Help! I need my CEL back on.

[DougSolara]

Hey guys, havent been on here in awhile.

My CEL came on a week ago shortly after my car hit 100k miles. I take it to get the 100k service checkup, and get the CEL taken care of. The garage I took it to is the same place I bought it, its a huge toyota/scion dealership.

So i take it in and they read off the code as P0135. 02 Sensor. They keep my car for two days and find a minor oil leak. They take care of everything and charge me $838. Its fine, all good. I dont mind paying to get the car professionally serviced.

So the next day Im getting out of work. Turn my car on and BAM! CEL is back on. Im like "f*ck", I cant spend anymore money at the moment so Ill take it to AutoZone to see what the CEL code is. They read it off as P0135 and clear it out. At this point Im really pissed but its friday and I cant take it in until monday.

I take it in today and the Toyota Dealership wont look at the car because the CEL isnt on even though I explained the whole deal to them. They told me to come back in a few days when it pops back on.

Anyone I can accelerate this process? Does anyone know when/how the car determines if the 02 sensor or wiring is out of wack. Is it possible to drive a certain way or do something to get the car checking that area again so it pops up with the CEL?

Any help appreciated,
-Doug

[nj99solara]

If you got a P0135 code it should come back on in the next couple of days (by wednesday) because when you clear that code it usually comes back on the next day depending on how long your driving or have the car running.
But dont worry it will come back on soon.

I don't understand if they knew what code was setting off the CEL why did it take them two days to fix a minor oil leak? The oil leak had nothing to do with the P0135 02sensor code, so they just cleared the code and held your car for two days for small oil leak? What did they charge you over $800 for if it's obvious that they didn't change the 02 Sensor? I think you should find another dealership to do your servicing once you get this all taken care of.

[Ruski]

Check the sensor does it look new ?? And get a report off what was preformed on your car.. FYI you could have changed the 02 sensor yourself and under 100 $$ You just have to drive around till it turns back on like stated should only take a few days

[ozone]

If you have the V6 model, there are 3 O2 sensors. One in each bank and one in front of the cat. Perhaps they changed the wrong one?

They are not technically difficult to change, just a little hard to get to. I bought original Toyota parts and they were $159.00 each. That's right, over $500.00 for those and one timing belt. Ouch. But hey, that's less than the $800.00 you paid for who-knows-what.

I have had these kinds of problems so often, I just decided to do all my own work. I bought 3 big books for the car from Toyota and they are pretty thorough, even including how to do some of the repairs when you don't have the Toyota diagnostic scanning tools.

Once again, a perfectly great car experience marred, not by the vehicle itself, but by the service department. Sorry you're having these problems. I hope it gets straightened out ok.

Just a side note, although unlikely that the oil leak caused the O2 sensor code/failure, it is possible if the oil dripped onto the O2 sensor, contaminating it or if the oil was in the exhaust system with enough volume to be carried by the stream to the sensor, contaminating it.

Good luck.

[DougSolara]

Thanks guys for the feedback. The light came back on Wednesday and I was able to take the car in earlier this morning. Got it back around 6pm.

The first time they took it overnight and ended up having two people work on it with major miscommunication.

This is what they did the first time for $838.

Replaced Air Flow Sensor (didnt need replacing)
100k Service & Inspection
Oil Filter change
Rotate all tires
Oil Change
Fixed oil leak + valve cover leak
New valve covers and spark plugs


This time they realized they replaced the wrong part and went ahead and put in the new o2 sensor free of charge.

Car drives a lot better.