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You've come to the right place. There's a lot that you can do on your own. Even if all you end up doing is gathering more information for the mechanic who ends up working on the car, they never mind a hint as to where the problems might be!
What are some of the possible causes for the "check engine" light that
can be diagnosed at home?
All of them. ...
16
It could be that you are cornering so hard that you're pushing the oil in the sump to one side, away from the pickup pipe. This temporarily means you're oil pump is sucking up air and you are starving your engine of oil.
Competition cars are equipped with with baffled sumps or dry sump systems to prevent this happening. In a standard road car, this type ...
14
A Set of Standards for Error Codes
I'm sure that someone is going to come up with a much more exhaustive answer, but for a good start, you need to understand that there are MANY different standards for reporting vehicle diagnostics.
For example, take a look at the OBD II Pids Article on Wikipedia. Think of your car's computer as only as powerful as the ...
10
A P2757 DTC is a torque converter clutch solenoid valve issue
The valve engages a torque converter at higher speeds to lock your transmission and engine at a 1:1 ratio. This engagement, obviously, only happens at higher speeds for fuel saving.
Causes include;
Dirty transmission fluid
Faulty line pressure solenoid valve SLU
Line pressure solenoid valve ...
8
It was indeed the catalytic converter (the EX does not have a pre-cat). After replacing it, the downstream sensor graph spends most of its time above 0.5 V, as it should if the converter is working.
Update:
I started getting this error code again, a little over a year after replacing the cat.
I also finally found a guide on how to read these graphs, from ...
7
Does it make the most sense to replace an old car's entire exhaust system all at once?
Considering your car is almost 10 years old, having to replace all of the parts in the exhaust system does not sound unreasonable, especially if your locality uses any type of road solvent during the winter months (they didn't in Montana where I'm from originally, but ...
7
How do I pull error codes from my Kawasaki motorcycle?
Here are the instructions to pull error codes from your 2001 or later Kawasaki street motorcycle.
Step 1
Pull off your seat and near the battery negative terminal there will be a self diagnosis lead coming out of a connector. The wire is yellow. It looks like this.
Step 2
Get a wire, one with ...
7
I think you may have mistaken a service interval indicator for a check engine light. Modern cars will ask to be serviced at regular intervals, even if no fault exists. There indicators can usually be reset the but procedure is usually manufacturer specific. A check engine light is something else and generally indicates that a fault has been logged by the ECU....
7
The fact that you can smell fuel in the exhaust is a strong indication that the engine is running rich.
This means that there is more fuel than required by the engine. There are many things which could cause this and the sensible course of action would involve hooking the engine computer to a scan tool to retrieve data about fuel trims, and O2 sensor health....
7
That's the check engine light, or CEL - if it lights up, you have a problem with the engine and should stop and investigate it.
If it's blinking, count the number of flashes, as this will indicate a particular error code which can help you to determine what is wrong.
6
It's just in front of the front passenger side door, under the dashboard. It might be stuck down behind the carpet a ways.
6
The Engine System Service Required is a service interval indicator. The engine check light coming on will mean you have a fault.
You can simply re-set the Engine System Service Required by carrying out a simply re-set. Button A is located at the bottom and to the left of your speedo.
Ensure all doors are closed, Turn the ignition key to position 1(...
6
This is normal behavior - When the engine is not running, there is no oil pressure, so when the ignition is turned on, that light will be on. As Larry says, this functions as a bulb test so that you know that it is working. When you start the engine, the oil is pumped round, the pressure goes up and the light goes out.
6
I was able to find the exact verbiage on Amazon for a Toyota gas cap. It implies that you will get a CEL (check engine light) and you could, which could cost you money to get it checked out.
Here is the listing:
Genuine Toyota (77300-33070) Fuel Tank Cap Assembly
by Toyota
Genuine OEM Toyota Gas Cap New in Original Packaging with Seal.
The typical ...
6
Maybe its a stylised 1950's era air-filter pancake on a carburettor throat?
source
Icons tend to be retained long after the thing they were based on has changed substantially
5
The ECU may have "tuned" itself to the gap and behavior of the old plugs. When you had the plugs replaced, if the shop did not disconnect the battery (and even if they did, not sure about your Ford) the ECU would still have the long term fuel trims that matched your old plugs in effect.
