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What could cause the check engine light to come on in a 2012 Toyota RAV4?

When your check engine light comes on, this could be as routine as tightening or replacing your gas cap. Likewise, the check engine light could also be a warning of a productive problem that could cause productive damage to your engine and come with a exceptional repair bill. Depending on your make and model, the check engine light will illuminate or blink. A convenient glow commonly means something less productive but a glaring check engine light expresses that your vehicle’s engine is in productive trouble and service is decisive promptly. If your check engine light is glaring in your 2012 Toyota RAV4, we tremendously recommend not to commute the vehicle and schedule Toyota service today. Below is a list of the most innate reasons your check engine light can come on:

  • The battery is low or dead. The battery in your 2012 Toyota RAV4 is every substantial. Without a car battery, your car won’t start, light up the road ahead, play the radio or charge your phone. Today’s car batteries last much longer than they did a lot decades ago, and they don't totally require maintenance. The price of a new one depends on the type of Toyota you drive, but check our current service coupons and specials.
  • Issues with any aftermarket items. An aftermarket alarm, exhaust or alternative item can wreak havoc on your 2012 Toyota RAV4 if it’s not installed well. These aftermarket parts and accessories can drain the battery, trigger the check engine light, or even prevent the car from starting. If these issues sound commonplace, bring your RAV4 to Toyota and have our team of certified mechanics ensure that your aftermarket items were installed correctly and aren't causing any issue. Getting accessories, exceptionally aftermarket parts and accessories, or using OEM parts authentic place might cost a little bit more but could save you money from having to get poor work and damage caused by poor installation work corrected.
  • New Spark Plugs or Plug Wires are basic for your 2012 Toyota RAV4. The spark plugs are the part of your engine that ignites the air/fuel mixture in the combustion chamber of your car. This explosion is what moves the pistons and makes the engine run. The spark plug wires deliver the spark from the ignition coil to the spark plugs. If your spark plugs or spark plug wires are destructive or departed, you will experience poor performance and reduced power. In some extreme cases, your engine will have trouble starting or continuing to run. Worn spark plugs and plug wires can cause clogged catalytic converter or damage to ignition coils and O2 sensors, big to more expensive repairs.
  • Your catalytic converter is destructive or going destructive. The catalytic converter is a part of your 2012 Toyota RAV4’s exhaust system. The catalytic converter's work is to turn the carbon monoxide created by the combustion process into carbon dioxide. A damaged catalytic converter is naturally caused by neglected maintenance, which is why Nalley Toyota of Roswell offers a complimentary multi-point inspection with every Toyota service. If you have an issue with your catalytic converter and don't get it repaired, your 2012 Toyota RAV4 will not pass an emissions test, show a lack of engine performance and will negatively affect your fuel economy. Your car may run at a higher temperature, too, which can cause alternative problems from overheating.
  • One of the most pure and many cause is that your 2012 Toyota RAV4 gas cap is loose, damaged or missing. The gas cap for your 2012 Toyota RAV4 serves multiple purposes. It prevents gas fumes from being released when you aren't driving, it seals the fuel system and helps maintain pressure within the fuel tank. What happens if you have a destructive fuel cap? If your gas cap is departed or has a ruptured seal, you can lose fuel through evaporation which will result in more trips to the pump. Luckily, to replace a gas cap isn't expensive. If your check engine light turns on instantly after you put gas in your 2012 Toyota RAV4, authentic thing you should check is to make sure the cap isn’t loose — or that it's still on your car’s roof or at the fuel pump.
  • Your 2012 Toyota RAV4 has a vacuum leak. Every Toyota RAV4 has a vacuum system that performs a wide mixture of functions. The vacuum system also helps lessen harmful emissions by routing the fumes as gasoline evaporates through the engine. If you notice that your RPM is high in idle or randomly surges, a vacuum leak could be the cause. Over time, vacuum hoses can dry out and crack, exceptionally if they’re exposed to exciting heat or extreme charming.
  • Your mass airflow sensor (known as MAF) needs to be replaced. The mass airflow sensor in your Toyota RAV4 is what determines how much fuel is basic to run your engine efficiently by measuring the amount of air entering the engine. As a part of the engine management system, the mass airflow sensor helps adjust to attentive changes, like altitude. If your Toyota RAV4 is having trouble starting, idling rough or has a rapid change in the position of the throttle pedal, this could be a sign of a destructive mass airflow sensor.
  • Your O2 Sensor (Oxygen Sensor) needs to be replaced. The Oxygen sensor, classical as the O2 sensor, measures the amount of oxygen in your exhaust system. If there is excess oxygen in your exhaust system, fuel burns faster and your car will be less functional when it comes to fuel economy. So what happens if I don’t replace your O2 sensor? A faulty sensor can not only affect your miles per gallon, but it can cause damage to your catalytic converter and your 2012 Toyota RAV4's spark plugs. The O2 sensor sends data to the vehicle’s onboard computer to mean the proper mixture of air and fuel that enters the cylinders in your engine. A destructive O2 sensor can also cause a car to fail an emissions test.

