Hi friends,

I hope everyone is doing well and looking forward to the holidays. I am the proud owner of a Lexus RX 2002 (bought used from a private party). It currently has about 125,000 miles on it.

I have been servicing it regularly and so have the previous owners.

Yesterday (11/24) I took it in for an oil change (Mob*l synthetic) to my car mechanic, whom I have been using for my other vehicle as well and is generally trustworthy. In fact, his assistant did the oil change in front of me, because I did not want to hang around in the office.

Anyways, the car drove back fine after the oil change, I drove it around 40 miles, with errands on the way home.

This morning, my fiancee noticed the following lights on the dashboard when driving. She turned off the car and on, and they remain:



I did some reading on this forum and elsewhere and it seems that I need to get the ODBII codes checked, I will try and do that this afternoon.

However, any thoughts on what may be the issue?

Let me know if you need further info.

Thanks
Oxonian

 

Welcome to ClubLexus.

I would highly recommend reading through sticky threads and in your case specially the one titled "having problems start here mega thread".

The on board computer has registered a problem and is telling you that (typically) an emission related problem has been detected. You need to have the error code read by connecting to an OBDII reader. This can be doe 'gratis' by auto parts store or your mechanic should have a reader.

It can be a simple thing as hose got disconnected during service or ...... Instead of speculating, please get the codes read and post them here.

Salim

 

Hello Mr. Shah,

Thank you for your reply, I appreciate it!

I will look into this further and keep everyone updated. Hopefully I can get it resolved!

Thanks,
Oxonian

 

All my friends and fellow members address me as 'Salim' (that is how I sign my posts).

If some one tried to change or clean air filter, they typically would dislodge a vac hose at the back end of the cleaner box. This would be the most likely cause, if work was done around the air cleaner. Might be worth a check instead of a drive to mechanic or auto-shop.

You can disconnect the battery for about 20 mins to remove the stored error code. Think twice before you do that, as that will wipe away the values needed by the code reader. Or you can let the computer accumulate new info (drive about 40 miles with couple of starts and shutdowns). In other words the light will not go away the instant you reconnect the hose.

Salim

PS: It seems your drive light is out. Check the DIY section if you want to fix it.

 

Hello Salim and friends,

Thank you for your reply, I sincerely appreciate it.

I went to my local mechanic this afternoon and he used he OBD II reader and found the following codes:

440
441
446

I will need to take the car to him and drop it off in the morning, and then he will need to find the source of the error. He told me that it could be anywhere from under the hood to to fuel tank and he could not give me an estimate until he knew the error. He did mention it had something to do with the EVAP system, possibly the purge valve etc.

I was thinking of dropping it off tomorrow (Wednesday) but if this is something that I should look into further before having it repaired, I can wait till next week (the mechanic is closed for a couple of days over Thanksgiving).

This happened after driving 40-50 miles following an oil change at his garage. I wonder if that had anything to do with it?

When I got home I could smell some fuel fumes in my garage, so I presume it had to do with this error.

And yes, the drive light is off! That is wonderful observation!! Thanks. I will look into fixing it.

Any thoughts on these error codes please?

Thanks,
Oxonian

 

Our resident expert is carguy07.

Searching the issue, I see posts from him that suggest the same hose that I mentioned in this thread.

Check it out.

Salim

 

Thanks Salim, I will look into this!

Oxonian

 

Given that I have these codes 440 441 446 is it ok to drive it around for a few days and troubleshoot it, or does it need to go to the mechanic asap?

 

Depending where you are in this wonderful and great state of Texas, weather permitting, it takes couple of minutes to reconnect the hose. I am surprised that your mechanic did not check it out.

I would not go too far without the correction. Few short trips would be ok. More details in the sticky.

Salim