Help! Car Engine Light And Traction Control Light On

[rash799]

Hi everyone,

First of all, this is my first post so... erm.. hi. My Yaris is acting strange and I'd like to get some background knowledge on the the possible issues before I take it to the car mechanic on the weekend and look absolutely clueless as he inspects it.

The engine light and strangely the traction control light come on after around 5 minutes of driving the car. Recently I've noticed that the car judders as I'm setting off. The fan comes on very quickly which tells me that it's overheating and I feel as though sometimes it's a little slower at setting - or atleast it has slightly less power.

Any ideas on what could be wrong or what I should look out for/checkup please?

Thanks

[FROSTYBALLS]

Hello Rashed - welcome to Toyota Owners Club

[CPN]

A bit more detail about your '07 Yaris might help? e.g. Mileage, what model, etc etc

[rash799]

Hi Frostyballs. Thanks for the welcome. CPN the model is a 1.8 liter SR. It's the shape that's in my profile picture. I'll find out the milege when I go on my lunch but I don't recall it being very high for a 57 plate car.

[rash799]

The milege is just under 60,000 miles

[rash799]

Just to follow-up on this in case someone else has a similar problem. The heater also wasn't working so I tried putting in some water in the car and that seems to have fixed it. My concern at the moment is whether the car is burning the water. I've filled the water up till the top and will check back in a few days to see if it has reduced or not.

[MEP's Yaris GS]

If it was just water you used in the coolant then you'll need to do a full coolant change some point soon. Worth waiting a little bit to see if its a leak or head gasket issue first though.

[rash799]

Damn. Really hope it's not a head gasket issue!! Thanks for letting me know though.

[CPN]

Jonathan is so right... You can't put "just water" in many cars these days as a substitute for a proper coolant solution (which has all sorts of anti-corrosion additives in it apart from part anti-freeze also...)

[Deborah Lynn O'Brien]

I only put The antifreeze recommended. 

[YarisHybrid2016]

The water in the cooling system is de-ionized water. Normal tap water is unusable. Note that de-ionized water is *NOT* the same as distilled water!

As above, you'll want to drain the system completely and replace it with the correct fluids ASAP.