2012 Toyota RAV4 Check Engine Light

If the check engine light in your 2012 Toyota RAV4 starts flashing, that means that the problem needs immediate attention and your Toyota should be brought in expeditiously. A flashing light illustrates that the problem is hazardous and if not taken care of expeditiously may result in broad damage to the vehicle. This flashing light usually implies a strict engine misfire allowing unburned fuel to be dumped into the exhaust system. There it can immediately boost the temperature of the catalytic converter to a point where wear and tear is feasible, requiring an expensive repair. A Miniature owners ask if spark plugs cause the check engine light to flash? This can explicitly be the cause. A bad, classical or dirty spark plug can cause the engine to misfire. If your check engine light is flashing, please contact our team of automotive experts at Nalley Toyota of Roswell suddenly by calling 7707637398. If the problem is ignored or you continue to drive, this can spread to the spark plug wires, catalytic converter, or ignition coils which can lead to a very expensive repair.

How many miles can you drive with the check engine light?

It could be anything from a bad sensor to plug wires needing to be changed. The safest bet is to decipher the code and then plan your strategy accordingly. If you check engine light is flashing, we endorse that you pull over and contact Nalley Toyota of Roswell to help determine if your vehicle is safe to drive in or if we endorse a tow truck. Since each check engine code has its own level of severity, it is difficult to predict how innumerable miles you can drive with the warning light on.

What Does the Check Engine Light Mean?

One of the most commonly misunderstood lights or indicators in your 2012 Toyota RAV4 is the check engine light. The check engine light is part of the onboard diagnostics system, and displays in a few disparate ways. It can say "Check Engine", it can be a symbol of an engine, it can even be a combination of both. This light illuminates in either an amber or red color and is part of the diagnostics system found on your vehicle. Onboard computers increasingly have controlled and monitored vehicle performance since the 80s and do a variety of things for your 2012 Toyota RAV4. Some of these include shifting automatic transmissions controlling engine speed, ignition timing, and implementing stability control, just to name a tiny. With that being said, the check engine light can mean a class of distinctive things. It can be as prevalent as your gas cap being loose or as hazardous as engine knocking. If your check engine light is on in your 2012 Toyota RAV4, contact Nalley Toyota of Roswell. Contact Nalley Toyota of Roswell today! Our Toyota service department can help you find out what code is turning your check engine light on or diagnose why your check engine light is flashing.

Will the check engine light reset itself?

The check engine light on your 2012 Toyota RAV4 will usually shut itself off if the issue or code that caused it to turn on is serviced. For example, if the cause of your check engine light coming on was a loose gas cap, if it's tightened, the light will turn itself off. Likewise, if your catalytic converter is going realistic, and you did a lot of stop-and-go driving, that may have turned on the check engine light due to the high usage of the converter. In most cases, your 2012 Toyota RAV4 light will go off after about 20-40 miles. If you drive over that fee and the light is still on, you will need to bring it in to Nalley Toyota of Roswell so the light and code can be double-checked and reset.

2012 Toyota RAV4 Check Engine Light Codes

The check engine light turning on can be quite intimidating to see that slight light on your vehicle’s dashboard quickly illuminates, but in reality, it is not something that should cause you to shut down in fear honorable away. If you hear the term, diagnostic trouble codes (DTC), these are just another name for check engine light codes. These are automotive computer codes stored by the ECM, also well-known as the OBD (on-board computer diagnostic system) in your RAV4. There are hundreds of contrasting codes that your check engine light can represent. While that sounds daunting, with a slight patience, tackling vital diagnostics will give you factual knowledge about your vehicle and will also allow that Check Engine Light to do what it is really supposed to do: be your guide. Unfortunately, visible and essential vehicle symptoms do not always accompany an illuminated Check Engine Light. Since there are hundreds of available OBD codes, there are also hundreds of available reasons for the light, including:

  • Transmission issues
  • Loose Gas Cap or Missing Gas Cap
  • O2 Sensor
  • Emissions controls issues
  • Ignition system faults
  • Bad Spark Plugs
  • Old Battery
  • Computer output circuit issues
  • Fuel and air metering systems problems

This is why it is dangerous for someone who does not have a lot of automotive knowledge to not assume what a code means. If the engine light comes on due to a risky concern, you risk harmful your car further by not repairing the issue proper away. Call Nalley Toyota of Roswell at 7707637398 today or schedule your check engine light service online today! When your check engine light comes on, you should get it checked out suddenly by a certified Toyota mechanic.

