Engine warning light

[Hornet Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hornet]

Hello fellow Prado Pointers,

The engine warning light (yellow) came up this morning after the engine started. It did not go off after switching the engine off and on again (D4D btw.) The manual says take the car to Toyota dealer. After a few starts and stops decided to go to the dealership to ask questions. Arrived there just before 12 pm. The service dept was still opened, but moving the car from the front to the back of the dealership the engine warning light had mysteriously disappeared. The service guy said it could be a number of different things (he actually said "millions"). He said he needs to connect the car to the computer to identify the problem, but as they were closing for a day he suggested to book the car if it happen again. He also mentioned that he might need a car for a whole day :shock:
Now, a few questions: it it safe to drive when the engine warning light is present, for how long?
Does it really take a whole day to work out what's wrong with the engine? Did anyone have similar experiences and what was the problem?
The car was serviced in June btw.
Thanks for all of the replies.
Cheers

[mav Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close mav]

Re: Engine warning light

Hello fellow Prado Pointers,

The engine warning light (yellow) came up this morning after the engine started. It did not go off after switching the engine off and on again (D4D btw.) The manual says take the car to Toyota dealer. After a few starts and stops decided to go to the dealership to ask questions. Arrived there just before 12 pm. The service dept was still opened, but moving the car from the front to the back of the dealership the engine warning light had mysteriously disappeared. The service guy said it could be a number of different things (he actually said "millions"). He said he needs to connect the car to the computer to identify the problem, but as they were closing for a day he suggested to book the car if it happen again. He also mentioned that he might need a car for a whole day :shock:
Now, a few questions: it it safe to drive when the engine warning light is present, for how long?
Does it really take a whole day to work out what's wrong with the engine? Did anyone have similar experiences and what was the problem?
The car was serviced in June btw.
Thanks for all of the replies.
Cheers

Do you know anyone who may have a ScanGuage? If you do then you could use it to read the engine codes.

[Hornet Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hornet]

Re: Engine warning light

Thanks mav,
No I don't know anyone with a Scan Gauage unfortunately. I'll wait until the warning re-appear.
Cheers

[mav Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close mav]

Re: Engine warning light

Thanks mav,
No I don't know anyone with a Scan Gauage unfortunately. I'll wait until the warning re-appear.
Cheers

There are a couple of OBD2 reader software and cables available on ebay that allow a PDA to be used to do this. I think they cost around $20 from memory, basically you get a CD and cable to allow the PDA to interface with the OBD port and you can read the codes and reset the engine warning light.

[sacred cow Member Find all posts View Profile Close sacred cow]

Re: Engine warning light

Hi Mav,

Can you please advise if the OBD2 software and cables you mentioned interface to an Apple laptop?

Regards
Glenn

[Pedro Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pedro]

Re: Engine warning light

Hornet,
A while back, I got an error message on Scanguage and could not locate what the problem was. Mentioned the code to dealer but they said it meant nothing to them and their code was a different number.

Tried to get a copy of the Toyota list of error codes but they said it was only accessible on computer and was password protected.
They pay big dollars for it so they said.

[mav Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close mav]

Re: Engine warning light

Hi Mav,

Can you please advise if the OBD2 software and cables you mentioned interface to an Apple laptop?

Regards
Glenn

Hi Glenn,

I have no experience with these products so I cannot atest to their claims but they seem to be relatively cheap to try:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/GS400-LCD-Scanne ... 240%3A1318

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Auto-Scanner-Too ... 240%3A1318

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/OBD-OBD2-II-Can- ... 240%3A1318

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ELM327-USB-OBD-I ... 240%3A1318

[mav Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close mav]

Re: Engine warning light

toyota obd2 codes:

http://www.myscantool.com/dtc/specific/toyota.html

http://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/toyota/

http://www.troublecodes.net/Toyota/

[Pedro Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pedro]

Re: Engine warning light

Mav,
I had those codes but Toyota said they were not theirs.

Have you checked them out at all?

[mav Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close mav]

Re: Engine warning light

Mav,
I had those codes but Toyota said they were not theirs.

Have you checked them out at all?

Cannot atest to them as I have not had an engine code set as yet to see if they are any good. However they are from multiple websites so I would think that they would be near the mark. There are many many more OBD2 code site available so it may pay to check around.

[mjforder Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mjforder]

Re: Engine warning light

Mav

You just DONT get good luck do you?!?!

My previous car was a jeep (the saga has been told on PP before...) - cutting it short - after many towings to and from the dealer (under warranty) - i eventaully gave it the flick. My "engine light" was accompanied with a drastic reduction in power/torque.

Could not have that when towing the ski boat 100+ kms from home, with the wife and kids.

The dealer tried everything short of replacing the car - and it still didnt fix it. There were no fault codes registered as well which made fault finding difficult.

So much for fancy:schmancy modern technology. There's something to be said about teh older style oilers...

:cry:

[mav Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close mav]

Re: Engine warning light

Mav

You just DONT get good luck do you?!?!

My previous car was a jeep (the saga has been told on PP before...) - cutting it short - after many towings to and from the dealer (under warranty) - i eventaully gave it the flick. My "engine light" was accompanied with a drastic reduction in power/torque.

Could not have that when towing the ski boat 100+ kms from home, with the wife and kids.

The dealer tried everything short of replacing the car - and it still didnt fix it. There were no fault codes registered as well which made fault finding difficult.

So much for fancy:schmancy modern technology. There's something to be said about teh older style oilers...

:cry:

Hold the bus here, I don't have an engine light issue that was the original poster of the thread. :wink: Just trying to help with a solution. I do have a rattle starting again but so far my engine is still performing okay.

[mjforder Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mjforder]

Re: Engine warning light

Mav

You just DONT get good luck do you?!?!

My previous car was a jeep (the saga has been told on PP before...) - cutting it short - after many towings to and from the dealer (under warranty) - i eventaully gave it the flick. My "engine light" was accompanied with a drastic reduction in power/torque.

Could not have that when towing the ski boat 100+ kms from home, with the wife and kids.

The dealer tried everything short of replacing the car - and it still didnt fix it. There were no fault codes registered as well which made fault finding difficult.

So much for fancy:schmancy modern technology. There's something to be said about teh older style oilers...

:cry:

Hold the bus here, I don't have an engine light issue that was the original poster of the thread. :wink: Just trying to help with a solution. I do have a rattle starting again but so far my engine is still performing okay.

oops - my error (Sorry Hornet)... ops:

Mav - now if you DO get one, dont blame me for jinxing your car!!!

[Hornet Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hornet]

Re: Engine warning light

Thanks guys for the replies,

The engine light had disappeared on Saturday and didn't come back yet. Will let you know if it happens again.
Cheers to all

[Golly Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Golly]

Re: Engine warning light

I cannot promise anything, but my inlaw is a leading hand at Toyota in Vic..... might have a word about those codes I wreckon.. :twisted: