The Check Engine light came on a few months ago in my 1998 Toyota Camry. The car runs fine, but I took it to a garage where they did the smoke test. After replacing the EGR valve and Vapor pressure sensor, and a few gaskets: the light is still on. I spent $400 already on this problem. Now the same garage tells me it needs a VSV valve for the EGR. I think they are just making up parts with three capital letters and charging me for them. What should I do? The car has 170,000 miles.
That CEL (check engine light) is just a kid in class waving her hand trying to get you attention because she has the answer. You need to have the codes read. Some places will read them for FREE. Try Autozone or Advanced Auto Parts. Get the exact code (like P0123) not just their translation into English and post it back here.if you have an auto parts store such as Advanced auto parts they will “read” the codes for free. write down the codes given and what they relate to. have them clear the codes and then drive your car. if the light comes back on then ask them to “read” the codes again. if the same code re appears then you may want to have it looked at. some people do not have it fixed if it does not affect the way the car runs, the decision is yours
I had the same problem with my 2000 camry. The problem was with the vsv for the charcoal canister. Getting the code woulf be good to do.
That is certainly possible, but to the OP - do realize that this is a whole system of things. Just b/c one part failed on someone else’s car it doesn’t mean it is the same issue on your car.
As noted, no one can tell you anything without knowing the actual error codes that are in the computer. Get the current codes and have a look at your invoice from the previous work to see whether the codes may have been written on it.