skippy911

I went out for a drive tonight and the CEL came on. I never have had any problems shifting, car stalling, etc etc. I checked the atf fluid and it wasn't as black as valvoline told me, it was not a bright red but also wasn't black. The RX is going in soon for the timing belt change, could that throw a CEL? I will try to get some code pulled off of it, but right now I just want to cry Laptop died today, found a fraudulent CC was opened in my name, and now a CEL. What a sucky day today has been.

salimshah

skippy911, the CEL is mother of all warning lights. Just means some sesnor is saying things are out of norm. I would not panic till the codes are read. Check the gas cap first. You can clear the warning light by disconnecting the battery for 30 minutes, but the down side is that you may loose your codes.


Salim

skippy911

Thank you for your response salim it made me feel a little less panic. I am going to try to read the code first and then disconnect the battery.

skippy911

It was error code p0440 and p0446 which I remembered from when I first got the car. It is the little tube attached to the air filter housing! I disconnected the battery, pulled the ecu fuse and now am waiting for about 30 min before I go back out and hook everything up. Man I hope this is what it is!!!!

skippy911

Drove her 3 miles and no CEL

Francis

Good to hear your RX is OK. What is ecu fuse and where is it? Could you describe your steps in detail please? pics welcome! Thanks

Lexmex

Here is the fuse (outlined in blue). With the key out of the ignition, pull it out and then put it back in after about 10 seconds.

skippy911

Well I hopped in the RX to drive to work and egads! The damn light came back! I was so pissed. I went back to Auto zone and they won't clear a code unless you buy something and show them a receipt for the part, they claim its the law. Advanced auto parts said the same thing, I slipped the guy 7 bucks and he cleared the code. I drove 15 miles to work and no CEL yet. I hope to never ever see it again!

salimshah

skippy911:

You yourself cleared the code by disconnecting form the battery for 30 mins or so [in fact you overperformed by removing the fuse ... both do the same by erasing the ecu memory].

Get a code dump, before you erase the memory.

When you are driving around, the sensors keep providing information to the ecu and the ecu keeps making adjustments. If there is a problem, the adjustments can no longer be done (out of range) and that is the time CEL light light's up.

It seems you are not out of the woods yet.


Salim

skippy911

Drove home and back to work and no CEL. I guess the trick is to get the codes cleared out using the machine instead of the battery.

mikey00

I find that hard to believe. Post again once your CEL comes back on.

Lexmex

I'll go over the codes with you if it happens again.

skippy911

It is true, least I hope it is that the CEL is gone. From talking to the service techs at lexus the battery discconect and ecu fuse will only reset some CEL conditions from being reported. They mentioned a hard CEL being different and needing the odb2 reader to clear that. When I first got my RX I changed the brakes and the air filter, at that time the hose had gotten pulled off as well. I had done the battery disconnect and the CEL kept coming back. It wasn't until the code was cleared out that the CEL never came back. Here's to hoping that this is the case now.

mikey00

I still believe the code will be back. I never had the battery disconnect fail to clear a code once the problem was resolved. I also had the hose behind the air box come off and the battery disconnect cleared that code.

skippy911

Ok believe what you will Im just telling you what happened to me last time and now its the same thing.