check engine light is on

The two most common Toyota Check Engine light codes are Evaporitive Emission system failure or O2 Sensor heater circuit failure. If the Check Engine light/Service Engine Soon light illuminates while you are driving, the car's on board computer sees a fault in the engines management system that is causing an excess amount of pollutants to be emitted from your car. This could result in engine damage if left neglected. Some problems that can cause the Check Engine light to stay on may take two "drive cycles' to complete before illuminating the Check Engine Light. The computer sees a problem and looks for an identical set of circumstances to occur to confirm that it has indeed seen a problem before turning on the light. A Check Engine light that continually flashes while you are driving is serious and is a sign that the computer sees a problem that seriously risks damaging the catalytic converter which may result in an expensive repair or even may cause a fire! Diagnostic codes are stored in the vehicle's computer and can be retrieved using a scantool that communicates with the computer in your car. We have in our Repairpal website an encyclopedia with in depth articles about computer, and computer control systems, emission and driveability problems. http://repairpal.com/check-engine-lightTurn on the ignition switch to the on but not run position do you see an icon on the instrument panel representing a battery, if you do not see this battery icon the alternator is not seeing power to allow it to charge. Start the engine does the battery icon go out. A more complex but good diagnostic test is checking "voltage drop" on the battery ground and power cables. You can find a video on how to do a voltage drop test on youtube. Put a volt meter across the battery terminals with the engine off, at rest the battery voltage should be 12.6 volts if the battery is fully charged. Now get a friend to start the car while you watch the voltmeter, the voltage reading across the battery should read approximately 14.6 volts if the alternator is charging correctly.

just to add to Pats answer, on the computer controlled alternators, if the battery is fully charged, your volt reading will only be 12.7. it will jump to 14 or better only when a load is supplied like your headlights, wipers and ac. Roy Roy

HOOK UP A SCANNER AND CHECK FOR CODES START CAR AND MEASURE VOLTAGE AT BATTERY FOR A MINIMUM OF 13.6 VOLTS REPORT BACK