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"Engine" light is back on

post #1 of 9
10/3/11 at 5:37am
Thread Starter 
Remember I had posted about some kind of critter chewing Clarence's engine wires?

Well, Clarence is going in tonight for yet another check-up. The Engine light came on yesterday when Rick and his mom were on their way to church. And it stays on. Again. It's probably chewed wires. Again. I'm frustrated. It was only a week ago last Friday that he came out of the garage!

Obviously, the critters don't care about the cat litter. Although we've had a lot of rain and we don't even smell it much anymore. We keep saying about trying the Liquid Fence that we used around the perimeter of the garden, but it won't stop raining and drizzling long enough to try it. Today is supposed to be our last day of rain now for a few days, so when I get Clarence back tomorrow night, we'll try it. He goes back into the garage tonight....I just made the appointment.

Darn critters anyway.
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post #2 of 9
10/3/11 at 3:25pm
Ugh, that stinks. I hope it's an easy and inexpensive fix!!

I'm with you on the critters... the gophers are back in our yard, digging up mounds.. I saw one peeking out this morning, I think it got bigger since I last saw it, or maybe it's a different one. It just doesn't seem there's a nice way to get rid of them though, so I'll just hope they don't do too much damage.
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post #3 of 9
10/5/11 at 5:42am
Thread Starter 
Actually it was a free fix....Free is good. The garage didn't charge me.

But we're a little concerned. It turns out that my gas cap wasn't on. It's not that it was on crooked or that it wasn't tight. It was just laying there inside the little gas door. That's enough to kick on the engine light. And I understand that. I think it was right around 1/2 a tank or so on Saturday morning, but I don't remember what it was on Friday.

There have been quite a few instances lately where somebody (or bodies, as the case may be) has been going around the area, stealing items from cars, usually unlocked cars. And they're stealing stupid stuff like maintenance manuals and such, in addition to CDs, money, and other items. I have to admit that I'm one of those who never locks their car when it's in the driveway. I just don't. And Rick yells at me all the time about it.

But I do now and have been for about two months or so, ever since we started hearing about the vehicle break-ins. Which are getting pretty close to our neighborhood now.

We think somebody may have tried to siphon gas from the car on Friday night. Rick had heard something strange around 1:00 (we were still up) and he went outside. Maybe the person(s) got spooked and left.

We don't know. He filled my gas tank for me last night when we picked Clarence up at the garage....he usually puts gas in my car because he knows I hate to do that. We'll keep an eye on things. Hopefully that's the end of the matter.
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post #4 of 9
10/5/11 at 6:25am
People around here are bad for stealing gas as well

BUT they were being complete jerks and drilling a hole in people's gas tanks and draining them that way so they had to replace the whole tank.
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post #5 of 9
10/8/11 at 7:55am
My check engine light was on for quite some time and I finally took it to Autozone for them to hook it up to their computer. They did the free diagnostic and it came back clear..no issues with my vehicle. Now, the light is off.

I honestly think those things are programmed to go off so people take their vehicles in to the dealership for service even when it is not needed. Those lights are like the little boy who cried wolf. After a while I start ignoring the lights because I have never had anything wrong with my car when they did come on.
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post #6 of 9
10/8/11 at 10:14am
I had issues with my gas cap on my last vehicle (car-less now), and it didn't pass the licensing inspection the first go-round. I had to have the signal cleared, made sure the cap was tight, and it passed a week later.

If you think someone is siphoning gas, get a locking cap. I nearly did that myself, but never did. I didn't have anyone suspicious hanging around my car.
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post #7 of 9
10/8/11 at 10:38am
You know, I was going to ask if you had checked your gas cap, but I just figured, nah, that's too easy...

There is a market for owner's manuals of many cars. Just check e-bay!

But in many cases, it's probably kids who steal them, just to prove they did.
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post #8 of 9
10/8/11 at 10:42am
My check engine light has been on for ages. It's usually just a piston misfire, which logs the error in the computer and turns on the light. I do not, however, ignore the other lights. My brake light was on even though the e-brake was not engaged. Turned out my brake fluid at was the minimum level. My battery light came on soon after. O'Reiley's ran a diagnostic and said it was defective, so that needs to be replaced. *sigh* Cars...
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post #9 of 9
10/8/11 at 12:32pm
In order to open where my gas cap is, you have to pull a lever inside the car which is always locked.

I wouldn't ignore the other lights either..just that darned check engine light.

We have what is called e-check here and you can't even put your car through if the check engine light is on.
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