My 'winter' truck started throwing check engine lights shortly after I bought it, so due to lack of time I had to throw it at the dealer to get it fixed.
One 'ouch' bill later it doesn't look much like a cheap truck anymore, but anyway, I'm assured that it's fixed.
Picked it up yesterday, drove it to work and back (50 mile roundtrip) and guess what, the damn light came back on.
So instead of going to Ikea tomorrow to finally get some furniture, I guess I'll be patronising the local PepZone to get the code read (does NAPA offer that service as well?) and figure out what's broken now.
I don't think that thing is going to hang around for very long. And of course they shut down Craigslook to make looking for a better truck harder.
Searchtempest.com is nice.
Joey
what year/make/model is the "winter" truck?
if it runs good and doesn't leave you stranded, then just learn to ignore the light. if ignoring it is impossible, then electrical tape is a good solution- just stick a piece of it over the light and the problem is solved.
if it's an OBD2 vehicle, then you can buy a scanner for about $100 that will allow you to clear codes as they come up. i had to clear the occasional random misfire code from my 97 Cavalier every once in a while, and i actually felt weird when i'd drive it an the light wasn't on.
novaderrik wrote:
what year/make/model is the "winter" truck?
if it runs good and doesn't leave you stranded, then just learn to ignore the light. if ignoring it is impossible, then electrical tape is a good solution- just stick a piece of it over the light and the problem is solved.
See my garage - it's a '95 GMC Sierra. The issue is that so far, the light did indicate real faults that affected the way it ran/drank gas so at this point in time, obscuring it is not an option.
I guess I should get put the new plugs, wires and distributor cap & rotor on and get the code read and depending on what the code comes up as, have a quiet word with the service writer at the dealer Monday morning.
95 still had OBD1 diagnostics, so all you need is a paperclip to read the codes. just connect two terminals in the diagnostic port (the top two on the far right side of the terminal, i think) and turn the key on. then it's just a matter of counting how many times the check engine light blinks and looking up the codes online. if it has the long flat terminal, this will work. if it has a weird hybrid OBD1/OBD2 system that was in a few GM cars and trucks in '95, then it will have the newer OBD2 port and this trick won't work.
one easy thing to check would be the egr valve- if it's got a chunk of carbon holding it open a little bit, it will have a massive vacuum leak and run like crap and may or may not throw an egr code- it most likely will throw a "lean" code that says that the O2 sensor is bad or something like that.
Funnily enough, one of the reasons for the original check engine light was the EGR valve - that was changed as part of the initial repair and the EGR passages cleaned out.
The code it's throwing now of course is the EGR valve again. So the repair lasted for about 2 days...
A few words will be had with the dealer come Monday morning.
check that the egr solenoid is plugged in- it's bolted to the intake manifold next to the egr valve. just follow the vacuum line from the egr valve to the solenoid.
it's common for the tab that holds the plug together to break off if a particularly ham fisted "tech" uses a screwdriver to pry it apart.
