Check engine light went on in my car.

[Hankerton]

The car sounds fine, no funny smells. I didn't hit anything (deer, potholes, etc.) It would be a pain to have to get a ride to work during the week, so I wanted to know if this could be something serious?

BTW, it's a 2005 Dodge Magnum R/T w/ 40k miles.

Thanks for the advice in advance.

 

[zoiks]

It could be anything. However I think waiting til sat should be fine. As long as you take care of it.
BTW, you sure put on a lot of miles for a car thats a year old.

 

[pray4mojo]

Im sure you can wait til saturday. My friend had his CEL on for a week and a half and it just turned itself off later.

 

[jhayx7]

Most of the time it has to do with emissions. Usually a busted O2 sensor, etc. Take it by AutoZone or somewhere like that and they will check it.

 

[nakedfrog]

It might be okay.
Try turning the key on/off (not all the way to start pos.) 5 times and see if you get a P440 or something similar on the odometer readout.

 

[SonnyDaze]

Have you gotten gas recently? A problem I have with my Cherokee is that when I get gas, if I don't put the gas cap back on securely, it'll trip the engine light (Large Evap Leak...). Your local Advance Auto/Autozone should be able to check it on an OBD scanner for free.

 

[MrWizzard]

Unless you know what is causing that light you better take it in ASAP, it could be small but then again it could be something bad.

It's your car.

 

[jhayx7]

Originally posted by: pray4mojo
Im sure you can wait til saturday. My friend had his CEL on for a week and a half and it just turned itself off later.

Yes, it can just come on due to a mis-read. Look in your owners manual on how to reset the CEL. If it doesn't come back on after you reset it, then don't worry about it.

 

[akubi]

for most cars these days you can hook up a obd-ii reader yourself and see what caused the check engine light. i think autozone also offers this service free of charge if you don't have a reader handy. should get it checked out.

 

[Hankerton]

Originally posted by: zoiks
It could be anything. However I think waiting til sat should be fine. As long as you take care of it.
BTW, you sure put on a lot of miles for a car thats a year old.

Yeah, I bought it in August of '05 and I have ~45 mile trip to work. Love the car though. With a long commute, I love the room, comfort, and power.

 

[DeadByDawn]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
It might be okay.
Try turning the key on/off (not all the way to start pos.) 5 times and see if you get a P440 or something similar on the odometer readout.

Yep, dodge's will display the code on the odometer if you find the magic key sequence. Mine is a pain in the neck to get it to display for some reason, but it does work. Look up code on the net after it's displayed. Most common is loose gas cap.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: jhayx7
Most of the time it has to do with emissions. Usually a busted O2 sensor, etc. Take it by AutoZone or somewhere like that and they will check it.

Take it to the dealer. Should be under warranty still.

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: jhayx7
Most of the time it has to do with emissions. Usually a busted O2 sensor, etc. Take it by AutoZone or somewhere like that and they will check it.

Check engine light is almost always related to the emissions system. AutoZone will either check it for you, or loan you a tester you plug into the diagnostic port for the codes. Deciphering the codes isn't always easy, and sometimes, they're pretty vague, but they will give a good idea of what the problem is.
Is the car still under warranty? If so, then take it to a shop. If not, good luck. It could be something as stupidly simple as a fuel cap, or could be something much harder to fix. Get the codes first.

 

[Hankerton]

So I just went outside and checked the gas cap. Sure enough I turned it counterclockwise slightly and the thing fell right off. That must have been what it was. The engine light is still on, but maybe it needs to be reset for a true test (or it may turn itself off once it detects the leak is gone).

Anyway, thanks for your help everbody. You all deserve a :beer: on me!!

 

[SonnyDaze]

Originally posted by: Hankerton
So I just went outside and checked the gas cap. Sure enough I turned it counterclockwise slightly and the thing fell right off. That must have been what it was. The engine light is still on, but maybe it needs to be reset for a true test (or it may turn itself off once it detects the leak is gone).

Anyway, thanks for your help everbody. You all deserve a :beer: on me!!

The CEL most likely won't go off unless actually reset with an OBD scanner. You can take it to Advance Auto/Autozone and they can do it OR you can disconnect your negative (black one) battery cable for about a minute or so and then re-connect it. CEL should be off then.

 

[DeadByDawn]

The CEL will go off on it's own provided there are no other problems. It has to go through a certain number of cold starts, it took about 3 or 4 days with ours to go off.

 

[weirdichi]

If you DO take it to Autozone, don't tell them anythin except that the check engine light is on. Act like you know shiet and have them give you a printout of it the problem. I made the mistake of telling them I thought it was the O2 sensor and the guy plugged it in, ran it for 30 secs, and told me, "Yeah, it's the O2 sensor" with an "I don't give a fvck" attitude and left.

 

[EGGO]

Originally posted by: zoiks
It could be anything. However I think waiting til sat should be fine. As long as you take care of it.
BTW, you sure put on a lot of miles for a car thats a year old.

My Vibe (RIP) had 100,000 in 3 years, he may certainly beat mine.

Anyway, OP, it could be anything from the gas cap being on incorrectly to something a tad more dangerous. You won't know until you bring it to someone who has a device that can see a code that will tell you exactly what's sending off that signal.

[edit] It won't turn off until you go to such a person who can connect to your car's computer that way.

 

[DeadByDawn]

Read the thread people, his gas cap was loose And yes it will turn off on it's own if that's what was wrong in the first place.