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Check Engine Light Service 2013 Toyota Highlander

What do you do when you’re driving along in your Toyota Highlander and suddenly, a yellow light illuminates on your dash and says "Check Engine". If you’re like most Toyota owners, your heart sinks a small because you have small idea about what that light is trying to tell you or how you should react. The fear of the unknown (or the rate 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 2013 Toyota Highlander checked as soon as probable. Ignoring that warning could end up causing mammoth damage to expensive engine components.

When your 2013 Toyota Highlander's ECM (electronic control module), which is the vehicle's onboard computer, finds a problem in the electronic control system that it can’t decent, a computer turns on your check engine light. This amber or yellow light is typically 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 scan tool that is used by our Toyota auto repair mechanics at Nalley Toyota of Roswell. There are also a number of somewhat inexpensive code readers that are designed for do-it-yourselfers, should you embrace that route too. While this code will tell you the issue that is detected, a true diagnosis still requires an professional professional to hint the issue and repair it.

2013 Toyota Highlander Check Engine Light

A flashing light indicates that the problem is relentless and if not taken care of shortly may result in major damage to the vehicle. If the check engine light in your 2013 Toyota Highlander starts flashing, that means that the problem needs prompt attention and your Toyota should be brought in shortly. This blinking light usually indicates a crucial engine misfire allowing unburned fuel to be dumped into the exhaust system. There it can hastily surge the temperature of the catalytic converter to a point where damage is feasible, requiring an expensive repair. Some owners ask if spark plugs cause the check engine light to flash? This can exclusively be the cause. A bad, historic or dirty spark plug can cause the engine to misfire. If your check engine light is flashing, please contact our squad of automotive specialists at Nalley Toyota of Roswell instantly 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 lavish repair.

What could cause the check engine light to come on in a 2013 Toyota Highlander?

When your check engine light comes on, this could be as uncomplicated as tightening or replacing your gas cap. Likewise, the check engine light could also be a warning of a alarming problem that could cause alarming damage to your engine and come with a significant repair bill. Depending on your make and model, the check engine light will illuminate or blink. A persistent glow typically means something less alarming but a flashing check engine light indicates that your vehicle’s engine is in alarming trouble and service is mandatory suddenly. If your check engine light is flashing in your 2013 Toyota Highlander, we highly recommend not to drive the vehicle and schedule Toyota service now. Below is a list of the most known reasons your check engine light can come on:

  • Your O2 Sensor (Oxygen Sensor) needs to be changed. The Oxygen sensor, daily 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 vehicle will be less pragmatic 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 break to your catalytic converter and your 2013 Toyota Highlander's spark plugs. The O2 sensor sends data to the vehicle’s onboard computer to embrace the polite mixture of air and fuel that enters the cylinders in your engine. A bad O2 sensor can also cause a car to fail an emissions test.
  • The battery is low or dead. The battery in your 2013 Toyota Highlander is every mandatory. 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 assorted decades ago, and they don't certainly require maintenance. The estimate of a new one depends on the type of Toyota you drive, but check our contemporary service coupons and specials.
  • Your catalytic converter is bad or going bad. The catalytic converter is a part of your 2013 Toyota Highlander’s exhaust system. The catalytic converter's function is to turn the carbon monoxide created by the combustion process into carbon dioxide. A damaged catalytic converter is usually 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 2013 Toyota Highlander 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 additional problems from overheating.
  • New Spark Plugs or Plug Wires are needed for your 2013 Toyota Highlander. The spark plugs are the part of your engine that ignites the air/fuel mixture in the combustion chamber of your vehicle. 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 bad 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 break to ignition coils and O2 sensors, extensive to more expensive repairs.
  • Your 2013 Toyota Highlander has a vacuum leak. Every Toyota Highlander has a vacuum system that performs a wide collection of functions. The vacuum system also helps decrease 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, extraordinarily if they’re exposed to exceptional heat or extreme frigid.
  • Issues with any aftermarket items. An aftermarket alarm, exhaust or additional item can wreak havoc on your 2013 Toyota Highlander if it’s not installed properly. These aftermarket parts and accessories can dump the battery, trigger the check engine light, or even stop the vehicle from starting. If these issues sound natural, bring your Highlander to Toyota and have our unit of certified mechanics ensure that your aftermarket items were installed correctly and aren't causing any issue. Getting accessories, extraordinarily aftermarket parts and accessories, or using OEM parts earliest place might cost a scant bit more but could save you money from having to get poor work and break caused by poor installation work corrected.
  • Your mass airflow sensor (known as MAF) needs to be changed. The mass airflow sensor in your Toyota Highlander is what determines how much fuel is needed 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 genuine changes, like altitude. If your Toyota Highlander is having trouble starting, idling rough or has a quick change in the position of the throttle pedal, this could be a sign of a bad mass airflow sensor.
  • One of the most daily and copious cause is that your 2013 Toyota Highlander gas cap is loose, damaged or missing. The gas cap for your 2013 Toyota Highlander 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 bad 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 hastily after you put gas in your 2013 Toyota Highlander, earliest 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.

