On the way home from work last night, I was privelaged enough to be visited by three of my little orange friends. Their names are Check Engine, VSC OFF and VSC TRAC. However they did not disclose their reason for visiting, and that is why I ask you wonderful gurus what the cause might be.

They came on when I pulled up the the ATM after rolling down my window. After I finished my business, I pulled into a spot, shut off the engine and let it sit for a minute. Turned it on and they were still there glaring at me. The lights came on when my low gas light should have - which never did come on by the way.

I got the code pulled today after work - 0446. It was some emissions thing I can't recall (too many big words ) and the guy said that sort of code usually comes up when the gas cap isn't tight. This would lead me to believe that it is somehow correlated with my gas light not coming on, but why would those come on instead? Anywho, I got gas a few minutes after it happened - gas cap tight - and they were still on. Today after I got the code, I pulled the ECU fuses thinking maybe it just didn't have time to reset. This made no difference and the lights are still on. Does anybody have any idea what could be causing this???

By the way, everything works and the truck runs as normal...

 

I'm pretty sure that you will have to have your codes cleared with the Scantool. Just go back to whoever pulled the codes and he can do it. If it was just your gas cap then the light shouldn't come back on.

Good Luck

 

I was trying to post to your last thread but you must have been editing it while I was doing so....

Anyway...

I had these lights on about 2 months ago. I do not know what causes them but it has something to do with the vehicular skid control I believe. My truck is under warranty and I just brought it in and they fixed it real easy. The owners manual refers to those 3 lights coming on together and says you can continue driving normally but you should see a toyota deealer soon. I wish I could help more but I know it wont go away on its own. I took about a week beofre I brought it in to be fixed.

 

Yeah I ended up deleting it because no one would respond. In hindsight I think the title might have implied something to the effect of me changing the color of my dashlight to orange so I decided to change it. (And I think it shows - 2 replied within 20 minutes of me posting the new one as opposed to almost a whole day before with no replies...)

I had the code pulled at AutoZone, so I'll go back and see if they can clear it for me. Wondering why resetting the ECU didn't do the job though? Also my truck is no longer under warranty, at least that part I believe isn't (I'm at 46k). Do you think they would charge much to clear it if I have to take it to the dealer?

 

P0446 = Evaporative Emmission Control System Vent Control Circuit Malfunction.

Possible issues are:

Open or short in vapor pressure sensor curcuit, cracked charcoal canister, problems with vacuum hoses, along with some other related things.

Since this is also coming on with the VSC lights, I'd think there's something more to it than just emmissions stuff. I also agree with 93_Runner06, if it was just the gas cap then the light would go back out.

 

I'll take a look at all of my intake vacuum hoses and make sure everything is tight. Where is the charcoal canitster located so I can check that too? I know what it looks like on a 2nd gen MR-2 so if it's anything like that, I'll find it. I'm still puzzled as to what kind of VSC issue would have happened and why it would cause that particular error...

EDIT - checked all of the hoses and fittings to the intake, all are tight.

 

On my 98, the charcoal canister is mounted along the DS fender, towards the back, close to the firewall. It has a bunch of hoses coming out of it. I'm sure you'll know it when you see it!

 

Got the code cleared today and none of the lights came back on. Got some attitude from the guy at AutoZone, but no biggie. A big thanks to everyone for the help.

 

Hopefully the CE light will stay out. Most of the error codes take 2 or 3 trips where the code is sensed before the light actually comes on.