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Help. Driving home from work and this happened

14K views 44 replies 18 participants last post by  Tincan 
#1 ·
Hi guys was hoping I could get some input from you all. Besides maybe getting in a wreck, one of the most unfortunate things has happened.

Just a forewarning this post is way to long and probably full of many, many unnecessary details. But I’m still pretty upset with the whole situation so its cathartic just writing it all out. Thank you all.

Here is the short version: I was driving home from work tonight and the car started to surge pretty bad. Later the check engine light came on along with other warning lights.

Here’s the whole story:
On my way to work this morning, right as I pulled in, the low fuel light came on. Didn’t mean to get that low but it snuck up on me. Figured after work I’ll fuel it up. Still had 22 miles till empty according to the dash.
After work I started it up and let warm up a bit before heading to the gas station down the street to gas up.
On the way to the gas station is where issues started to become present.
It was surging pretty decent under any type of load. No matter the gear. Idled fine at a stop light though. At first I just thought that maybe it was lower on fuel than it was showing and was just starting to run out of gas.
I made it to the gas station and filled up. Only took 11.4 gallons of premium. That was puzzling since the capacity for these is 13.2 gallons. Still a little under two gallons left in the tank.
After leaving the gas station it was still surging the same and then while sitting at a light about 2 minutes from the station the check engine light came on. A few other warning lights also popped up.
At this point I realized I now actually have a problem and drove back to my work and parked it. I had my girlfriend drive to me and bring me my code reader and I got 4 codes pulled from it.

This is where I’m at now. Going to leave the car at work over night and figure out what to do in the morning. Most likely take it to the dealership since it’s still under warranty obviously, but it still just pains me that something has gone wrong already with my brand new GR. :(

I have a few theories I’m working on but was hoping maybe one of you could shed some light on the situation. Maybe it’s a common problem I’m not aware of or something…

Currently thinking it’s the fuel pump or the high pressure fuel system for the direct injection has air in it and needs to be bled/primed. Almost like a diesel when it’s ran out of fuel.

Attached is pictures of the warning lights and also what codes were thrown.

Thanks again if you read this small novel of a post. I appreciate any of your input.

Speedometer Gauge Trip computer Measuring instrument Personal luxury car

Mobile phone Telephony Telephone Portable communications device Communication Device
Mobile phone Telephone Telephony Communication Device Portable communications device
Mobile phone Telephony Telephone Communication Device Mobile device
Mobile phone Telephony Communication Device Telephone Mobile device
Mobile phone Telephony Telephone Communication Device Mobile device
 
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#5 ·
Its never fun to be left stranded by his new car. But it is somewhat normal to have issues at the beginning since parts tend to fail when they are defective out of the box or way later when worned out.

If the car would be out of warranty I would say to check the long&short term fuel trims and AFR to see how badly out of spec it is and maybe cycle the battery to reset the long term fuel trim. It may come back close to 0 if the issue was simply fuel starvation. But that would be surprising imo.

But in your case don't mess with it and let the dealer tow it with all the codes as is.
 
#7 ·
I briefly looked at freeze frame data when I had the scanner hooked up to it and the long term and short term trims were both fairly close to 0. One was zero actually. I think short term. Which complicates things more considering it seems the computer isn’t trying to compensate. That leads me in the direction of fuel pump or something to do with the high pressure fuel side of the direct injection.
I didn’t look at PIDs in real time because I didn’t want to run the engine again if I could help it. So the LTFT and STFT could have changed since then. I was just looking at freeze frame date from when the codes were set.

Regardless I’m about to call the dealership near my work and see when I can have it towed in. Yay warranty.
I went to school to be a mechanic so bringing my car to a shop to have someone else work on it is somewhat foreign to me.

Thanks everyone for the support so far. I’ll do my best to keep the thread updated.
 
#8 ·
The best option you have is to take it to the dealership.

While you may want to diagnose it yourself, and if you're like me, work on your cars, or are familiar enough with them, you want to "see" for yourself what could be the issue.

But... stop all that. It's too new and too early in the ownership to try and dive into the reasons why, take it back to the dealership, tell them your experience, and wait for them to tell you their findings.

Nothing really you can do (or should on a new GRC) other than having Toyota look at it. It definitely sucks, but I have been there before with new cars, they are all machines, with computers and mechanical parts that can all fail.

