2012 Toyota Highlander Check Engine Light

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

When your check engine light comes on, this could be as effortless as tightening or replacing your gas cap. Likewise, the check engine light could also be a warning of a hazardous problem that could cause hazardous damage to your engine and come with a extraordinary repair bill. Depending on your make and model, the check engine light will illuminate or blink. A steady glow frequently means something less hazardous but a twinkling check engine light indicates that your vehicle’s engine is in hazardous trouble and service is needed immediately. If your check engine light is twinkling in your 2012 Toyota Highlander, we extremely imply not to drive the car and schedule Toyota service today. Below is a list of the most typical reasons your check engine light can come on:

• The battery is low or dead. The battery in your 2012 Toyota Highlander is every fantastic. 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 few decades ago, and they don't truly require maintenance. The price of a new one depends on the type of Toyota you drive, but check our common service coupons and specials.
• Issues with any aftermarket items. An aftermarket alarm, exhaust or contrasting item can wreak havoc on your 2012 Toyota Highlander if it’s not installed correctly. These aftermarket parts and accessories can discard the battery, trigger the check engine light, or even prohibit the vehicle from starting. If these issues sound regular, bring your Highlander 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, especially aftermarket parts and accessories, or using OEM parts first place might cost a small bit more but could save you money from having to get poor work and damage caused by poor installation work corrected.
• Your mass airflow sensor (known as MAF) needs to be replaced. The mass airflow sensor in your Toyota Highlander is what determines how much fuel is needed to run your engine efficiently by measuring the payment of air entering the engine. As a part of the engine management system, the mass airflow sensor helps adjust to authentic changes, like altitude. If your Toyota Highlander is having trouble starting, idling rough or has a precipitous change in the position of the throttle pedal, this could be a sign of a harmful mass airflow sensor.
• Your 2012 Toyota Highlander has a vacuum leak. Every Toyota Highlander has a vacuum system that performs a immense assortment of functions. The vacuum system also helps cut down 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 barren out and crack, especially if they’re exposed to direct heat or extreme chilled.
• One of the most regular and frequent cause is that your 2012 Toyota Highlander gas cap is loose, damaged or missing. The gas cap for your 2012 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 harmful fuel cap? If your gas cap is old 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 costly. If your check engine light turns on instantly after you put gas in your 2012 Toyota Highlander, first thing you should check is to make courageous the cap isn’t loose — or that it's still on your car’s roof or at the fuel pump.
• Your catalytic converter is harmful or going harmful. The catalytic converter is a part of your 2012 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 ordinarily caused by neglected maintenance, which is why Nalley Toyota Union City 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 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 contrasting problems from overheating.
• Your O2 Sensor (Oxygen Sensor) needs to be replaced. The Oxygen sensor, known as the O2 sensor, measures the payment of oxygen in your exhaust system. If there is excess oxygen in your exhaust system, fuel burns faster and your vehicle will be less direct 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 Highlander's spark plugs. The O2 sensor sends data to the vehicle’s onboard computer to pick the right mixture of air and fuel that enters the cylinders in your engine. A harmful O2 sensor can also cause a car to fail an emissions test.
• New Spark Plugs or Plug Wires are needed for your 2012 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 harmful or old, 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, considerable to more costly repairs.

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

The average cost for a check engine light diagnosis & testing is mostly between $88 and $111. The helpful news, Nalley Toyota Union City offers complimentary multi-point inspections and free diagnostics, in most cases, to help mean 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 risky failure like a bad catalytic converter or a problem with one of the car's oxygen sensors, so it helpful to get the respectable code reading and diagnosis.

What Does the Check Engine Light Mean?

One of the most generally misunderstood lights or indicators in your 2012 Toyota Highlander is the check engine light. The check engine light is part of the onboard diagnostics system, and displays in a few distinctive 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 Highlander. Some of these include controlling engine speed, shifting automatic transmissions ignition timing, and implementing stability control, just to name numerous. With that being said, the check engine light can mean a variety of tall things. It can be as polite as your gas cap being loose or as competent as engine knocking. If your check engine light is on in your 2012 Toyota Highlander, contact Nalley Toyota Union City. Contact Nalley Toyota Union City today! Our Toyota service department can assist you find out what code is turning your check engine light on or diagnose why your check engine light is flashing.

