1999 Es 300 Instrument Lights

[bpega]

The engine light and trac off lights came on this afternoon. I checked the owners manual and it said there is a malfunction. Any thoughts on what the problem could be?

[steviej]

there are a ton of reasons as to why the CEL and TRAC lights came on.

These two lights together mean the car is in "safety" mode. The power is reduced automatically to keep the car in a protected state.

You are correct, that a malfunction has occured. The problem is that there are many sensors that could have triggered the safety mode.

The best thing to do, is go to Autozone or PepBoys and have them read the codes. The offer this as a free service. Copy down each code and post them here. We can then better advice you as to the situation at hand.

If they ask if you want the codes erased, it won't hurt but keep in mind, they will most likely return in a few miles. Even if you disconnect the battery to erase the codes for the ECU (electronic control unit) the codes will come back if the same faulty signal is received by the ECU.

steviej

[lexusk8]

The engine light and trac off lights came on this afternoon.  I checked the owners manual and it said there is a malfunction.  Any thoughts on what the problem could be?

←

I can tell you from my experience that the engine and TRAC OFF lights resulted in the malfunction of the charcoal canister (located in the fuel tank area) in my '01 ES. Got the charcoal canister replaced at the dealership, and problem solved :)

[steviej]

still get the codes read first.

steviej

[mehullica]

Any time the CEL light comes on the TRAC light comes on as well to inform you the TRAC system is disabled. Trac will not operate due to engine codes