3 clicks

The wealth of information I can find on the internet with just a few minutes of googling never seizes to amaze me.

Yesterday driving from Northern California to Santa Barbara, after I filled up my tank and driving off the gas station, I noticed the check engine light stayed on. I pulled over and checked for obvious leaks, engine oil and transmission fluid. That's pretty much all I know to check. I had an oil change recently, so there could have been some loose cap somewhere but didn't see anything obvious. So, I just kept driving. I had my eyes on the temp gauge, just in case. I was dreading to take the car to the dealership. I was afraid they'd hook up their diagnostics computer and charge me 50 bucks for 5 minutes.

This morning, I googled some keywords: "check engine light rav4". After 15-20 minutes of looking through various automobile discussion board posts, I came upon a very simple suggestion: "Make sure the fuel tank cap is turned at least 3 clicks after refilling; after that, remove the EFI fuse for 60 seconds and replace it". Well, that's something I can do without getting dirty. I know where the fuel cap is, I wasn't sure about the EFI fuse, but I read that it was under the hood inside the black box. So, I followed the suggestions. I opened and re-closed the fuel tank cap with at least 3 clicks and then opened the black fuse/relay box under the hood. The fuses were clearly marked on the underside of the cover, thank you Toyota. There were three EFI fuses marked as EFI1, EFI2 and EFI3. Removed them all with the extraction tool and replaced them after 60 seconds. Restarted the car and voila, check engine light was gone. Thank you google and Internet.

9/22/04 update: well, actually the check engine light came back on intermittently, even after our mechanic cleared it with a computer. We had to take the car to the dealer and they ended up upgrading the software in the car's computer. So far so good.