So this may result in a bit less or more fuel being injected and ...
5
First guess, bad spark plug wires. You can check by first, doing a visual inspection of the wires, looking for burn spots, particularly if the wire was touching/rubbing on something. Second, on a dry night, crank the engine and lightly mist the wires with a spray bottle of water. You will be looking for a spark to ground and you may also hear it.
Beyond ...
5
I found a site called actron.com that describes OBDII codes.
Autozone explains what the camshaft position sensor is.
Camshaft Position Sensor Actuator
Operation
The Camshaft Position (CMP) actuator is attached to each camshaft and
is hydraulically operated in order to change the angle of the camshaft
relative to Crankshaft Position (CKP). ...
5
This should not cause you an issue, but this sounds more like a problem with the O2 sensors than with the intake gaskets. When was the last time you had them changed? If you are over 100k miles without new ones, I'd highly suggest this first.
One way to check your theory for the intake gasket is by using a spray bottle with water (on jet, not spray). With ...
5
Camshaft position sensors are usually Hall sensors, which translate changes in magnetic field to changes in voltage.
As far as proximity is concerned, this should be taken care of by the shape and design of the sensor more than the correct tightening torque. By appropriately torqueing down the sensor you are ensuring that it doesn't get loose during ...
5
Turns out this particular issue wasn't due to me running the car out of battery (I believe) but actually to a blown fuse. I guess I had previously left the OBD II plugged in for awhile and apparently if anything else "on that circuit" is turned on it can blow the fuse, and my kids may have turned something on and voila, fuse blown. Another effect of having ...
5
Because it's dangerous with erroneous data
This is actually very smart on Subaru's part. I have to give them credit.
If you have sensors that are faulting you could be giving an ECE false or eroneous information. The ECU would then take that false data and make adjustments to traction control and engine power. You could be on a wet or icy surface, step ...
5
The P1506 code is an idle air control overspeed error.
From autocodes.com:
The P1506 code means that the engine idle is out of factory specification. Sometimes the Idle Air Control (IAC) may have carbon built up. Disconnect the car battery, remove the valve, clean, re-install valve, and drive the vehicle for about 5 minutes with the headlights and A/C ON ...
5
If you're worried about the car passing emissions testing, seeing the check engine light go off is a good sign. Where I live, you can't be failed because the light used to be on.
The status of the code (often showing up as a check engine light) depends on the computer in the car. Obviously, if the light is on, the code is active. Quite often, though, the ...
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If you remove the passenger side foot kick panel covering the ECU you will see it there. On the 97 it is the blue 2 pin plug.
4
Reading the codes will do you no good unless you know what each one means.
If you go to Autozone (or something similar) they will usually read the codes for you for free. There is an EEC-IV Test Port connector somewhere in the engine compartment. They will know where.
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I am not sure how it would be like on 1989 Ford E250 but on Dodge 1998, this is like this
Turn the Ignition Key to on, turn it back off in quick sucession
Repeate the above step 2 more times (total 3)
On the forth, leave the ignition switch key on ON
Now the Engine Indicator light will start flashing. Five short flashes, followed by a pause and then five ...
4
Replacing the broken fan switch seems to have made the CEL go away. My best guess is that the ECU starts monitoring the O2 sensor output as soon as this sensor reads that the engine is hot, and gets upset when the O2 sensor is actually still cold.
Edit: Nope, the CEL is back, and gas mileage has been really bad (around 18-19mpg on a car that usually gets 28-...
4
I wouldn't risk it. If the water pump fails you can easily cook the engine, leading to no end of problems (failed head gasket, warped head, etc). The temperature gauge will only give you an accurate reading if the coolant is flowing through the engine - if it isn't you will end up with hot spots very quickly.
A lot of modern cars have an ecu-controlled ...
4
With some variation based on model year and country of use most faults will latch and self clear. By latching the fault, it is stored and in some cases the "check engine light" also referred to as the MIL (malfunction indicator light) will remain lit after repair until certain conditions are met. The conditions for the fault to clear may involve a certain ...
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