Management Light

August 16, 2008

Hi Folks.

Long time - no post. Took my wifes '02 2.0NRG for it's MOT yesterday and it passed fine. However as I was driving home, the engine light came on. I stopped at a couple of places for a couple of minutes and the second time I started up, the light was off but came back on shortly. Got home and did my usual trick of disconnecting the Battery and unplugging/replugging everything in the engine bay in case of a dodgy connection/corrosion somewhere. I conencted it all back up, started the engine for a couple fo minutes and the light stayed out. I went out for a short run later and the light cmae back on and stayed on. I'm about to give it a kicking up the local by-pass to see if this burns any built-up crap off the O2 sensors. The emissions test results were bang-on and the light wasn't lit before it got tested. The car doesn't get used much - hence me giving it a kicking shortly.

Speaking of O2 sensors, are there 4 on the RAV??? The only reason I can think of for this is that it has two cats with a pre and post cat sensor for each?

August 16, 2008

1st thing you need to do is get the car to a garage and get the codes read, once you have the codes you can find out what the fault is. The fault could be something fairly simple or it could be something more serious and if it is a serious fault the last thing you want to do is give it a kicking up the local bypass.

As for trying to burn any built up crap off the 02 sensors.. don't you think the engine will be hot enough to do it in normal driving??.. if it is a faulty/dirty 02 sensor then you have to replace it rather than trying to clean it, this site could be of use...

https://www.automedicsupply.com/index.php?

As for why the light would come on after the MOT test... is it a diesel car? I don't know much about the RAVS sorry... if so, during the diesel test they have to rev the engine quite hard for the emissions test, other than that I see no reason why putting the car through a test will cause the CEL to light up.

August 17, 2008

Hi Davy. Thanks for the comments, but so far a kicking has extinguished the light. I rate myself as a competent DIY mechanic (I can takle jobs that Haynes reckons are five spanners :)). The car didn't 'feel' wrong so I was happy that it was just a sensor that had given a weird signal at some point. So far so good.

A friend has managed to clean crap off sensors in the past (OK, on a Saxo!) using a blowtorch with good results. It maybe takes it a bit hotter than the exhaust gases get it.