Check engine light came on, brakes barely worked.

[Toyota 86 Driver]

Hi Guys,

As I was approaching a stop sign the check engine light came on and the brakes barely worked which caused me to roll past the sign into the path of an oncoming bus. Fortunately no accident occurred. Initially, I thought the car stalled which is why I had a hard time with the brakes however the engine was running normally.

The question is will faulty brakes cause the check engine light to come on in a 97 Toyota Corolla? The check engine light is a steady orange/yellow light not flashing. 

Much appreciated

 

Edited November 27, 2022 by Toyota 86 Driver

[campbeam]

My immediate thought is that there is an issue with the brake booster. This would explain the brakes being hard to operate.

I would expect that your vehicle being manufactured from 1996 on has the OBD-II computer system. Therefore a good starting point would be a scan for the error code to assist in the diagnosis.

[Hiro]

5 hours ago, campbeam said:

My immediate thought is that there is an issue with the brake booster. This would explain the brakes being hard to operate.

I would expect that your vehicle being manufactured from 1996 on has the OBD-II computer system. Therefore a good starting point would be a scan for the error code to assist in the diagnosis.

'96 is the OBD2 changeover year for the US market, not Australia.  OBD2 didn't become a thing in Corollas here until the mid-late 00s (the 7th and 8th gens still used OBD1 and ye-olde-paperclip scan tool,, the 9th gen ZZE is kinda-sorta OBD2 depending on year/model and Toyota did have some proprietary code despite using the standard OBD2 interface)

[Tony Prodigy]

On 11/27/2022 at 5:54 PM, Toyota 86 Driver said:

Hi Guys,

As I was approaching a stop sign the check engine light came on and the brakes barely worked which caused me to roll past the sign into the path of an oncoming bus. Fortunately no accident occurred. Initially, I thought the car stalled which is why I had a hard time with the brakes however the engine was running normally.

The question is will faulty brakes cause the check engine light to come on in a 97 Toyota Corolla? The check engine light is a steady orange/yellow light not flashing. 

Much appreciated

 

Sounds like it may have a vacuum issue, bad hose or check valve perhaps ??

Did you get it looked at yet ?

On 11/27/2022 at 5:54 PM, Toyota 86 Driver said:

The question is will faulty brakes cause the check engine light to come on in a 97 Toyota Corolla?

I really doubt it. Brakes, if it has ABS, would be on an entirely different system and you'll have an ABS warning light to indicate this.

Check engine light is telling you that something has occurred on the engine side.

[Scout_2209]

I had the exact same thing happen 2 days ago. Check engine light came on, car revved up to between 3 and 4, brakes did not exist. It didn't even slow down with my foot off the excelerater. Took over 300 metres and thankfully a green light for any reaction. 2009 Yaris.