Hopefully, it is not a big problem, but I wouldn't beat myself up or spend too much time overthinking the possibilities until the Toyota dealership has had their hands on telling me what could be the problem. If they can't figure it out, seeing as how the car is new, I'm more inclined to leave it with them because the worst-case scenario is... the car is a lemon, they take it back, replace it or pay you back.
 
#10 ·
Also check that the battery connections are tight, sometimes dealers remove battery cables when cars are in showroom, and a loose ground cable can cause just about any error code.
 
#15 ·
Small update for everyone following this thread.

Dropped off the car this morning at the dealership. Luckily avoided the tow because I was only 10 minutes from a good dealership and it was still running mostly normal except when accelerating from a dead stop so I was able to nurse it over. Not ideal but didn’t want to wait the time for a tow truck and deal with that whole other can of worms.

They had it in the shop most of the day. Finally before they close I talk to my service advisor and basically where they are at now is they don’t know exactly what’s wrong. He told me something is definitely wrong (no shit :rolleyes:) but they don’t know exactly what it is. Probably a module not 100% certain.
The problem they are having is that the car is so new and unique that they have to call Toyota and be advised on what to do and what to test.
So obviously because of that they will need it over night into tomorrow. I’ll keep you all posted.

At least I got a sweet ass 21’ Camry Hybrid for a loaner . :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 
#17 ·
Small update for everyone following this thread.

Dropped off the car this morning at the dealership. Luckily avoided the tow because I was only 10 minutes from a good dealership and it was still running mostly normal except when accelerating from a dead stop so I was able to nurse it over. Not ideal but didn’t want to wait the time for a tow truck and deal with that whole other can of worms.

They had it in the shop most of the day. Finally before they close I talk to my service advisor and basically where they are at now is they don’t know exactly what’s wrong. He told me something is definitely wrong (no shit :rolleyes:) but they don’t know exactly what it is. Probably a module not 100% certain.
The problem they are having is that the car is so new and unique that they have to call Toyota and be advised on what to do and what to test.
So obviously because of that they will need it over night into tomorrow. I’ll keep you all posted.

At least I got a sweet ass 21’ Camry Hybrid for a loaner . :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
Lmao they only gave me an xse Camry when they had my Supra haha you’re ballin
 
#19 ·
Following as well. Sorry to hear that you’re going through this. I’m sure Toyota will figure it out and fix it for you. Just be prepared for some wait time if any parts are needed. There’s no telling what parts, if any, that have been stocked up for this car because it’s so new.
 
#21 ·
Thank you. I hope they figure it out soon as well. Yeah I’m trying to prepare myself for that along with any other worst case scenario, whatever that may be.
Fingers still crossed it’s something super simple and common like a fuse or something.. 😅
 
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#22 ·
Another update.
Service department finally called me back this morning and they are thinking it’s the Air/fuel ratio sensor. They are not 100% that’s it but that’s the first step they are taking.
(Personally I don’t think that’s it but I’m not the mechanic in this situation. Feels like that’s just replacing a thermometer when it tells you have a fever instead of figuring out why you have a fever. Find the cause not replace the component that tells you the symptoms. That’s what my instructors used to say. But anyway..)

As expected the parts will take a while to get here. The system is telling them 4+ days which is the longest out it goes. He told me the part could be in Tennessee or yet to be manufactured in Japan. The system just defaults to 4+ days.
 
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#23 ·
Another update.
Service department finally called me back this morning and they are thinking it’s the Air/fuel ratio sensor. They are not 100% that’s it but that’s the first step they are taking.
(Personally I don’t think that’s it but I’m not the mechanic in this situation. Feels like that’s just replacing a thermometer when it tells you have a fever instead of figuring out why you have a fever. Find the cause not replace the component that tells you the symptoms. That’s what my instructors used to say. But anyway..)

As expected the parts will take a while to get here. The system is telling them 4+ days which is the longest out it goes. He told me the part could be in Tennessee or yet to be manufactured in Japan. The system just defaults to 4+ days.
Based on the codes I would agree that it is most likely the upstream air/fuel ratio sensor. Common toyota failure and the fact the downstream shows a discrepancy means it is reading way richer than the upstream which means the engine can't be running lean, just a bad sensor showing way too many volts than it should. I imagine this being an issue for many of us down the road.
 
#27 ·
About 1220 . I’ve been baby-ing mine pretty much as well. Given it the sauce a few times but definitely nothing compared to others I’ve seen on this forum. Lol. Just my lucky day I guess :rolleyes:
 
#28 ·
Update!
Dealership called today and said part was actually much closer than they thought and already showed up. Actually had one in the state. Truly shocking.

