Check Engine light and traction light.

Ok, so yesterday I started her up and the check engine light and traction light came on and stayed on. She feels weird too. Lots of vibration, especially at lower idle, loss of power, lots of vibration in the gear shift. (She is a manual). Normally I would mutter a curse and take her to the dealer (a 2011 she SHOULD still be under warranty) but...

I am in Germany. I took her to a Toyota dealer here for an oil change and they looked at her like I landed a space ship in their parking lot.

Any ideas on what it could be or how best to tackle the international issue?

(Ideas that suggest that this won't be expensive of painful are especially welcome)

In the spirit of complete and total honesty, I am a bit annoyed that I am already having this kind of trouble. She is a 2011... with less than 15K miles.

 

Maybe pick up a code read from your local auto store. Since you have a spaceship and all maybe it will be a worthy investment.

 

Order something that can read codes(UltraGauge, specific code computer)...Or maybe check out a hobby shop on base for one? Cause the code will narrow it down very quickly...

 

As strange as the Tacoma may look on the outside, the mechanicals should look very familiar to the German dealer service techs. The components are the same, or very similar to, various Toyata models sold around the world. I don't know if their Techstream software is region-specific, but the majority of the diagnostics are OBD II, which is the same everywhere. They should be able to help.

Mike

 

Hi,
I just had the same thing happen to me last week. Both of those lights went on at the same time. Went to my local shop. Turns out both of those dash light are on the same circuit. If the check light comes on so does the traction light. They read my code & the oxy sensor on bay 1 was dead. They put in a new one & reset my idot lights. The real bad news was a cost of $300.00 ! Two & change for the part & the bal in labor.

greenpants....mike

 

I had a Dodge when I was stationed there and the German Dodge dealerships honored warranties. I would think/hope Toyota would as well. Try a different dealership. Might be worth a trip up to Kaiserslautern where they cater to military folks more.

 

spark plug or coil pack, sounds like a pretty classic case of a cylinder not firing.

Source: I've owned a lot of VWs.

If you pull the plugs, one should be be pretty obviously fouled by this point. It could still be a bad plug or coil pack, but that should help you figure out which cylinder it is. (I bet with the p/n the Toy dealership there could get one, I'm sure it's something they use globally)

Reinstall any new plugs with a dab of anti-seize on the threads, and don't over-torque them.