My CSE light came on ... I have to travel out of town for funeral and have no time to follow up with it...1) will this cause me trouble; i.e., will car stop running just cause I don't get it diagnosed soon; and 2) do I HAVE to take it to dealer to get diagnosed...can I take it somewhere else? 84,000 miles on my 02. I'm leaving in the morning.

 

Would help a lot if you actually post the code. Do you feel that the car is driving normally? You dont have to go to the dealership. You can go to your local auto stores (i.e. Autozone, Pepboys, etc) and they can check it for free. I'm not sure if Austin Texas is as ghey as Cali, because Cali just put a ban on auto stores lending out the OBD-II readers...

 

Car is running great. No problems. My maintenance is due and I was getting that lined up, but this funeral came upon me and the light came on..and here I am, wondering if I should have rented a car...great to hear that Autozone or Pepboys might be able to check it, if no ban, that will be doable this weekend then. I hope its something like I need more air in my tires...(joke) Thanks for your help.

 

if its running great its probably something small (bad O2 or something) you should be okay. If it was anything major like a misfire, you would feel your engine running poorly.

 

Thank you! That really does give me some peace of mind. I'll prob be back w/something else...this site has been so helpful to me!

 

im getting the same thing...mine smells like rotten eggs...i just ordered bank 1 and bank 2 cat converters....

 

Just get it checked, and don't assume that it's something like an emissions component. Seriously, it's free.

Or you could just do it yourself, all it needs is a few minutes of your time...

 

So, returned home from funeral. Did not get a chance to get auto plugged in to see what the problem was, however, on the drive home, the service engine soon light turned off. Now I'm really confused.

 

My damn light keeps coming on and off too.. I finally ponied up for the $130 for the code reader so I could do my own work and when I plugged it in, it cleared the code and hasn't come back.

 

I've no explanation except to say that my CEL has come on before randomly but there were no stored codes, and after clearing the codes with my scantool, it never came back. So I guess, it happens, haha.

 

The only time my check engine light has come on and turned off was when my gas cap was not on tightly enough. I had gone to advance autoparts and they diagnosed the problem for free, i tightened the cap and it went away. Do you guys prefer autozone or Adv Auto parts or Pep Boys as your general part store of choice?

 

we don't have Advance auto parts in Texas (or at least Dallas area). We do have the walmart of car parts, auto zone. When dealing with them, you better know EVERYTHING about what you need and then keep one hand over your butt and one hand on your wallet because they're gonna scr3w you somehow.