I was just cruising on the highway about 60 mph, nothing crazy, and the check engine light came on. Nothing else changed to me, no symptoms whatsoever, drove it home fine.

Got out my OBDII scanner and the code was:

P0441 (generic) - Evaporative emission system incorrect purge flow

I've looked through other forum posts and it looks like there are a variety of things that could cause this (the most facepalm of them being gas cap, but I checked that), but most other posters with this code had 1 or 2 other EVAP-related codes thrown at the same time. Mine's just the one.

Any ideas?

 

Woke up this morning and turned on the car, code's still there...

 

Other possibilities:

Were you recently working under the hood? (possibly dislodged evap. hose?)

On some cars, routinely overfilling the gas tank can cause gas to pool in the charcoal canister (though I haven't heard of that happening to a Lexus IS).

Check purge solenoid.

 

i been having the same problem with this code for almost 6 months now...unless someone know what's the problem is ?? Help!

 

P0441 - Evaporative Emission Control System Incorrect Purge Flow What this means - The code lets you know that part of the EVAP system is not functioning properly. The EVAP system contains many different parts, for example the gas cap, vacuum lines, carbon canister, purge valve, etc. The EVAP system keeps gas fumes from entering the atmosphere. Gas fumes run through a charcoal canister for storage. When the engine is running the purge control valve opens allowing engine vacuum to suck the gas fumes into the engine and burns it. If the PCM signals purge and sees that the switch is closed (indicating no detected purge flow) P0441 is set. This can be caused by a vacuum leak, stuck valve, bad wiring, bad PCM.

 

Thanks for your response Bichon.

Yes, actually this code came up the day I picked it up from the dealer, where they performed the fuel pressure sensor recall (working under the hood, obviously).

I have to imagine it had something to do with something they did.

 

Dealer just called. The gas cap itself was actually leaking, so they replaced the gas cap (covered by CPO warranty).

 

I have had this same code for 1 1/2years, tried replacing the gas cap, resetting it and I also notice that after I bought my gs300, 2000, that the PO had the CEL reset 2x before selling it. That light keeps coming on sometimes after months of driving! I wouldn't be surprised if yours comes back too.

 

So this is happening on your GS300, not a 2IS? I haven't had the code return since the dealer replaced the gas cap. They did a smoke test and determined that was the issue. The car's CPO until 5 years/125k so if it ever happens again it'll be going straight back to the dealer, but so far it hasn't returned.

 

This happened to me the other day too (2006 is250 AWD). dealer told me to tighten teh gas car and drive around. After about a half gas tank and retightening the gas cap, the light turned off. Hasn't come back on for about a month now.

 

So to any future readers of this thread who have this issue and found this thread upon searching:

If you have this code P0441, before you do anything like take it to a dealer, tighten your gas cap and drive around for a tank. You could also try clearing it and then seeing if it returns, but I'm always a little wary of this because if you clear it you lose that history that could be valuable to the dealer if they end up having to perform some kind of repair. If the code doesn't go away, then it's likely still an issue with the gas cap but one that needs to be addressed, such as a cracked cap.

 

Do any of you have trouble starting the car after putting gas in?
Do you believe that the PO441 could cause that issue?

 

Yep that is very normal. EVAP= check the gas cap.

Also, Never overfill your gas tank. Overfilling often damage EVAP system (charcoal canister) and will cost more to fix that issue.