A while back, I posted that my yellow engine symbol light was on and staying on for a few days of use. Made a date with the dealer to check it this morning, but I started the car and NO LIGHT! Huh? Shut it off, paused, and restarted 3 times. No more light! Has this happened to others?
Called the dealer, and their service dept said it must have been something minor, that they’d had a few like that recently, and to call if it happens and stays on longer.
Relief! But makes me wonder what it was!?
Vermonter
A good quality auto scanner should be able to read stored trouble codes, which is what you have. Some trouble code was set, turning on your check engine light. Then whatever it was that caused the code to be set stopped. The computers in the car keep track of that old code to help a technician diagnose things if it comes back.
It’s most likely a one time event that won’t return any time soon. But if it does, the info will be there to assist the tech.
—Peter
Thanks, Peter. The service people did say with our spring weather changes they get issues like this that come and go, perhaps due to changes in dampness, heat and cold, etc.
Vermonter
Did you recently fill up the gas tank? Maybe you had a loose gas cap and you tightened it properly after getting gas.
PSU
PSU:
Nope - first thing I checked when it first showed up was the cap. Off and on a couple of times to be sure.
Whatever. Hey - I will be happy if it stays away now! We have had a lot of changes in temps and humidity this month here. The “joy” of Vermont, doncha know!
Vermonter
No more light! Has this happened to others?
I have a 2006 Accord with over 200k miles on it. It runs great.
About January every year an oxygen sensor makes the check engine light come on. I checked for the cause the first time it happened. It may randomly disappear, but generally stays lit until dinner time in March when it goes out until the next January. I blame changes in gas formulation they make for cold weather.
We have to have annual safety inspections here and fortunately mine is in June and the light is never on in June.
Over the years I’ve decided that doing nothing unless it gets to be a year round problem works best for me.
I’ve had a couple of these readers around, back when I was chasing misfires in my '06 F150, cheap, simple, once you have the Code, Google for even more information…
https://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Bluetooth-Scanner-Andriod-Wi…
I’m surprised at how many there are now, I have one set up for my Ford, but haven’t used it in ages, likely there are some around set up for whatever vehicle yours is…
Any more I try to let my mechanic handle it, but now my guy retired, so new folks are OK, but not the same as having an old tech friend to chat with about the problems… Arthritis from too many years of wrenching led to his retiring…