They replaced it and test drove it after and seems to have fixed it! Although no one seems completely confident considering how new this car is and so little is known about it yet.

I could have picked it up today but didn’t get out of work until after the service department closed today sadly.
Should be able to pick it up before work tomorrow and hopefully all will be right in the world again. Really really hoping that was the fix and it won’t have to go back to the shop for a very long time.

I’ll have more info on what part exactly was the problem tomorrow when I get the paperwork. IIRC it was the upstream air/fuel sensor.
 
#29 ·
Last update (hopefully!)
Picked car up from dealership this morning and it seems like it’s completely fixed! 😄
Other than the, somewhat excessive, 15 miles the tech put on the car, the whole situation ended up much better than I anticipated with the dealership.

The part number of the sensor that allegedly failed and needed to be replaced is 89467-52300.
Still unsure which of the two sensors it was, upstream or downstream. Maybe @ijuswannaride can shed some light on this. He seems to be the parts number guru working for Toyota and everything.

Thank you all for following this thread and the encouragement along the way. It definitely sucked being, what seemed like, the first one to have any problems like this with their GR but it ended up pretty alright. I just hope none of you, or other GR owners, have any other issues like this!
 
#30 ·
there are two warehouses I know of with parts specifically for our car in America. I found this out when I called parts dept asking about some other parts for our vehicle. I am sure it’s here stateside but it takes time from the distribution warehouse. crossing fingers it’s just a sensor and it’s fixed.
 
#31 ·
As far as the tech driving the car 15 miles. He was doing the last step of any diagnosis which is to "verify the repair". How pissed would you be if he slapped the sensor in, reset adaptives, and threw the car in the lot only to have you pick it up and the car do the same thing on the drive home?

Otherwise I'm glad to see this issue fixed, hopefully nothing else goofy goes on!
 
#39 ·
As far as the tech driving the car 15 miles. He was doing the last step of any diagnosis which is to "verify the repair". How pissed would you be if he slapped the sensor in, reset adaptives, and threw the car in the lot only to have you pick it up and the car do the same thing on the drive home?

Otherwise I'm glad to see this issue fixed, hopefully nothing else goofy goes on!
Totally agree. And I’m definitely happy they verified the repair! Only gripe is that 15 seems like a bit more than just verifying concern and verifying the repair was made. But regardless the car is back to running great and they didn’t cause any damage or anything so I’m happy. Honestly I hope they had fun if they did rip on it a little. It was earned.
I talked to the tech working on it at one point and he said he had full intentions of buying one of the first ones but that dealership (different than the one I bought mine at) had a 20k mark up and couldn’t justify it. Understandably! Lol
 
#40 ·
I did! And also turned “drive pulse” back on. Honestly I don’t know I recommend it though. Just made me stress out more and honestly I don’t know how I would confront them. Ignorance really is bliss sometimes.
 
#42 ·
To piggyback on this thread I was lucky enough to find a “used” GRC with ~400 miles at a local non-Toyota dealer (priced at a very reasonable $52k haha). I can’t believe my luck, I will actually be able to test drive a GRC, woohoo! I was so excited while heading to the dealer.

Anyways, I start driving the GRC and make sure it’s all warmed up. I give it some gas and as soon as it hits ~4,000 rpm it cuts boosts and bucks and I get a ”check engine, return to dealer“ message. The car ran really rough and honestly I wasn’t sure it would make it the 1 mile back to the dealer. The sales person was like 🤷‍♂️ and said NBD, they’ll check it out.

I obviously have no idea what happened in the previous 400 miles to the car, maybe it was absolutely beat on but it’s a bit surprising. Maybe same issue as OP? If I hear back from the sales person I’ll update.
 
#45 ·
Update on the car I test drove: I went back a few days later and drove the car again. Everything seemed normal on the car and it didn’t throw any Check Engine messages while driving. That being said, after talking to the sales person and knowing dealers I’m not convinced they did anything beyond just letting the car sit and hoping the ECU would reset.

I have no idea if that would even work on a GRC and maybe I’m not giving them enough credit, but the sales person just said he “told someone about it and gave them the keys” whatever that means. :unsure:

The car felt great but I was too scared of another Check Engine message to even go more than half throttle and above 4,500 rpm so who knows if it would have popped up again with more spirited driving.
 
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