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To those that follow, now that we have all survived the shortest day of the year, I would like to extend greetings for:
Merry Christmas...
Happy Chanukah...
Grateful Kwanza...
Joyful Solstice...
Whatever you choose to celebrate or not celebrate, may you and your families and your friends each enjoy the holiday season and have a happy, healthy and prosperous 2026.
Okay... so not everything is perfect all of the time.
The check engine light came on last Friday with no noticeable drop in performance or anything else. Shortly after that, the restricted performance notice came on and then shortly afterwards went out although the check engine light stayed on.
I decided it was time to pick up an OBD2 reader and thought an Innova 3210RS bluetooth dongle would be suitable as it could stay in place and when paired with a phone would allow a passenger to look at live readings so picked one up Saturday. It paired with the phone but wouldn't recognize the car and when trying to manually connect it would lose the pairing in an endless loop of frustration before putting it back in the box by which time the store was of course closed.
I returned it Monday afternoon (driveways and sidewalks needed to be shovelled and there was no rush to get out) with no issues and swapped/upgraded to an Innova 3040RS which immediately recognized the car almost as soon as being connected. It identified the faults as P0172 and P0175 (right and left banks both running rich) with the probable cause identified as the air filter and/or MAF sensor so picked up a new filter and a can of MAF cleaner yesterday.
This afternoon, after disconnecting the negative battery lead, I removed and cleaned the sensor and put it aside to dry before putting it back. Undoing the inboard clamp on the air cleaner cover was a PIA and even after I loosened the clamp holding the MAF sensor housing in place the MAF housing didn't want to slide out and I didn't want to force any of that old plastic so let it be. There was still enough room to remove and check the air filter which was as still clean as the new one so I put it back and will keep the new one as a spare.
It's my understanding that if things are now as they should be that the check engine light and the codes will both clear themselves after three or four driving cycles and that that is preferred to clearing the codes with the reader so that's the plan for the moment although thoughts and/or suggestions to the contrary are always welcome.
Last edited by Ken Cantor; Apr 1, 2026 at 11:42 PM.
You probably need to run a can or two of a good intake/fuel system cleaner. I had been using Lucas' best stuff, then switched to SeaFoam or Gumout's look-alike.
On a separate site: Royalty Automotive, down in Georgia, has recommended '505CRF' as the best they have found for cleaning injectors (want them to spray, not spit), but four times as expensive as SeaFoam - $52US from Amazon. Mostly best for cleaning carbon off backside of valves for direct injection cars; not sure we need that . . .
Last car I had, that would frequently get the codes you have, was my 2008 Supercharged RR Sport with the 4.2 motor: one can of cleaner and the truck would be good for six months. . . .
I'd clear the codes personally, then run it with the code reader on. If the problem is still occurring you'll see pending codes before the warning lights come back on. At least if you've cleared the codes & then see them again, you know the fault is still there & it's not a old code from before fixing it.
I'd clear the codes personally, then run it with the code reader on. If the problem is still occurring you'll see pending codes before the warning lights come back on. At least if you've cleared the codes & then see them again, you know the fault is still there & it's not an old code from before fixing it.
The check engine light remained on after a couple of short trips so that was the plan but the best laid plans and all that..,
While the scanner reads the codes successfully, it won’t clear them. When attempting to do so, it goes through the sequence and at the last step freezes, loses its connection with the car and won’t reconnect without disconnecting and starting all over in an endless loop.
Trying to pair the scanner with my phone to see if that might give other options also freezes in a similarly unsuccessful endless loop without pairing. It identifies the car and the serial number but won’t progress pass that screen.
I submitted a support chat request and have a follow-up email from Innova confirming they received it and telling me they have “escalated my query to our specialist” but I guess it will be Tuesday at the earliest before I hear more.
At this point I’m guessing that I’ll be trying to find a replacement next week other than an Innova although they seem to be the most popular/prevalent manufacturer here.
Had several lengthy chats and emails with a couple of Innova service representatives - friendly and helpful but not productive so will be returning the scanner today. Interestingly enough, one of their 3130RS higher end scanners is on sale for not much more than I paid for the 3040RS and I asked if that would be a good solution and he said it would add lots of features but the connectivity wouldn't likely be any different so full marks for honesty.
And then last nights "snow flurries" accumulated a couple of centimetres which means things had to get shovelled this morning but also means I was just as happy to still have the snow tires still on for my 7:00 am breakfast meeting.
Lastly, while the scanner wouldn't clear the check engine light, yesterday's errands must have accumulated enough drive cycles to have cleared the check engine light. Hopefully that means that cleaning the MAF sensor was sufficient and that it won't return but for now I'll "take the win".
