idream08

Dang, this great car I love has been costing me over the past month. First I did a tune up, then i had some wire problems and now......today a hit a bump, and 1 minute later my check engine light came on, and stayed on....NOW I will admit....20 minutes earlier, i had kind of showed off a little, i had a female co-worker in my car, and ever since i did this tune-up 2 weeks ago, this car has been riding perfect! So I pressed the gas pretty hard and the rpm got up 5, but that was only for like 2 seconds, but the check engine light didn't come on until 20 minutes later---a minute after i a hit a huge bump that seemed to scrape the front end of my car. Its night time, but i checked my battery cables and they seem to be on tight. I have a 98 Lexus Es300, 161,000 miles. thanks

GEORGE_JET

sounds like it is going to cost you a little more with that last adventure. So what is the code? Have you looked under the car?

idream08

thanks for the response, it happened tonight so i haven't been to autozone to let them hook the computer up to it, gee whiz, i've spent nearly $500 in the past month, i surely hope it doesn't cost more than the last problem. The car is riding very smooth and everything.

GEORGE_JET

Can you hear anything unusual? If you bottomed out you could have damaged the flex pipe in the exhaust, and caused a leak, with would throw the O2 sensors into fits. But this is only a guess. Grab a flashlight, and take a look.

idream08

no i didn't hear anything unusual, i took the car on the highway, drove for about 30 minutes, everything seems to be performing smooth. i don't know......guess i'll have to wait until i get off from work tomorrow, and take it to autozone. thanks

Rollin'ES3

This might sound ridiculous, but you mayyyy have hit the cat that runs under the engine for bank 1....P0420 <<----I HATE THAT CODE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Other than that I have no idea?

Scan it to avoid the guessing game.

rlx101

yep, you could have hit the exhaust..

03 ES

p0420 code is the devil...

check under the car and make sure nothing is damaged

GEORGE_JET

Take a rag, and hold it over the end of the exhaust pipe for a min, listen for leaks.

idream08

hello, thanks for all these responses and advice. Just came from autozone----the code is p0446.

llcoolpass

"The P0446 is an evap code. There is a campain on this particular year. Usually the check valve on your charcoal Canister need a replacement. I would have a Lexus trained tech diagnost this problem. "
You need to do some investigating of the evap system and check the valve out using some 12V to it and check for function[closing and opening]. also see if there is some lexus deal on it as part of some kind of TSB or ''campaign".
Until then, it's probably not the biggest deal in the world. But you won't pass NJ state inspection for sure, not sure about Georgia, until you address it and run it a few cycles.

idream08

thanks again for all the replies, I have a question and comment. I'm in Georgia and the time is coming up for me to take the emissions test. About a week ago the check engine light went off and hasn't come back on. My question is since the light was on, will that show up when i take the emissions test or since the light is currently off, i'll be fine? thanks

llcoolpass

if the code is stored, they will of course see it. and you will fail inspection in most states for that code, but in some states they are somewhat lienient since the evap system is notoriously sensitive. you'll have to take your chance, it seems. tip: resetting the ecu will not save you, they will know you did that too and you will fail for that.

idream08

o ok, i didn't reset anything, one day i started the car and 10 seconds later I saw the light go off, and it hasn't come back on.