96 Es300 Engine Code Po171

[trhardy]

Wife has 96 ES300 with 52,411 miles on it. Due to travels, it gets very little mileage. 4,348 in last 6 years; 164 in last 4 1/2 months. I keep tank fairly filled with "treated" gas, but this is just for moisture. I now have engine light on and Advanced Auto says it is PO171 , Too Lean , Bank 1.

Gas cap is tight. I have read some posts on this sight with lots of suggestions. I would change fuel filter, but I can't figure out where it is! Any suggestions?

I have an auto shop I trust but they want $75.00 to "test". Do their "test systems" tell more than the small unit at the car parts places?

Last, if I decide to run car enough to get rid of old fuel ( 560 miles interstate trip in a few weeks ) , is this likely to cause any problems? Would it make sense to add injector cleaner during this trip?

Thanks, Tom

[trhardy]

All fixed!!! Sorry I posted too fast. I thought I had read a lot of previous posts before, but a little while ago I read one about checking the hoses at the bottom of the air filter box. One was off! Who knows why it was off, but all fixed now. Wish I could thank the right person, but I don't recall name. Great site; saves $. I like to do my own work, but I date back to engines that quit if you unhook anything!!

Wife has 96 ES300 with 52,411 miles on it. Due to travels, it gets very little mileage. 4,348 in last 6 years; 164 in last 4 1/2 months. I keep tank fairly filled with "treated" gas, but this is just for moisture. I now have engine light on and Advanced Auto says it is PO171 , Too Lean , Bank 1.

Gas cap is tight. I have read some posts on this sight with lots of suggestions. I would change fuel filter, but I can't figure out where it is! Any suggestions?

I have an auto shop I trust but they want $75.00 to "test". Do their "test systems" tell more than the small unit at the car parts places?

Last, if I decide to run car enough to get rid of old fuel ( 560 miles interstate trip in a few weeks ) , is this likely to cause any problems? Would it make sense to add injector cleaner during this trip?

Thanks, Tom

[gordonw]

You're not paying for a code. You are paying for what set off the code. They have to follow a diagnostic trouble tree flowchart. The code is only the starting point.

[George_Jetson]

All fixed!!! Sorry I posted too fast. I thought I had read a lot of previous posts before, but a little while ago I read one about checking the hoses at the bottom of the air filter box. One was off! Who knows why it was off, but all fixed now. Wish I could thank the right person, but I don't recall name. Great site; saves $. I like to do my own work, but I date back to engines that quit if you unhook anything!!

Wife has 96 ES300 with 52,411 miles on it. Due to travels, it gets very little mileage. 4,348 in last 6 years; 164 in last 4 1/2 months. I keep tank fairly filled with "treated" gas, but this is just for moisture. I now have engine light on and Advanced Auto says it is PO171 , Too Lean , Bank 1.

Gas cap is tight. I have read some posts on this sight with lots of suggestions. I would change fuel filter, but I can't figure out where it is! Any suggestions?

I have an auto shop I trust but they want $75.00 to "test". Do their "test systems" tell more than the small unit at the car parts places?

Last, if I decide to run car enough to get rid of old fuel ( 560 miles interstate trip in a few weeks ) , is this likely to cause any problems? Would it make sense to add injector cleaner during this trip?

Thanks, Tom

If you are interested in reading your own codes, there are several USB scanners that enable you to use a computer to interface with the car. These scanner will read codes, reset codes, and also display the values of the different sensors. Things like coolant temp will be displayed in degs and such. These scanners are much more versital than a basic code reader. Once you can read the code, and check the raw data, you then use conventional troubleshooting to determine whythe code is present.

You can find these scanners on places such as EBAY, they cost the average of $50 to $60.