I have a 99 GS300 that I JUST GOT and tonight when I pulled into my parking space the chenk engine light came on. I checked the gas cap and drove around the block and it's still on!!!
How soon do I need to take it in for service? This is my only car, can I wait until the weekend or should I take a day off from work and get it looked at? I can't believe this! I haven't had it a month!
Could it really be the transmision? It has 60K miles, about 15 a year which is what I normally drive. I think it's shifting fine, I do remember a couple of "rough" first to second shifts but only a few, I thought I just had to get used to the car.
Also, any Atlanta area owners ever been to T3 Lexus & Infiniti specialists? It is within walking distance from my house and would probably be my first choice. Unless they are backed up and can't look at it for a while. Any quick turn around shops or dealer shops around? Anyone with good prices? I can't belive this! I should have got the extended warranty. Please advise.

 

Most likely one of the 4 O2 sensors..

Also could be EGR valve or MAF.

 

it should be fine to take to the dealer over the weekend. My beater car, a 94 MX6 has had the check engine light on for nearly 2 years now. Still haven't checked it and it still runs fine!

 

should the problem actually be serious, the longer you wait the more damage which in turns equals more money. since it is your only car however go ahead and try to run it out till weekend since its so close anyway.

 

quick check: gas cap on extra tight (u already checked), air hose has no cuts, all sensors plugged in?? right now it could really be anything, but if the car runs fine, i say no need to rush. wait til weekend. but i apologize if you stall out or something before then.

 

Just go through each of the connectors in the engine bay and make sure they're all tightly connected. I've had that stupid light come once or twice already since the purchase of my car and each time it was due to loose connectors.
The worst thing that happened to me was that the throttle response actually quit on me after the engine light came on while I was crossing an intersection. Needless to say, people waiting for my car to finish crossing were probably thinking I was showing off or something as I cruised by at 2mph. It also didn't help that I pulled to the side in front of one of those military base gates. So after I tightened up all the connectors, you can bet those MP's looked at me suspiciously as I pulled up to the gate and showed my ID.

Yeah, sometimes it's the simplest things. I hope that helps, wouldn't want to spend more money than you have to, right?

 

Also try disconnecting the Battery for a couple of minutes and see what happens!

 

Why don't you just stop guessing and have someone retreive the code so you really know what's wrong? Have to start somewhere.

DD

 

They will pull your CEL code for you, Free of charge. If there are any AutoZone in your area.

 

Thanks guys for the advice. I drove it in to work today, basically because I didn't have a choice, and the light was still on but the car seemed to drive fine. I will check the engine connectors at lunchtime. Also, I didn't know Autozone could do that. There is an Autozone within walking distance of my house too, what does it take to check the codes?

 

As strange as this sounds, my check engine light was on for a couple hours until I tried tightening up my gas cap. It just went away right after a couple overturn clicks. Hope that helps. Not sure if it will, but that was my situation. Good luck.

 

My O2 sensor went bad at 60K miles which caused the check engine light to come on.

 

You need an OBDII compliant code reader to read the basic codes. Costs about $150. To read the more extended codes you need a code read with specific software for Lexus. These cost more than $3,000.

As mentioned before, Autozone will read the basic codes for free.

 

First of all thanks for all you guys' advice. The light was on this moring when I went to get breakfast, but when I left for work it was off. I'm thinking about waiting to take it in until I do the 60k maintenace. I HOPE it was the gas cap, i hadn't touched it in about a day. Total the light was on about 36 hours. 60k service is around 800-900 right? I'm still thinking about taking it to T3 on saturday, but I wasn't planning on the 60K service until next week.