Celica Forums General Discussion General Hit Big Rock...Engine Light On

Tried to straddle a rock in the middle of the road today and failed...it struck my undercarriage more than once resulting in my engine light coming on a couple minutes later. When I lifted the hood the oil fill lid was blown(?!) off from the impact with oil all over the place. Only visible damage showing underneath is a slight dent in some kind of sensor(?) under there. Could the oil cap popping off cause the engine light to come on or could that sensor be damaged? Not sure what kind of sensor it is but it's almost directly in the middle of the car. Just added some oil and currently have the battery disconnected, hoping to turn off the engine light. Any ideas or prayers?

i will pray for you, my brother.

how long did you drive for after the collision? or did you pull over immediatly?

pulled over immediately...prayed right quick...lit up a smoke...looked under and say nothing dripping...kept on driving...light came on...now panicking...helppppppp

damn that sucks!
take a pic of the damage/sensor and post it on here.


how big was the rock?

Just reconnected the battery. The Light is OFF! hoping for the best. Here's a pic of that sensor:

it looks like an 02 sensor, you may have damaged it when you hit the rock. that will be be reason.
hopefully it's just a temporary thing and the sensor is still good.
best of luck!

im not sure what that sensor is but dont drive it until you have enough oil running through her system again.

With the light off I'm guessing the sensor is still good. So my original question still remains. Will the oil fill cap popping off cause the engine light to come on? Thanks for all your help guys. I wouldn't have thought of disconnecting the battery to kill the light.

i don't know how the cap came off... was it a BIG rock??
it won't cause the light to come on because you can start the engine after changing the oil w/ the cap off with no problem. i've done it many times.

The rock was big enuff to scare the crap out of me and make me pull over but apparently didn't look so big that I thought my celica could clear it. Maybe the loss of oil caused the light to come on but i'm thinking in that case the oil light would come on instead? Just added 2 quarts...light still off...still praying.

check the oil level and make sure it's good.
after that, i'd do a complete oil change and check out the rest of the vehicle's underside.

have any mechanic friends that can come over and look it over?

how could that blow the oil cap off?

That sucker is in there pretty tight, you better hope it didn't break the theads

[quote=DiabloGTS]how could that blow the oil cap off?

I'm beginning to think that the oil cap being off is unrelated to the rock incident. It's been a couple months since I looked under the hood so maybe it just jarred loose.

The engine light is now back on and I'm hoping it's only this sensor...whatever the heck it is:

is it an exhaust system sensor maybe?

yes it's an oxygen sensor
you probably have to replace it...

simple enuff to do myself? and can i drive with it damaged? and where do i send your check? :-)

?check?

you'll have to buy the 02 sensor from toyota.
install shouldn't be too hard.


maybe it will be covered under warranty.. take it to your toyota dealer and see!

You probably got a check engine light because the ECU wasn't receiving signals from it thinking something was wrong with the catalytic converter.

You can buy a new 02 sensor from toyota or from an auto shop.

puch that sucks

I once ran off the road into a ditch kind-of with my SR-5 and couldn't re-start my car. To make it short it might not be that bad. Take it to a dealer that U trust (under warranty I hope) and tell them any bull s**t answer that U want like U hit a deer carcass in the middle of the road. Toyota dealerships are the best to deal with Toyota problems. So just take it in and get it fixed by them or your insurance. Shouldn't be much of a problem and it doesn't look that way. Good luck!

that my friend is your heated oxygen sensor, your cap popping of would not cause your engine light to come on, best bet is to stop by a pep boy and have your car scanned for free and most likely a code that is set in your computers memory would be for your heated oxygen sensor. easy to replace, cause you probably no more than $150.00 from the dealer. just remember to have your key off when replacing and do not let the tip of the replcement oxygen sensor to get moistened or wet or you'll be buying another one very soon. hope this will help yah