I recently bought a 2007 toyota Camry le v6 with less than 38,000 miles it currently has 39,300 miles and my check engine light is on along with the VSC and a skid control light (car with squiggle lines behind it) we have a had lots of rain here where I live and I had to drive through a couple deep water puddles. I looked up online and it said The engine light may turn on if the VSC and skid control lights are on. Could this be that the sensors maybe got wet? I don’t think anything should be wrong with this car considering it’s a toyota with less than 40k miles
Also, it’s very rare that we get this much rain where I live.
“I don’t think anything should be wrong with this car considering it’s a toyota with less than 40k miles”
That could well be an erroneous assumption, and only by having the codes read (free of charge) at an auto parts store will anyone know what the underlying problem actually is. Go to Autozone, Advance Auto, O’Reilly, or (possibly) a Napa store, and get them to read the stored trouble codes for you.
Then, come back to this thread and post those codes for specific advice. The codes will be in a format similar to “P0123”. The problem could be as simple as a loose gas cap, or it could mean that some engine parts need to be cleaned or replaced.
And, I will add that you likely have the sequence backward.
When the car’s OBD system detects a problem, it will usually deactivate the VSC, traction control, and cruise control. Once the actual problem is fixed, those systems should come back to life.
I had symptoms like that come on with an 03 Avalon. It had nothing to do with VSC or traction control. It was a leaky ECS cannister, which had to be replaced.
OBD. What is that? That light isn’t on, but are you saying that, that is what is triggering the other 3 lights? @VDCdriver
Did your car drive any differently before replacing that? Was the replacement pricey? @melott
“OBD. What is that?”
Oops!
OBD is the car’s Onboard Diagnostic system.
When it detects a problem with the engine or the emissions system, it turns on the Check Engine Light, which is your signal to do exactly what I advised you to do in my earlier post.
Additionally, I will now advise you to read your Owner’s Manual, as there are likely other things about the car’s functioning that you need to familiarize yourself with.
I second the above advice. At 40k miles, the problem could be quite simple, like adding more gas after the nozzle clicks off, or you could be the rare unlucky owner of a Toyota with a real problem. Without the actual code or codes, it will be impossible to help you.
As soon as I get those codes I’ll let you guys know. I really hope it’s nothing major. I love Toyota. @keith @melott
On mine, it was some kind of unhelpful code suggesting a gas vapor leak. We tried a new gas cap. Eventually, we replaced the ECS cannister. It turns out this is a common fault for my car. Assuming the cannister was shared across models and years, it might be related to your problem.
I think I found the problem. My gas cap wasn’t on all the way in fact I don’t think it was on at all. My parents borrowed my car to take it out of town last weekend…they came back on Sunday and I continue driving it with the gas that was left over. My gas cap was open but my question now is why did it take three days for the engine light to come on and alert me? And why are the VSC light and traction control lights on. @keith @melott
Oh yes. On mine, the replacement was expensive, and it made no difference to the driving of the car, but it made the light go out and stay out.
Which is important because it might hide some other problem if it were left on.
The “why” behind the multiple lights is hard to answer. Now that you found and solved a problem (gas cap) drive it a while and see if they all go off. If not, take it to a parts store and have the codes read, let us know what they are.
There are several classes of DTCs (Diagnostic Trouble Codes). Class A codes are one trip DTC’s. They will turn on the MIL (Check Engine Light). These are serious codes, the most serious of these class will make the MIL blink.
Class B codes, which a majority are, are two trip DTCs. They have to detect the problem on two successive drive cycles before they will turn on the MIL. Many of these are not constantly monitored either so if they aren’t an active problem at the time the computer checks them, they won’t be detected. On the first detection, they store a pending code in the PCM (computer). If they do not get detected on the next drive cycle, they get erased. If they get detected on the next drive cycle, then they turn on the MIL and store the code the PCM.
The MIL can be turned off with a code reader, removing power from the PCM for a certain time duration or by three successive drive cycles where the DTC is not detected again.
A drive cycle is start from cold, warm up completely so the engine goes into closed loop for the fuel control and gone through all the gears, that is driven fast enough to have reached the highest gear and then shut down and cooled off.
MIL means Malfunction Indicator Lamp but is usually labeled as Check Engine or Service Engine Soon.
On a Toyota this kind of problem is often a battery or alternator issue. Don’t ask me why…