Check Engine Error

[pong38]

Hi all,

We have a 2008 Auris 1.4 D4D

Last night (3:00 in the night) while safely cruising with appr. 50/60 m/h on a very wet but overall in good driving condition high way I wanted to overtake another car when suddenly the car took us into a 360 deg. spin.

I slammed the breaks real hard and kept pressing it to the max all the way until we stopped. By then we had crossed two lanes and ended up in the grass next to the highway, avoiding a huge signpost and without any material and physical damage.

I have to admit that I released the clutch and breaks at the moment we were almost dead stopped but because we ended up in a kind of drain/ditch of maybe 20/30 cm. deep, we lost traction and the engine stalled.

I immediately restarted the motor and it showed me the engine light and the message "check engine".

I took the next exit of the highway to give the car an inspection and everything was working fine.

This morning I took the car out for an inspection and I was surprised to see that the error was gone.

The car ran fine, did some pretty firm stops on dry surface.

A couple of hours later when I used the car again, immediately there was this engine light and "check engine" error again.

Does somebody has a clue what's going on here ?

[Daveyonthemove]

Glad to hear you and the car survived your spin, that could have been quite nasty.

I would assume that there could be a problem with the ABS or TCS (if fitted) but its hard to say.

Where about are you? I assume you are in the USA? (highway instead of motorway).

[pong38]

Glad to hear you and the car survived your spin, that could have been quite nasty.

I would assume that there could be a problem with the ABS or TCS (if fitted) but its hard to say.

Where about are you? I assume you are in the USA? (highway instead of motorway).

Thank you Daveyonthemove,

We live in Holland and we tend to mix US and English words :-)

My first thoughts were indeed the ABS. This car has no TCS.

I must correct myself on the info I gave you.

I said the car ran fine afterwards but while driving the 2 miles to the next available exit there was a huge vibration coming from the front wheels (new tires, 2 weeks old btw).

After checking the car and continuing driving on the motorway (hehe) the vibration was gone.

One aspect might be interesting as well. When we almost came to a stop and while still under heavy breaking, the pressure on the breaking pedal became very low. I almost had the pedal on the floor.

The car had his 80.000 km service 2 weeks ago, was completely checked and they've replaced the breaking fluid.

One of the reasons why I wanted to test drive the car today was the working of the breaks. And they were doing their job as normal.

(Sorry for the grammatic errors)

[Daveyonthemove]

I would take it to a dealer to see if they can find a fault.

My first thought is the brakes, and you don't want to risk a repeat of last night if they are at fault.

The ECU would have stored a fault code even if the light is off, so try and get them to investigate it for fault codes.

Hope you get it sorted soon.

[pong38]

That surely is the plan. Thanks for your help.

[pong38]

The dealer checked the ECU and the stored errors.

The "check engine" error popped up and stayed visible all the time because "the motor stalled while driving"

They've reset the error and it seems okay now.

[Crasstoe]

That's a little embarrassing I'm sure... surprised it stores an error message for stalling!

[Daveyonthemove]

I don't believe that for one minute.

I'm going to stall my car on purpose and scan it with my fault code finder next time i take the car out.

I predict 'No faults found' will be the outcome.

[pong38]

I don't believe that for one minute.

I'm going to stall my car on purpose and scan it with my fault code finder next time i take the car out.

I predict 'No faults found' will be the outcome.

Please let me know your results.

I have enough technical (automotive) background and ofcourse I raised my eyebrows when they came back to me with this explanation.

But what can you do when you need the local Toyota dealer.

To make it even more embarrassing... They were pretty sure that the check engine message would stay away but in case it would pop up again I needed to make an additional appointment so they run a more intensive test.