OBDII Emission Control Codes

[TromboneAl]

It often happens when DD visits and gets gas in our 2002 Echo, she doesn't close the gas cap tightly enough, and the engine check light goes on.

I used a scanner, and found error codes P0440, P0441, P0446. From Googling, it seems that those can all be cause by the above.

I erased the codes, but the light is still on.

I'm taking the car in for routine maintenance on Friday. I'll rescan before I take it in.

Should I pay to have him investigate those codes, or wait and see what happens?

 

[braumeister]

It often happens when DD visits and gets gas in our 2002 Echo, she doesn't close the gas cap tightly enough, and the engine check light goes on.

I've seen that happen a few times, but the computer has always cleared itself completely after a while, always before another tank of gas gets used up.

 

[ERD50]

If they came right back on, then it must be something that is detected almost immediately and triggered the CEL again. Otherwise it would be off. Some codes require some driving time before they will indicate 'ready', and the CEL will stay off during that time, and only come on if the error reasserts itself.

A little google-ing:

Open the hood, look at the airbox, on the left hand side there is an electronic valve with two hoses connected to it but I bet that the rear hose of the two has pulled off. Reconnect it and disconnect the battery for 10 minutes to reset the codes. HI. That was exactly the case for my echo 2003. 5 days after changing air filter at canadian tire...check engine appeared. I get the codes p0441. p0442 and p0446. As mentioned at the above comment, the rear hose was disconnected. just reconnected it erase codes and all is fine. thanks a lot for the suggestion.


....

These are the 3 codes you get when the evap hose is disconnected behind the air filter box

-ERD50

 

[Turboslacker]

Yep drive it. The codes should clear if it's just a loose gas cap.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[ERD50]

Yep drive it. The codes should clear if it's just a loose gas cap.

But he already cleared the codes.

...

I erased the codes, but the light is still on. ...

-ERD50

 

[Redbugdave]

I would unhook the battery and see what happens. If the light comes on again...then take it in.

 

[ERD50]

I would unhook the battery and see what happens. If the light comes on again...then take it in.

He said he cleared the codes with a scanner, that does essentially the same thing as unhooking the battery. He did that and the codes came back right away. There is no 'see what happens', it already happened.

-ERD50

 

[Andre1969]

It often happens when DD visits and gets gas in our 2002 Echo, she doesn't close the gas cap tightly enough, and the engine check light goes on.

I used a scanner, and found error codes P0440, P0441, P0446. From Googling, it seems that those can all be cause by the above.

I erased the codes, but the light is still on.

I'm taking the car in for routine maintenance on Friday. I'll rescan before I take it in.

Should I pay to have him investigate those codes, or wait and see what happens?

It may vary by car, but my 2000 Park Avenue got the P0446 code a couple months ago. In my case, it was some kind of evaporative vent valve in the emissions system causing the issue. Total bill was $263.26, which included a fee for running the scan. I was a bit annoyed by that scan bill, because it only takes a few minutes to run it. Heck, I knew it was a P0446 because I have a code reader, myself! But, I guess it was still worth it for them to run it, because something else may have shown up. And maybe their code reader can give more information than mine? In my case, I got the code and then Googled it, and it gave several possibilities of the cause.

 

[TromboneAl]

Open the hood, look at the airbox, on the left hand side there is an electronic valve with two hoses connected to it but I bet that the rear hose of the two has pulled off. Reconnect it and disconnect the battery for 10 minutes to reset the codes. HI. That was exactly the case for my echo 2003. 5 days after changing air filter at canadian tire...check engine appeared. I get the codes p0441. p0442 and p0446. As mentioned at the above comment, the rear hose was disconnected. just reconnected it erase codes and all is fine. thanks a lot for the suggestion.


....

These are the 3 codes you get when the evap hose is disconnected behind the air filter box


-ERD50

You Da Man!!

That was exactly what it was. You saved me at least $60.

Thanks!