Check Engine Light

[Grnarowana]

My 1999, 130K, 5-speed, V6 Solara check engine light popped up. I tried disconnecting the battery, but that didn't work. So i decided to leave it since my car has been running fine except for the fact that it needs a new starter.

So I've been driving with the check engine light for 3 weeks now and yesterday I had to cut lanes to enter the freeway. I floored my car and my check engine light went away.

So I'm a bit troubled by this and thinking, is this a good thing or a bad thing.

Any thoughts?

[boneezy]

your car is on the verge of keeping that CEL, have fun replacing everything and then STILL having that damn light stay on. its a curse. or you might get lucky and itll stay off... prolly not tho

[Chinky420]

can't help until we know what the code is/was.

you may still be able to take it to autozone to have the code pulled.

disconnecting the battery should have done it...maybe you didn't leave it disconnected long enough....

if your car is running good, and there is no discernacble problem, then it's probably a good thing, but don't quote me on that.

[Midias]

CEL threads are useless without a code.

[Grnarowana]

Thanks, I'll run with what I got and if the light comes on I'll head to the shop. For future reference, can Kragen's pull the code or must it be at AutoZone?

[Chinky420]

i don't have kragen's here...

but call them and ask someone if they pull OBD-2 codes for free.

although if they're an automotive shop, i can't imagine why they wouldn't do it for free.

[(K)]

It's better to go to an Autozone to check your codes. Shops try to hook you in and charge you labor to do almost anything minor or major.

Since your car sounds like it's running fine, I'll throw in my two cents and say it's a P0420 code for catalytic converter or related.

Definitely can't give you anything solid though unless you pull that code.

[rt9101]

There's many things it could be. Not every DTC means a car is dying. Most new cars will throw codes for anything basically. If you've never noticed the solara's have a note on the gas tank fill door that says to tighten the filler cap all the way. If you don't that can throw a code. Most likely it's emissions.