on but the computer won’t register a successful evaporative emissions test and so you’d fail a plug-in emissions test.) Like I said, though, I think your Toyota has an active system that just periodically pressurizes the tank with a pump so that isn’t relevant at all.
And, no, the fuel won’t help. If you had a car that required premium gas, running regular might cause a CEL on some cars, but I’m pretty sure your Corolla only needs regular.
Thanks!
Maybe stop reading “advice” into what I wrote. I didn’t say “change it,” I said “perhaps it is” and described what it was for my situation. But thank you for your direct order.
Either this is the stupidest automotive post I have ever read on this message board or…
Nope this the stupidest automotive post ever.
I promise you there is NO way in hell an evap code could be triggered by a bad converter.
Either there were other codes you aren’t telling us about or a second problem reared its head after the dealer read the evap code.
So since replacing a converter is nowhere in the fault tree for any evap code what pray tell led you to a converter replacement?
You’re right. For any code that could be caused by a faulty cap, the octane rating is irrelevant.
Don’t take my word for it, or Nissan’s. Read the owner’s manual for your car and find out how Toyota recommends you deal with a flashing MI; For your 2008 Corolla, they may indeed advise stopping immediately, or setting a speed limit far less than 45MPH, or something else.
Often codes can only take you so far. Started having this problem when I switched out the standard 2004 Ford Ranger gas cap with one that had the lock and key. It doesn’t come on all of the time, and generally it resets.
Comes on now for something unrelated to gas cap. Have had three different mechanics tell me emissions, with all stating it was a catalytic convertor problem. Mechanic had me take it to an exhaust shop, they said the only way to know for sure was to burn and blow holes in exhaust pipe and do tests. He said the bad news was, I have three catalytic convertors. The good news is, only one is bad. Replaces the one he said is bad. After another 70 miles check engine comes back on again. Exhaust shop didn’t know what to say. Took it back to original mechanic, and he ran codes again, still indicating a particular one was bad. Not sure which one they replaced. He wants me to come back in towards the end of the month to have it tested on a new code reader that is supposed to be better than the other ones. We’ll see.
Yes, point taken.
Apparently I’m incorrect regarding the flashing check engine light. It must be fairly rare as like I said I’ve never seen nor heard of one doing this. I assumed a modern car’s ECU would simply engage a ‘kill switch’ for any serious, engine-damaging malfunctions. And some high-end luxury cars could engage a ‘limp-home’ mode.
Yeah know I was going to sarcastically say, “I figured it had to be California…” but I’ll admit your post does make it sound somewhat reasonable. Still, as a ‘rugged individualist’ I would still firmly remain on the caveat emptor side of things.
I took a car into the dealer with an erratic “Check Engine” light and the mechanic fixed it quickly. 3 years later I discovered he’d fixed it by disconnecting the bulb!
And yet the car kept running fine?
There are so many different things that can trip a check engine light that I don’t worry too much when I see one. I pay attention to how my vehicle sounds and drives, and the gas mileage. If all is about the same I figure it can wait.
many common things that trigger a CEL don’t cause driveability problems. But since OBD-II is a legislated requirement, the CEL has to be lit any time the PCM detects a fault that can cause an increase in the vehicle’s emissions. Some faults that will light the CEL but not cause any driveability problems are things like evap faults (loose gas cap is one possible cause) or catalyst efficiency (the catalytic converter isn’t working anymore.) On past cars I’ve personally had a couple of faults which put on the CEL and caused driveability problems; one was a P0509 Idle Air Control Circuit High (car wouldn’t idle,) and a P0340 Camshaft Position Sensor Circuit Malfunction (car took a lot longer to start and would stumble and misfire above 2500 rpm.)