Engine Management Light

[hunts12]

Just purchased a 54 plate rav4 XT4 special edition, @ 24 hours after stalling the engine management light came on, took it to the garage who put it on the machine, reset the light and told me all was well. Car stalled again (neither time an issue with the car) and again @24 hours later the same thing happened, no performance issues either time is this a known defect or something else?? Also central locking only works via remote, ie the key only locks the drivers door any advice or help out there??

[IanXT4]

You do not mention if you have a petrol or diesel ?

If the engine light came on there should be an error code (or codes) you need to get these for both instances.

It does sounds as if "something" needs attention, get the codes and post them with the engine type and someone should be able to help.

On the subject of central locking, my XT4 works the same way. The Central locking only works off wireless button, the key just locks /unlocks the drivers door.

[hunts12]

Hi thanks for that, where would I find these codes? sorry to sound dense but am offshore at the moment and no handbook, etc. It is a petrol version and something that I REALLY should have mentioned but obviously for got was that after @ 4 starts after light coming on it dissappears!!!!!!!

[IanXT4]

The garage that reset your engine management light should know the fault code/s.

When the engine management light comes on, the cars engine Electronic Control Unit (ECU) stores a diagnostic code inside it. This code can be accessed by plugging in a diagnostic reader to the on board diagnostic socket (ODB2 plug) just under the right side of the dash. This is the "machine" that your garage used to reset the engine light and clear the stored code.

The Engine OBD2 socket on your car is a universal standard (for the engine codes) and any friendly garage should be able to plug in and read the codes. You can even buy home code readers off eBay for between £20 and £30, but the garage that cleared your code should have read it and determined what was causing it in the first place.

There are loads of things that can trigger a light, the most common that springs to mind on the RAV4 petrol has been one of the Lambda oxygen sensors going bad. But this is guesswork, the code will tell you instantly if this is the case and then highlight the exact sensor.

The fact that the engine light goes after a few starts probably means that the fault at present is intermittent, however, the fault code/s will still be stored by the ECU.

If you are bored

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On-board_diagnostics

One final thought, you mentioned that you recently bought this RAV4 and in the same sentence you mentioned a garage. If you bought the car from a dealer then it looks as though it has a intermittent problem that might need to be fixed before it becomes permanent, especially if there is a warranty period.

(I have owned a Petrol XT4 and have never had an engine light for over 6 years, and I have stalled many times.)

[hunts12]

Hi thanks for that, the garage that I bought the car from is moe than 400 mile away but I can use one closer to me it is only 110 mile away, it was an arnold clark but they only gave me two months warranty due to the age of the car, anyway thanks again I now know to push to get the sensor changed when I go down to see them. Cheers

[atkiman]

my 52 plate nrg has had the ems light on for 3 months, had the fault code checked and it was an oxygen sensor. it passed the mot ok last month, the emissions were well within limits. he resets the sensor and it's off for a couple of weeks, so I'm not going to worry about it too much.

anybody know what i can expect to pay for a sensor replacement?