my warning lights came on

[skibama]

Hey everyone...so I let my wife drive my 4runner to work on Friday, which is all of 9 miles away. We get in it to go to dinner last night and I notice that the Center diff lock light is on, along with the ABS and all the traction control lights, AND the check engine light is on.
Well, the center diff was not locked, so I went to drive it out of the driveway and it seemed fine. I decided to drive to the restaurant, which is less than a mile away, and it drove fine. When we got back in the car, the lights were off and again, it drove fine.
Any thoughts as to what might have caused this? And the wife swears she didn't touch anything...and no, she won't be driving it for a while.
Thanks for your help!

 

[toyoboy]

i let my wife drive my bmw... and when i washed the car the following weekend i found the front spoiler scractched..she said the same thing "I didn't do it"...and I'm thinking ...we're the only two dirves in the house......never again...anyways if the check engine light came on there should be a code stored. take it to the dealer and see whats going on.

and let this be a lesson to all you husbands out there...

 

[RL4673]

That happened to my '04 and it was a problem with the catalytic converter. Might be worth getting it looked at.

 

[Dush]

Did she fill gas in the car? Check the gas cap.

Often when the check engine light comes on, the simplest explanation could be that she left the gas cap off (or not fully tight) after filling gas, which will set off the O2 sensor and the check engine light will come on.

As for the other warning lights, could just be an intermittent problem.

Electrical gremlins? Didn't think Toyota had them

 

[Camprunner]

Did she plug a portable hair dryer into the aux power outlet ? Them darn things will do it every time

 

[PaulSula]

that happens to mine whenever I put a large drain on my battery with my engine off

 

[blindside]

Did she plug a portable hair dryer into the aux power outlet ? Them darn things will do it every time

hahaha! my wife always tells me "why the hell won't you let me drive the 4runner?" i always say it's not gonna run good unless it's me driving... LOL

I'm not too sure why all the lights went on for it never happened to me but all i can think of is the gas cap if she filled up gas, just drive it more and if you see it happen again, off to the dealer you go...

 

[dingo]

Ditto on the gas cap. My wife filled up the tank and didn't secure the cap tight enough. Sure enough, when I checked, the cap wasn't even seated and popped out when she started the engine and the tank pressurized. The VSC off, engine, etc. lights came on. I just disconnected the battery for a minute or so and all the lights reset. No problems since.

 

[skibama]

Did she plug a portable hair dryer into the aux power outlet ? Them darn things will do it every time

Ha, that made me laugh...
No, she swears she didn't do anything. I tend to believe her, because all she did was take it to work...and she didn't even fill it up (thanks dear).
Anyway, everything seems fine now, but I'm going to take it in just to make sure. I"m just scared me because it reminds me of my Jeep days when every other day some kind of electrical problem would happen. Talk about Gremlins in those cars!

 

[gizmopt2002]

Ahhh!! That what has been happening to me!! But i was driving it. lol. It's pissing me off. The techs couldn't find out what was wrong unless I pay them $98\h. Currently I'm vacationing in Vegas so I don't have the car, but I am like 98% sure that the gas cap is tight. Oh also, whenever the CEL is on I get P0500, which is speed sensor A failure. Sorry to hijack the tread, but its related.