On the way to work this morning, the "Check Engine" lamp lit on the dashboard. It occurs to me how much of a scam this whole check engine light is:
- It's designed so that the average, non-really-tech-savvy, consumer has no way to get access to the information it represents, or to reset it
- You have to get it reset to pass an annual state inspection in many states (including the one I live in).
- The dealer often charges a ludicrous fee - the last time I paid $149 - for them to send a guy out to the car, plug in the hardware, read the codes, and walk back into the shop. Seriously. At that rate, that box pays for itself in like 20 or 30 customers. After that, it's just pure ass-rapeage profit.
But it looks like I'll be driving the Jeep around for a bit, since I won't have any opportunities before GenCon to get the Miata over to either Middletown (where it got worked on last time) or Albany (closer).
Ugh.
First thing to check is whether or not the gas cap is on tight. Seriously, this can cause the check engine light to come on. I think it has to do with emissions and fuel vapor reclamation or something. I've actually seen this step listed in the troubleshooting section of a car owner's manual and I've personally experienced it.
Dude....go to Auto Zone, they will walk out with teh little box and tell you what the problem is instantly.
Google for odbii. You can pick up the necessary hardware for a reasonable amount of money (less than the $149 the shop would charge you) and there's open source to support it.
Follow Brian's advice....Monroe does the same thing! It happened to me as well and they just cleared the damn thing.
Test showed nothing wrong!
Yep, Autozone rocks for this reason alone. Of course, the problem is usually "your gas cap isn't on tight". but better to have the Autozone goober tell you that for free. :)
You can afford it: toss it in the recycle bin and just buy a new one!
he he he
Funny enough, there are pretty famous people who want that "check engine" light on computers...
http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2004/03/18/91900.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2003/09/01/54734.aspx
Once you get the code from Autozone head over to the Miata.net Forums and search for the code. Someone there can probably tell hw to fix it.