2012 Toyota Highlander Check Engine Light Codes

The check engine light turning on can be quite intimidating to see that tiny light on your vehicle’s dashboard suddenly 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 disparate codes that your check engine light can hint. While that sounds daunting, with a tiny patience, tackling paramount diagnostics will give you conducive knowledge about your vehicle and will also allow that Check Engine Light to do what it is certainly supposed to do: be your guide. Unfortunately, clear and helpful vehicle symptoms do not always accompany an illuminated Check Engine Light. Since there are hundreds of feasible OBD codes, there are also hundreds of feasible reasons for the light, including:

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

This is why it is essential 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 relevant concern, you risk detrimental your car additional by not repairing the issue right away. When your check engine light comes on, you should get it checked out abruptly by a certified Toyota mechanic. Call Nalley Toyota Union City at 7702848361 today or schedule your check engine light service online today!

Will the check engine light reset itself?

The check engine light on your 2012 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 favorable, 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 Highlander light will go off after about 20-40 miles. If you drive over that amount and the light is still on, you will need to transport it in to Nalley Toyota Union City so the light and code can be double-checked and reset.

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

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

Check Engine Light Service 2012 Toyota Highlander

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

When your 2012 Toyota Highlander's ECM (electronic control module), which is the vehicle's onboard computer, finds a problem in the electrical control system that it can’t authentic, 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 probe tool that is used by our Toyota auto repair mechanics at Nalley Toyota Union City. There are also a number of rather low-priced code readers that are designed for do-it-yourselfers, should you choose that route too. While this code will tell you the issue that is detected, a true diagnosis still requires an experienced technical to elect for the issue and repair it.

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

This question is not very simple 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 safe to drive. This is normally indicated by a consistent glow of the check engine light. If you notice a difference in the performance of the car, it could be an indication of a more impressive problem. If the check engine light is flashing, this means that there is a impressive issue and it is recommended to service your Toyota Highlander swiftly. Call the experts at Nalley Toyota Union City by dialing 7702848361 so you can describe the issues. Or reduce your speed and bring your 2012 Toyota to our certified mechanics as soon as feasible.

2012 Toyota Highlander Check Engine Light Flashing

Although there are countless likely causes of an illuminated Check Engine Light, we know from years of providing Check Engine Light Diagnosis Service that there are bountiful easy causes incorporating something as easy as a loose gas cap. Individual easy reasons for a Check Engine Light are dirty mass airflow sensor, faulty head gasket, faulty emissions control part, a malfunction with the fuel injection system, damaged oxygen sensor, 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 Technicians and the certified service protocol to isolate the root problem and repair it as needed 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 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 hard systems. The sensors are continually detecting conditions while sending data to the electronic control unit. If the electronic control unit detects that the data is out of factory specifications, the Check Engine Light illuminates 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 amiss nor what to do about it. That’s where we come in; Nalley Toyota Union City provides a Check Engine Light Diagnosis Service that isolates the core problem and gives you a recommendation on what to do next from a Particularly Qualified Service mechanical.

2012 Toyota Highlander Check Engine Light

If the check engine light in your 2012 Toyota Highlander starts shining, that means that the problem needs immediate attention and your Toyota should be brought in expeditiously. A shining light expresses that the problem is effective and if not taken care of expeditiously may result in major damage to the vehicle. This blinking light commonly indicates a relentless engine misfire allowing unburned fuel to be discharged into the exhaust system. There it can promptly increase the temperature of the catalytic converter to a point where damage is likely, requiring an expensive repair. Some owners ask if spark plugs cause the check engine light to flash? This can strictly be the cause. A harmful, erstwhile or dirty spark plug can cause the engine to misfire. 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 pricey repair. If your check engine light is flashing, please contact our company of automotive experts at Nalley Toyota Union City expeditiously by calling 7702848361.