My wife drives a 1995 Max (114k, automatic). A few weeks ago the check engine light came on... Well, i was going to take it to have it checked out but havent yet... She called me yesterday and said that it was hard to start (usually starts right up) and it finally cranked on the 4th try after giving it some gas... the odd part is that the Check engine light went off after that and hasn't come back on. It could be in her head but she said that it's shifting a little hard now. Any ideas?? I'm gonna have it checked out but money is tight right now...(bun in the oven) You guys think it'd be cool to drive for a month or so w/o having it checked? Dont want my pregnant wife to break down on the side of the road somewhere, ya know.
Thanks
Greg

 

Greg, if the light come back on there is a simple way to diagnose the problem. Look under the "how to" sticky to learn how to check codes yourself. Look under the "ECU codes defined" sticky for what the codes mean. Good luck.

 

Sometimes codes can still be in there even without a light. Check the ecu using the method described in the sticky and come back with any codes. If there's nothing the just wait and see if it comes back. Is it still starting hard?

 

after a certain amount of starts the CEL sometimes goes away, IIRC

 

read the stickies, then use the ECU fault machine to tell you what the problem is.