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KMixson

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I have a problem with my car that I have never heard of anyone having with their car before and I am a mechanic. As I drive to work from my girlfriends house, when I get to a specific location the check engine light comes on. It has done it at that location every time the last 5 times I have come through there. It is a 2001 Toyota Avalon and the code it throws is P0440 which is "Evaporative Emission Control System Malfunction". It did it again on my to work this morning. Any other mechanics on here have any idea what it could be?
 
edwonbass said:
Sometimes a loose or faulty gas cap can cause this code.

I know it can, but at the exact same spot in the road? It started on 3/20/17. Then again on 4/10/17, 4/27/17, 5/5/17 and now today. I can drive it all over town with no problems and it does it at this one spot as I go to work. I go this way when I need to go to the bank on my way to work.
 
replace the cap. it is probably coming on at the same spot due to the way the ECM works. it might take so many faults of that code before it sets triggers the CEL. you just happen to go the same way and it seems like a coincidence
 
Is it the same place or the same distance traveled from the start of your trip?

Same distance would mean roughly the same fuel consumption which would mean roughly the same change in pressure in the tank.
 
It is the same spot. The distance traveled varies between 50-400 miles. My boss asked me if there could be a meth lab in the area? I looked on Google maps and there is nothing there that stands out to me. There are two florist, a pottery barn and a gastroenterology site but they are all closed when I come through there at 4:15AM in the mornings. It has not happened to me as I have gone my main route.
 
I will probably be coming through there again Wednesday or Thursday morning and I will see if it does it again. I have a gas cap ordered and it is scheduled to get to my place Wednesday so I won't be replacing the old one until maybe Thursday. Next Monday morning will be the real test with the new cap.
 
Definitely alien activity then - only thing that explains it!

When you do figure it out please let us know.
 
What color is the car?

You need to stop right before you get to the spot in the road, get out of eh car, walk around the car counterclockwise three times and then sprinkle some water on the hood while chanting GAS CAP GAS CAP over and over.

Problem solved.
 
Captain Ahab said:
What color is the car?

You need to stop right before you get to the spot in the road, get out of eh car, walk around the car counterclockwise three times and then sprinkle some water on the hood while chanting GAS CAP GAS CAP over and over.

Problem solved.

Then those nice young men in their clean white coats will take me away ho-ho hee-hee ha-haaa.
 
Well - there are several solutions:

Are you left or right handed?


are you drinking coffee when this occurs


And

is the road up or down hill?
 
banana.gif
 
I will be going through that area Monday morning about 4:15 AM. That will be the test. I went through there traveling the opposite direction about 9:00 AM Saturday morning and the light did not come on. I do have a new Toyota OEM gas cap installed. I was planning on going through there Wednesday or Thursday morning but my job had a change of plans and I did not make it. I will post the results Monday morning.
 

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