So the other day, I was flooring it out of a turn and during that time, I heard something pop. Afterwards, the check engine light turned on and I went into a nearby parking lot to check what the problem was. I turned the car off and popped the hood up. I couldn't find anything wrong. Let the engine sit for about 10 minutes and then turned the car back on. After I had done that, the check engine light was off. Just this morning, I got out of my car and heard a little high pitched sound in the back half of the car. Does anyone know what it could possibly be? Please help, I seriously have no idea what could possibly be wrong. Thanks!

 

Have the car scanned to see why it threw a CEL. Autozone or Pepboys should be able to scan it for free.

 

I had my mechanic plug his OBD2 scanner and there were no error codes shown

 

That's weird. Does he have an idea what the "pop" may have been? Does your car run fine except for the whine?

 

He has no idea. Yeah it drives completely fine. I even took it up to Santa Cruz this past weekend for my buddy's 18th and hauled *** both there and back so I'm really confused.

 

It could be your gas cap. A loose or defective gas cap could cause the check engine light and vsc lights to come on. That also may have been the pop you heard when you gunned it.

You could also try disconnecting the battery for 10 minutes to reset the ecu.

 

Where is this gas cap located? How much would it be if I had to replace it or check on it? Thanks!

 

Lol are you serious? Its the gas cap you take off when you fill your car, the cap can cause a CEL if not tighten properly and also the pop could be a backfire caused from the excessive fumes leftover in the exhaust since you "gunned" your car.

 

^ no brainer, my bad LOL 😅 I filled up the tank right before I went Santa Cruz so I know the gas cap was sealed tight.

 

Now I've got several ideas of what could cause a "pop" noise during hard cornering, but one that would also cause a CEL? Now that I'm confused about. I'd just check to make sure that everything suspension-related is good-to-go; no loose bushings or anything like that.

 

ABS? Yaw sensor? I'm reaching here. I'd have the mechanic (does he work on LEXUSes?) Put it up on a rack and inspect the suspension etc.

 

He doesn't specialize in Lexus, no. So suspension might be a possibility?

 

Definitely sounds like something suspension or driveline related. RWD cars can sometimes exhibit driveline shunt when load is transferred through the transmission and driveshaft to the differential. This can sometimes cause a thunk or popping sound. Although, this is much more common on manual trans cars and I'm assuming yours is automatic. Worn swaybar endlinks or the swaybar mounts themselves can cause thunking and popping too as load is transferred side to side. However, this doesn't explain the CEL. I'm surprised that no codes were stored in the OBDII.

Keep us updated.

 

Was the car's engine cold (started it up after sitting for hours)? I made the mistake when I got my car back in 06 to floor it after it was sitting for 8 hours and would get a loud popcorn popping sound coming from the engine while at WOT. I never did get a CEL from it.

 

This might sound like a stupid question, but are you sure it was the check engine light and not the traction control light? Sometimes we see a new light pop on and we assume what it is and somewhat panic and pull in someplace and shut the engine off. OR perhaps more than one light came on?

I have seen Toyotas throw CEL light along with traction control and even the AWD light if you have that, just because of a loose or bad gas cap.

Point being one light on these thing often can throw several lights, even if only was had some disturbance causing it to come on.