Check engine light w/ the little traction control light came on..

this happened to me today, disconnected the battery to reset after tightening the gas cap. turned the truck on stalled out like it was not getting any air flow. checked the intake and was clogged with leaves? put a k&n on luckily the parts store near by had it in stock and works like a charm... maybe my stupidity?

 

This also just happened with my wife's '16 Camry XLE. She couldn't believe she'd cross-threaded the gas cap only half way on... guess it was hard to tell at 15'F outside with her fingers numb, poor kid!

 

i have an 09 and mine came on it threw a p0057 and 51i replaced bank 2 sensor 1 ( p0051, pre cat on v6 p0057 is the one below or after cat

 

This may be a dumb question but I got codes P0031 and P0051, Bank 1 and 2 sensor 1 sensors, is it really necessary to replace these things? Will it hurt my truck to leave it as is and clear the codes? I’ve gotten this same code before about 6 months ago and it went away on its own after 3 days

 

Here are my best edumicated guesses, P.:
--Check your gas cap. If it is loose, cracked, not sealing, or there is an air leak in the fill tube, Tacos can throw weird codes. Cheap fix.
--If you're running cheap gas, those sensors may very well need to be replaced after 7 years, depending on mileage.
--Driving as-is (light on or not) SHOULDN'T hurt anything that isn't hurt already, but you may not get your next state inspection sticker (does AL have those??), or there is a small chance of cat damage.
--You may get better MPGs and a smoother engine rev if they are toast and you do replace them, but they're a pain and not super cheap so I'd leave that until you check the gas cap etc.
Good luck and write back to update us!

 

If the sensors have failed I would definitely replace them.. sensor 1(upstream) controls your air to fuel ratio.. so if they’re not reading correctly it could cause a lean or rich condition.. and lean can be very bad. The downstream o2s or sensor 2 is the ones that aren’t really important and get tuned out on performance applications on many vehicles..

Edit to add: lean conditions can also lead to detonation. Which can damage pistons and cause burnt valves.

During normal operation your front o2s constantly monitor and adjust your fueling

 

Thanks for the info. AL doesn’t have emissions testing. I went and cleared the codes with my OBD2 app and drove it around a little, they didn’t come back on. So I guess I’ll keep driving it and see what happens.

But I’m kind of confused on how clearing codes works. It still says those codes are “permanently stored” but there are no pending codes and no check engine light. Does this mean the o2 sensor is functioning properly or is something still wrong and I just hid the light?

 

The codes are both throwing sensor 1’s. I assumed the description of “low bank” meant it was downstream and not as serious but I did not realize this. I cleared the codes and it did not come back on so I’ll see what happens from here. Thank you for the info, here’s a pic of the codes

 

Just for clarification.. I believe it reads heater control circuit low(as in low voltage or current) ... bank 1 sensor 1.

 

Drove a few hundred miles the past few days and the engine light didn’t come back on. Still showing as a “permanent” code but no pending codes, no sure what that means.

 

I have 2013 TRD sport taco and my “ trac control off” light and “check engine light” came on this morning any one have any thoughts on why?

 

Did you get gas recently ?

 

Many faults that trigger the CEL to light will also disable Traction Control. The reason is that Traction Control depends on the system being able to control throttle/throttle response/engine speed when it senses a situation where traction is lost/potentially lost.

Because of the need to control the engine, etc., Traction Control assumes the problem may either make engine/drivetrain control impossible, or possibly be detrimental if the system tries to control it.

 

Could it cause any damage to my truck driving it with the sensor not working and the traction control off? I noticed it’s sucking gas down pretty good and has less power..

 

There is no way to tell unless you know what the code/problem is. It's sucking gas because it's now running in a default mode that ignores certain sensors. It may be one or both o2 (upstream and/or downstream) for example, but you have to read the codes to know. It CAN cause damage, depending on what's the issue.

 

It’s throwing the P0333 code for a knock 2 sensor

 

So the computer is likely heavily retarding the timing to make sure the engine doesn't knock, and that would explain the high gas consumption along with low power. Whether that can cause damage long term, likely not, because the engine is likely running a little cooler because of the retarded timing, but you are wasting a LOT of gas because of it.

That being said, I would definitely get it checked/fixed, because there are things that COULD be problematic if you keep driving it that way.