Check engine light on but nothing was found. "No problems"

Just got back from the dealership and boy was that a waste of time.

Some history. The truck is a 2021 TRD OR AC brought home December 24th 2020. I was on a road trip end of July, woke up from camping and started the truck. CEL comes on. I think that's funny the truck only has 10k miles on it. I'm in Sante Fe where I purchased the truck coincidentally, so i take it to the dealership where they do a quick scan and clear the codes. They said evap system. Okay, next day comes back on. I go and an actual tech comes out to do the scan this time. He says its throwing several codes and could be the evap system. I told him about camping and he said rodents could have chew my wires overnight. Clears the codes. Says the codes will uploaded and saved to my VIN for future reference. Between July/August until start of October the CEL has come and gone about 3 or 4 times. I figured from what they told me the truck is clearing the codes and going through checks. Start of October it stayed on. I was very busy with hunting/work and made an appointment for November 3rd. After all, 2 different dealerships told me its not harmful to drive with it on. I go today to have it looked at wait 4 hours for them to tell me they cant find anything and there is nothing wrong with the truck. What also gets me is the truck "uploaded" the codes 10/15/21. There no history before that and the scan from Sante Fe isn't showing up on the records. I know that doesnt do me much but the CEL has been on/off for almost 8k miles now and I was hoping the records would show that. The truck currently has 17.5k miles on it. Right now its showing that there has only been codes for the past 2 weeks.

Researching the codes it definitely seems to be an evap system error, possibly a charcoal can or something related to the canister. They asked me about squeezing extra gas in and I've told them I round up to the nearest dollar and they stated that wouldn't do it. Of course the dealership just goes "Yep, nothing we can do. Bring it back if it happens again."

Something seems off here.

These are the codes
P043E00
P043F00
P24007E
P24007F
P24187E

They also ran a forced evap system test and the vehicle passes at this time.

How can a CEL stay on for 3 weeks and there be "No problems"??
Any techs or anyone with something like this out there?

Appreciate any feedback or help. This truck is my first ever brand new vehicle and this plus dealerships has been a shitty time.

 

Can’t help you with the technical issue, but on the documentation side did they not give you any paperwork when you brought the vehicle in the first times? Also you could enter your VIN on the Toyota ownership website and see if any data is present there from your dealership visits.

 

Maybe the ecu is the problem.

 

@caribe makaira
@Empty_Lord

 

"Topping off" really can cause issues with the evap/emissions. I would discourage doing that. I would recommend grabbing a cheap OBD scanner. I bought a wired version for like $8 and it goes with me on trips just in case. It paid off quickly when I had mice eat wiring and I was able to track down and fix it in under an hour instead of a long day. I wouldn't sweat an evap related code at this point. Stop overfilling the tank and monitor the issue and hopefully grab a scanner just in case it comes back.

 

No, no paperwork. I was there on a Saturday afternoon, they cleared them and I came back monday as a drop by. So when the tech told me the codes would be uploaded to my local dealer I wasn't worried. I figured when I got home they could just see the codes on the system. Currently the Toyota website isnt working and when I was at the dealer today they showed me the vehicles service history. Nothing about the Santa Fe stop.

Dude I hope not, If I remember the ECU isnt "warranty" No idea how or why. They also said no loaner cars for me while they do any repairs.

Noted. Since the start of Oct. I stop when it clicks now. I should get a scanner could have saved myself lots of headaches by now. The thing is, this is a brand new truck so I'm ticked this is even happening and the answer is "No problems"

 

Hopefully it makes no difference that you don’t have any paperwork from the Santa Fe dealer, since you’re still well within warranty period.

 

Where did you get this? So basically my purge valve is stuck open/shut or clogged? If I'm reading that correctly. Also if you have this why doesnt a trained tech and why is there "No problem"?? Thanks a bunch for this.

 

BTW for future reference there’s no ECU exclusion in the warranty guide.

 

Why do you think I tagged him.... he's magic

 

So the tech broached the possibility of rodent damage yet rather than do a physical inspection simply cleared the codes. I wouldn't be returning to that service dep't.

 

I hope so, but if they say there is nothing wrong and keep clearing the codes its not actually getting fixed then I'm stuck with it. Or until I fix it.

He was showing me a TSB for the crawl control and said flashing is covered but if a new ECU was needed thats not warranty, I'm out of my realm on that one.

 

I wont be. That was in New Mexico and was just a drop by. No scheduled appointment, so i didnt expect them to get to crazy with the inspection. Today was in Durango and they had it for 4 hours with no results either.

 

Keep bringing it in and make sure you walk out with some sort of documentation next time. They’ll keep clearing codes and sending you on your way.

 

No joke! But WHY??!! Here i sit at home and probably have narrowed down what it is in 1.5 when a "trained tech" had it for 4 hours.

 

Have you checked your state's lemon laws? After a certain amount of dealership repair attempts (or number of days your car is in service), you may be able to return the truck.

 

The difficulty with many state lemon laws is the defect has to be “substantial”. Some states say they have to impact safety. Depends on the applicable state and their law, but just codes with no other evidence so far of impact to vehicle operation might be too little to clear the bar.

There are also time and mileage limits but the OP’s truck qualified in the couple states I briefly read up on.

 

A few yrs back a buddy of mine changed his own oil in his Taco. Only put a quart back in. Got interrupted. Came back started the truck and it threw a check engine light.

He then remembered to put rest of oil in and it went away.

I know it's a long shot but u might be low on oil