Check engine light.....

[Erm]

Mine has just come on after the car has been sitting in my garage for 2 days unused......

what do i do??? the car seems to be running fine, however i gotta go to my girlfriends place either tonight or tomorrow morning.....

is it safe to drive the car about 1 hr n half on motorway? or will i do some damage to the engine?

or will it just be something stupid that set it off, as the car runs as sweetly as it did befoer the light came on!

PLEASE HELP ME!!!

(i'd go get it checked now but i'm meant to go into uni )

 

[jakan]

Check Engine Light (CEL, MIL) lights up when the ECU finds a problem with a circuit that is connected to the emmisions control. I.e. if a sensor breaks on the engine which causes the engine to run rich and create more CO and hydrocarbons in the exhaust the light will come on to say Oi! get me checked out. On the other hand when a new car is modified away from its original spec the ECU will see an unusual Lambda sensor signal/trace (Usually more O2 in the exhaust) this confuses the ECU into thinking something is up(Its not, just more efficient say). As soon as the ECU thinks something is up the light comes on.

The good news is that your car already knows what is up with it as it has OBDII (On Board Diagnostics level 2) Just takes the equipment to connect to the ECU.....

As for if it safe to drive , you'd be very unlucky to do any damage to the engine with the light on as performance is restricted. I wouldn't drive that far with the light on. I'd get it checked out first.

Does the light come straight on or only after its warmed up? Have you just fitted a de-cat pipe?

Regards

Dan Turner

 

[T666YPR]

The only times mine ever came on were after a spin on track and after a techie probed around my fusebox.

Both times the checklight went out after driving the car for a mile or so.

You might want to try that first.

 

[Erm]

the light comes on as soon as the car is started!

i've driven it quite a few miles and its still on at the moment!

The car is unmodified apart from headlights, rear lights and ICE. Nothing engine or exhaust wise???

Not been spun for a while and can't think of anything that happened to make the light come on!

The car still engages VTEC ( i had to try it ) and drives perfectly! If there was no light i'd say the car is fine personally :?

I'm gettin it checked out tomorrow morning, but down in kent where the gf is....... so its gotta do the 80 odd mile trip down there tomorrow.... hope its fine :shock:

 

[truffs]

mine keeps on coming off and on, becoming a bit like a friend to me at the mo. Took it down to Honda and the only thing that computer could pick out was the fuel mixture was to rich. This was fine as i have larger ejectors and a turbo hence more petrol flow then what the ECU was programed for. HOWEVER with my Accord R, as i have already stated previously in a past post it came on due to a split oil line and because of this it saved my engine as it only allowed my to rev below the Vtec and brought it to my attention. It is well worth getting it looked at by your local dealer. Honda are usually very good and will slip it in when they have a spare minute. Dont let them fob you off saying that the UK computer systems are incompatible with your ECU because its not true. All they have to do is put in your chassis number preceeded by a number of 0's and it works fine. My local dealership let me in the back to watch the process. Hope this helps

 

[jakan]

Turbo on std ECU?

 

[truffs]

Ive got a Greddy E management system within the car, however the disks are still winging their way over from Japan