Check Engine Light Service 2012 Toyota RAV4

What do you do when you’re driving along in your Toyota RAV4 and hastily, a yellow light illuminates on your dash and says "Check Engine". If you’re like most Toyota owners, your heart sinks a tiny because you have tiny idea about what that light is trying to tell you or how you should react. The fear of the unknown (or the cost of the unknown) can be just as stressful. But take a deep breath and realize the light coming on doesn’t mean you have to pull the car over to the side of the road and call a tow truck, but it is recommended that you get your 2012 Toyota RAV4 checked as soon as potential. Ignoring that warning could end up causing major damage to expensive engine components.

When your 2012 Toyota RAV4's ECM (electronic control module), which is the vehicle's onboard computer, finds a problem in the computerized control system that it can’t decent, a computer turns on your check engine light. This amber or yellow light is consistently labeled “check engine” or “service engine soon”, or the light may be nothing more than a picture of an engine, or a picture of the engine with the word “check.”

When the light turns on, the ECM stores an engine code or “trouble code” in its memory that identifies as the issue, whether it's a sensor or a failing engine part. This code is read with an electronic audit tool that is used by our Toyota auto repair mechanics at Nalley Toyota of Roswell. There are also a number of relatively inexpensive code readers that are designed for do-it-yourselfers, should you elect for that route too. While this code will tell you the issue that is detected, a true diagnosis still requires an competent professional to elect for the issue and repair it.

How much does it cost to get the engine light checked?

The average estimate for a check engine light diagnosis & testing is typically between $88 and $111. The gigantic news, Nalley Toyota of Roswell offers complimentary multi-point inspections and free diagnostics, in most cases, to help represent the cause of your check engine light. The check engine light warns of issues ranging from a gas cap that's not properly tightened to a more alarming failure like a bad catalytic converter or a problem with one of the car's oxygen sensors, so it gigantic to get the suitable code reading and diagnosis.

Is it safe to drive your 2012 Toyota RAV4 with the check engine light on?

If the check engine light is flashing, this means that there is a rigid issue and it is recommended to service your Toyota RAV4 shortly. This question is not remarkably common because it all depends on the severity of the issue. If the cause is a minor issue, such as a loose gas cap, it should be protected to drive. This is mostly indicated by a consistent glow of the check engine light. If you notice a difference in the performance of the automobile, it could be an indication of a more stringent problem. Call the experts at Nalley Toyota of Roswell by dialing 7707637398 so you can describe the issues. Or reduce your speed and bring your 2012 Toyota to our certified mechanics as soon as conceivable.

2012 Toyota RAV4 Check Engine Light Flashing

Although there are several ability causes of an illuminated Check Engine Light, we know from years of providing Check Engine Light Diagnosis Service that there are several important causes including something as simple as a loose gas cap. Discrete important reasons for a Check Engine Light are a malfunction with the fuel injection system, dirty mass airflow sensor, damaged oxygen sensor, faulty head gasket, faulty emissions control part, or defective spark plugs to name a few. No matter what is the root cause of the Check Engine Light, we have the Toyota Certified Mechanics and the certified service protocol to isolate the root problem and repair it as mandatory to restore factory specifications. When this happens, the Check Engine Light turns off, and you can leave the service center knowing that your Toyota issue was fixed.

Every 2012 Toyota RAV4 was designed with a high-technology performance monitoring system with a computer, and a series of sensors positioned strategically throughout the vehicle on its critical systems. The sensors are ordinarily detecting conditions while sending data to the electrical control company. If the electrical control company detects that the data is out of factory specifications, the Check Engine Light lights up telling you that there is a problem. However, that is the limitation of the Check Engine Light – it won’t tell you what exactly is culpable nor what to do about it. That’s where we come in; Nalley Toyota of Roswell provides a Check Engine Light Diagnosis Service that isolates the core problem and gives you a recommendation on what to do next from a Remarkably Qualified Service trained.