I purchased a used 1998 Rav4 and had the check engine light come on driving home from the dealer. He obviously pulled a fast one on me and had erased the codes on the ECU so they didn't show up during the test drive. The problem code is P0401 which is insufficient exhaust gas recirculation flow detected. I tested the system and determined that it seemed to be operating correctly, so suspected the sensor was bad. The dealer tells me that this model has no EGR sensor. Does ANYONE know the answer to this?

The check engine light came on in my 1998 Toyota Rav4, at about 55 000km. I made an appointment with Toyota the next day for them to look at it, which of course cost $85 CAN. After looking at it they called me and said they couldn't find a fault but that it could be caused by a very dirty air filter or toggle switch. So I told them to go ahead with the repairs, which ended up costing $276 CAN. Predictably, the check engine light came on about 2 days later, because they had reset the computer, not temporarily fixed the problem. I took it in a second time, at no cost, and of course they couldn't find a problem and told me to take it in again and they may have to keep it for 2 days. Now, because they hadn't managed to fix the problem and had already charged me $276, I thought they would at least credit me a few hours of work. Wrong. So I told them to forget it and took it to another service center.

Within an hour of taking the vehicle in, the mechanic had found the problem by reading the code, and also found out that this problem was actually in a Toyota Technical Service Bulletin. So they still have the car, but are only charging me for 5 hours of work, although the car has been there a couple of days.

If it was Toyota's Bulletin, why couldn't they locate the problem when I took it in TWICE. It took the other mechanic one hour to pinpoint the problem, a possible faulty EGR sensor and circuitry to the sensor.

I'm out of my warranty, but I'm sending in a complaint to Toyota about this horrible service, and the fact that they have seemingly taken advantage of the fact that I'm a young female, from the time the vehicle was bought.

I've taken the vehicle to Toyota since the beginning, but I won't be taking it there ever again. The vehicle is great, but I'm definitely advising other Toyota owners to go elsewhere for their service.