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2003 Corolla Ce


chefdriver
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First let me apologize if this is in the wrong location. Before I became a member I was reading topics specific to this code but I don't see a search box within a particular topic area. The car is a 2003 Toyota Corolla and this is a corolla forum so that is why I chose to post here. This may be a little long but I think all is prevalent.

I bought my 2003 Toyota Corolla with 189,000 miles from my wife's niece. It came with the check engine light on. My mechanic who is small by nature (his business is small)put it on an OBD II scanner and it came up with two codes. P0171 and P0420. The second code (I think that was the number I don't remember the correct number) indicated the catlytic converter was at low efficiency. So I got a good deal on a cat at a local Autozone (someone else ordered and didn't pick up so I got a reduced cost)it was the correct cat for my car. I replaced the cat and the code was reset. I was happy. I drove the car all day doing various errands, starting and stopping the car. I drove home about 20 miles and parked the car for the night. The next day my wife took the car to work, about 10 minutes into the ride the CEL came back on. This time the code was P0171. My mechanic friend suggested I take it to the Toyota dealer he said their code machine was specific to Toyota and could give me a more exact reading on what the cause is. I went to Toyota and they said the same thing. It cost $60.00 to have the dealer scan it (versus free at autozone.) Horsepuckey. Their scanner was no more accurate or informational then my regular mechanics was. They took off the MAF sensor cleaned it and put it back, reset the codes and I left after paying the bill. Same thing ran the car all day, on and off and drove home. Next morning the CEL came back on. I called Toyota back and rescheduled another scan for FREE this past Friday. More info. I get great gas mileage: 33mpg The issue is hesitation after it warms up upon acceleration. The car does NOT have rough idle, which seems to be an issue when I research the P0171 code. Just hesitation accelerating from a stop at a stop sign or red light. The hestitation is severe enough that when you pull out you think it's going to stall. Last Friday I went back to Toyota who did a "freeze frame" look up to see the conditions when the CEL came on. Car was going 30mph and accelerating. They check vacuum and that seemed OK, no leaks detected. They checked fuel pressure and that was OK too. The Toyota mechanic suggested I replace the fuel injectors, but try adding fuel injector cleaner first to see if that fixes it. I bought some "LUCAS" fuel injector cleaner and upper cyl lubricant and put the appropriate amount in for the amount of fuel. Check Engine Light came back on the next day. Like I said car has 197,000 miles and other then this problem runs great, but I need reasonable suggestions without rebuilding the car a piece at a time. Thanks in advance and I apologize for the length of the post, but the more info up front would help multiple reposts answering problems not placed in original post. Thanks again.

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