check engine light stays on but car runs fine (spark plug, fuel, truck)
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that may be "not all stores check codes" I just had Autozone check mine about 1 month ago. Fortunately I have an Autozone, Advanced Auto Parts and O'Reilly within 2 blocks of each other. They have to do what the other guys are doing
Comes from who without a gasoline cap? I have never known a vehicle not to have a cap for the gasoline tank.
Take your vehicle to Auto Zone or a parts shop and ask them to check the codes, they know how to do it and all you provide is the vehicle.
When they are done ask them to show you which gasoline cap is the proper one for your vehicle, purchase the cap and put in on your vehicle.
You're new to this, aren't you?
Ford's been using capless fuel fillers since at least '09 for the F150. I don't care enough about the rest of the lineup to point out the other vehicles that likewise have that setup, but others certainly do.
I got one of those WiFi enabled OBDII plugs. I can monitor every aspect of the engine on my iPhone. Ver cheap too.
I have one of those too. $5 off ebay, and $4.99 for the Iphone app. Works quite well at reading trouble codes, reading emmissions monitors and all sorts of live data. WELL worth the $10 I spent.
The App is called "Enginelink" and the wifi dongle I got off Ebay was a knock-off ELM327 WIFI adapter.
Since I build, fix, and maintain cars as a hobby, I also have a couple real OBD2 scanners. You can get them pretty cheap off Amazon these days as well.
The Check Engine light is usually tied to several sensors that are emmissions related, as well as general overall engine operating conditions and failures such as misfires, running lean, cam and crank sensors, EVAP leaks, O2 sensor issues and so on. Some newer cars also tie the transmission in with a few dedicated codes as well. If the check engine light is on, the car can still run perfectly fine (especially if it's a common vacuum leak) but unfortunately many states won't pass an inspection on a car with the CEL lit.
Gas cap is a common cause, but many people start to assume EVERY check engine light is a gas cap. There are a few other hundred possible causes as well
Will all the modern technology going into cars nowaday's, you'd think they would do away with this outdated "cel" and instead have the cars computer read out exactly is the issue at hand rather than a check engine light coming on and you not knowing the reason for it unless you actually hook up a code reader to it.
If my car can tell me how much air pressure is in each tire, then manufacturers can surely make it so that it reads out the codes to me whenever an issue occurs rather than a CEL lighting up for what can be a number of reasons.
I have one of those too. $5 off ebay, and $4.99 for the Iphone app. Works quite well at reading trouble codes, reading emmissions monitors and all sorts of live data. WELL worth the $10 I spent.
The App is called "Enginelink" and the wifi dongle I got off Ebay was a knock-off ELM327 WIFI adapter.
Since I build, fix, and maintain cars as a hobby, I also have a couple real OBD2 scanners. You can get them pretty cheap off Amazon these days as well.
The Check Engine light is usually tied to several sensors that are emmissions related, as well as general overall engine operating conditions and failures such as misfires, running lean, cam and crank sensors, EVAP leaks, O2 sensor issues and so on. Some newer cars also tie the transmission in with a few dedicated codes as well. If the check engine light is on, the car can still run perfectly fine (especially if it's a common vacuum leak) but unfortunately many states won't pass an inspection on a car with the CEL lit.
Gas cap is a common cause, but many people start to assume EVERY check engine light is a gas cap. There are a few other hundred possible causes as well
I had a 98 Taurus that was always throwing an evap code. Took it to the dealer a couple times and the advice was to "tighten the cap", they even replaced it a couple times. One of the techs even thought I was leaving the cap off.
I finally took it in right before the warranty ran out (CEL was on) and told them to fix it. Turns out it was a hole in some vacuum line and had been all along.
Location: Butler County Ohio and Winters in Florida
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My Mom's 2001 Dodge Caravan has a CEL on now for about 2 years.
Autozone scanned it and advised code for TCM failure.
It works fine. I know someday it may fail, but so could may other items.
The car has been wonderful, when it dies, we will replace the TCM.
But not until then.
My Mom's 2001 Dodge Caravan has a CEL on now for about 2 years.
Autozone scanned it and advised code for TCM failure.
It works fine. I know someday it may fail, but so could may other items.
The car has been wonderful, when it dies, we will replace the TCM.
But not until then.
2 years with a failing TCM? I'd question if that diagnosis is correct if oyu aren't noticing any physical symptoms of transmission issues.
Autozone employees aren't exactly the best when it comes to diagnosing issues. I'd get the code number and do your own research into the cause. I've found that sometimes the scanner that reads the code will describe the failure as something completely different than what it actually is.
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