Well treated truck, but cel has been taken out?

Hey guys. Long story short, a big old tree fell on my DC TRD back in May, and I finally just found a DC 4x4 again.

Truck is mint (by northern standards), 250k kms/155k miles. Frame looks good, treated by toyota in the recall, and has been stored many winters. I found out the owner from 10 years sold it in april, and per the guy I bought the truck from, the guy from april sold it to a dealer in June, who sold it to the guy I bought it from in July. Runs very good apart from a shake between 65 and 70 mph, fine before and after. Needs suspension, it has a 300$ kit from Amazon that's already shot and old shot tires. Obviously had equipment like a cb and lights that were removed (cables are still there). New U joint bracket. No bills because it was all under the table, no history and the previous owner said he didn't really know anything.

I got curious and ran diagnostic with a cheap obd2 sensor, it had p03000 (multiple cylinders misfire), p0303 and p0304 (cylinders 3 and 4 misfire). Changed cylinder 3's spark plug and cleared the codes just to see, haven't come back in 300 kms and it stopped vibrating the first 30 seconds after start. Now have a p420 pending though.

But then I realized yesterday that the check engine light was oddly never going on at all. Turns out it's been taken off, I just put it back in.

I'm learning about mechanics and cars as I go, I'll investigate further but I'm kinda worried that the cel having been taken off is a bad sign and that I could be missing something huge. It's really nice and I was looking forward to take care of it, already ordered ome 881s and bilsteins, but that find has me insecure about the truck. Might be something harmless and the careful 10 years owner was just tired of seeing the light or might be a cover up for a really big issue.

So to resume, the truck is really in good condition and has clearly been well cared for in the past, but the cel has been taken out.

Does that kinda situation ring a bell to anyone? Any idea what to check?

 

CEL is to tell you there are codes. You read the active codes already so you know the issues.

 

P0420 means you need a new catalytic converter 50% of the time, or a bad O2 sensor(s).

 

Was the bulb physically removed, or just dead? As stated, you already know what the codes are. It would be fair to say that at 155k and nearly 20 years you're going to have to do a bit more than standard stuff to get 'er back in shape. At some point, all the original rubber (bushings, vac lines, gaskets, etc...) components just break down, and all you can do is be in front of replacing them.

But in general, people remove the bulb if they can't solve a code.

 

The bulb and socket were physically missing. Still in insurance process with my old truck, so I just took that one's cel and socket to put in my new one's cluster. They can't just straight fall out of there, can they? Almost makes more sense than someone removing it whole rather than just the bulb or putting a fried bulb in.

Thanks for answering guys, every bit of info helps when learning. The new truck is in way better shape than my previous one, so hopefully everything rubber goes in its own time and let me pace repairs

 

Is that bulb one that has a socket on the cluster it has been so long since I had one out.

maybe the bulb failed and was never replaced.

 

Based on my experiences it could be a 350k mi truck with cluster swap and CEL delete

 

One of the reasons i like buying my $500.00 4x4`s.

200,000 or 600,000 miles it really does not matter to me.

 

thts not clean, tht truck needs a lot of work. they removed the cel bulb on purpose, many red flags cus multiple owners didnt wana deal with the repairs

 

Damn, never would've considered that since I had assumptions about this sale IE maybe a carfax or similar report which depicts mileages.

Learning experience for the OP; buying a used vehicle always take a scan tool with ya. That and always ensure all lights fire up when you put that key in.

 

Then it really comes down to the Price does it not??

A scan tool only helps if the codes were never cleared a few days before,

 

Yeah but most scantools will tell you if a vehicle is ready for emissions testing.

If it is, that means enough drive cycles have completed with no changes (intentional or unintentional).

If the vehicle is not ready for smog, it'll be because the vehicle has a CEL on. Or in your scenario presented, would not be ready because monitors were recently cleared and it needs a complete number of drive cycles to complete since someone manually reset them and reset any existing codes.

Like @Wulf said I'd be questioning the mileage.

A DC truck with 150k miles vs 250k miles could mean an easy $5-10k difference depending on overall condition.

 

Most for sale vehicles it is quite common " The battery was dead i had to put another one into start for a test drive" just normal or a means to clear all the codes .

Buying my $500.00 4x4`s is much easier .

California is a whole different world .

about as bad as NYC

 

Yeah the carfax was consistent with the mileage so that's that at least. And you're very right, good learning experience, absolutely gonna bring a scan tool in the future (when I get to buy a good one)

I'll most certainly end up having it diagnosed and will update then. Right now I have p0300 and p0420. Researching on it atm

 

Yeah, really feels like I've been had. Hopefully it's something overlooked but I'm gonna look into it before dumping money doing spark plugs, wires etc...

 

Not a surprise you found a misfire situation and a P0420. Converters don't like raw fuel coming down the tailpipe. Sounds like somebody knew about the converter issue before they sold it

 

p0420 didn't come up with the misfires first time I checked codes, so it could be a fairly recent issue that just affected the cat I guess. Any hope of saving the cat or is it done for already if the code shows up?

After researching a lot, sounds like head gasket failure. White smoke at start (it's getting cold on mornings here, I didn't think much of it) and rough idle for 10 seconds at cold start suggests coolant seeping into the cylinders. Coolant overflow tank drained when I filled it a couple weeks ago, I blamed a cracked tank since the rad was full, and I'm not noticing an increase in oil volume.

I dread it but guess it's time to bring it to a shop

 

i would watch a lot of youtube how to vidz but if money aint a problem go ahead

 

Depending on how savvy you are- I'd do a compression and leak down test to further verify your suspicion before taking it to a shop. A little smoke (or more likely condensation/water vapor in the exhaust) at start isn't uncommon, and it sounds like you found a cracked overflow tank.. so there is hope...

I may have missed it, but I don't see an engine mentioned- do you have the v6 or I4? If you have the v6 with cylinders 3 and 4 being on opposite sides of the block, it would be pretty odd if it were a head gasket. But given the unknown history, who knows... maybe a previous owner already tried to do a head gasket job and botched both banks? Either way, I see you said you changed plug 3. Did you pull all the plugs? Did you change them all, new wires, new coils.. Those are all things I would consider before writing the motor off.

 

Thank you for the stress check. I needed it! It's a V6. Haven't found a crack on the overflow tank, so I just filled it up to F and will monitor. I swapped plugs and coils with some used ones that I pulled out of the smashed truck (still not done with the insurance), we"ll see what that says!