Toyota Repair: Check engine VSC light 2003 Highlander, purge valve, p0442


Question
I lease this vehicle and since the first two months these lights came on.  I took it to the dealer and they told me I was capping the gas.  So I always told the gas attendent not to cap it.   The light was fixed.  It came back on again and just ignored it.  I went to inspection and it failed for codes P0441,P0442, P0446.   The dealer is now telling me it is because I do not always shut the car off while fueling up.   They are also telling me they will fix for free this time but if it happens again I am being charged.   I know several people that have Toyota's and older or newer models.  They took the car in it was fixed and never had to do any thing else.  I am concerned because I want to buy out this lease I have 42,000 mi on it.  Looking at your site I found P0446 could be a large leak.  I need your advice.

Answer
Can you tell me what they are going to fix for free this time to correct the problem? Getting all of these codes means there is a huge leak in the fuel evap recovery system, a lot of times it is because the gas cap is not tight but there could be other causes. A common problem that I see a lot of times on Highlanders is that the purge valve hose on the air filter is pulled off by someone removing the top of the air cleaner to check the air filter, this may be the case here.