Here is my situation in a nut shell. I have a 1996 4runner, Sr5. My car didnt pass smog, earlier thread here:

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/show...k+engine+light

The advice I was given was that the 02 sensor was bad. My check engine light was not on at the time, and I had a mechanic friend tell me that the sensor is the original and that it needs to be replaced. So I bought a new one, and its going to be installed this wknd.

However, my check engine light came on a few days ago. I did a search on the forum, and as per the search checked to see if MAF was clean. It was. I also cleaned the throttle body, but it as also considerably clean. I have not been able to find info on the following.

*How does one diagnose what the problem is, without bending over at the dealer? Aka, where do I get/borrow/use an ODBII tool? Next, where do I plug it in exactly? I live in the republic of California, Bay area, so AutoZone free checks are not an option. Is there a cheap tool I can buy?

*Aside from the 02 sensor, the car runs well, and has no problems. I want to turn off the check engine light after I put on the new sensor. I have heard there are a few easy ways to do this. I jsut want to clear it so I can go pass smog and register the freaking car in my name.

*Once I do get a code, are there sites that give you info on what the codes mean, or wil a good tool tell you on the spot?

Thanks in advance!

 

Easiest way is to just pull the negative battery terminal.

 

yeah, pull the neg battery terminal for 1 min and you're good to go. just remember what your code is for the anti-theft radio (if u have one) and all your station presets

 

Awesome, thanks. What are good ODBII tools to get that work well on the 1996, and dont cost too much money?

 

http://www.harbourfreighttools.com/ sells a scanner for like 40$ theres prb some better ones out there though

 

You can pull the EFI fuse for a few minutes to clear the check engine light.

 

wow.. pull the neg battery terminal??!? no!! that just resets the computer. go to autozone if you have one near you, they lend out their odbii scanners for free. go hook it up to your truck and actually find the code instead of just ignoring it! then replace/clean the part as necessary.

 

You can get a tool like this which will just give the code.
If you want to see more like outputs of the different sensors, you can go with one of the following:

1) If you have a PDA you can get one like I have www.auterraweb.com (they are cheapest on ebay at about $160-200)
2) If you have a laptop you can get one like this http://obddiagnostics.com/ (I think they are like $90)
3) or you can get one of many other handheld OBD scanners but few do as much as the ones above

Once you have the code you can look it up here in our tech writeup section:
https://www.yotatech.com/~corey/tech/dr_z_obd/dr_z.htm

 

Good stuff guys, thanks!