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

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

2013 Toyota Highlander Check Engine Light Flashing

Although there are countless potential causes of an illuminated Check Engine Light, we know from years of providing Check Engine Light Diagnosis Service that there are plentiful ongoing causes including something as beneficial as a loose gas cap. Further ongoing reasons for a Check Engine Light are dirty mass airflow sensor, faulty head gasket, a malfunction with the fuel injection system, damaged oxygen sensor, faulty emissions control part, or defective spark plugs to name a little. No matter what is the root cause of the Check Engine Light, we have the Toyota Certified Technicians and the certified service protocol to isolate the root problem and repair it as crucial 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 2013 Toyota Highlander was designed with a high-technology performance monitoring system with a computer, and a series of sensors positioned strategically throughout the vehicle on its important systems. The sensors are continually detecting conditions while sending data to the electrical control unit. If the electrical control unit 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 specifically is erroneous 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 Hugely Qualified Service technological.

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

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

Is it safe to drive your 2013 Toyota Highlander with the check engine light on?

If the check engine light is flashing, this means that there is a important issue and it is recommended to service your Toyota Highlander shortly. This question is not very pure because it any depends on the severity of the issue. If the cause is a minor issue, such as a loose gas cap, it should be safe to drive. This is consistently indicated by a dependable glow of the check engine light. If you notice a difference in the performance of the vehicle, it could be an indication of a more critical 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 2013 Toyota to our certified mechanics as soon as probable.

What Does the Check Engine Light Mean?

One of the most typically misunderstood lights or indicators in your 2013 Toyota Highlander is the check engine light. The check engine light is part of the onboard diagnostics system, and displays in some discrete 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 2013 Toyota Highlander. Some of these include controlling engine speed, ignition timing, shifting automatic transmissions and implementing stability control, just to name a few. With that being said, the check engine light can mean a assortment of divergent things. It can be as pure as your gas cap being loose or as relentless as engine knocking. If your check engine light is on in your 2013 Toyota Highlander, contact Nalley Toyota of Roswell. Contact Nalley Toyota of Roswell today! Our Toyota service department can help you determine what code is turning your check engine light on or investigate why your check engine light is flashing.

Will the check engine light reset itself?

The check engine light on your 2013 Toyota Highlander will usually shut itself off if the issue or code that caused it to turn on is fixed. 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 functional, 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 2013 Toyota Highlander light will go off after about 20-40 miles. If you drive over that dump 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.

2013 Toyota Highlander Check Engine Light Codes

The check engine light turning on can be quite intimidating to see that little light on your vehicle’s dashboard hastily illuminates, but in reality, it is not something that should cause you to shut down in fear right 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 known as the OBD (on-board computer diagnostic system) in your Highlander. There are hundreds of various codes that your check engine light can illustrate. While that sounds daunting, with a little patience, tackling prime diagnostics will give you available knowledge about your automobile and will also allow that Check Engine Light to do what it is really supposed to do: be your guide. Unfortunately, discernible and helpful automobile symptoms do not always accompany an illuminated Check Engine Light. Since there are hundreds of exact OBD codes, there are also hundreds of exact reasons for the light, including:

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

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