Question about a purchased car

[Machina123]

OK i just bought a 97 eclipse. It is in great condition. Now we are driving and about 10 miles from teh dealer check engine light comes on. We go back adn the dealer says the car has bean sitting there in the lot for a little over a month. it is driving great and is making no noises or smells. I went and bought some fuel injection fluid and put it in. SHould this work or should i try anythign else. Its under full waranty so he pays for anything either way. thnxs for the help.

[FordPrefect]

If the light is still on, have the dealer run a diagnostic and see what the problem is. It's under warranty anyways.

[FalconGuy016]

Originally posted by FordPrefect
If the light is still on, have the dealer run a diagnostic and see what the problem is. It's under warranty anyways.

Diagnostic go go go! You should just buy one yourself, they are about $30

[DJBacon06]

I sure hope you got the car inspected BEFORE you bought it. I have learned this the very very VERY hard way. (long story, and not even my fault)

[oldsoldier]

Have him fix it, and get the reciept for it. Chances are, it is a sensor somewhere (thats about all these things tell you, until you get the code from it). It is more than likely nothing to worry about...but, have him fix it, get proof that he did...that way, if something should happen, at least you have the documentation for it.

[CasingBill]

It is prolly an oxygen sensor. I don't know how emission inspections are where you live, but in NY that won't pass. Tell him he sold you a car that won't pass inspection. In NY thats illegal from a dealer.

[PyRo]

If its a dealer i'm sure its got a warrenty. Just take it back tell him BS sitting won't make the light come on, and tell him to scan the thing. Talk to a mechanic, not the sales rep, the sales guys usually know jack.

[Machina123]

.

mass has a 30 day warranty where he has to fix anything that goes wrong not to mention i bought a 2 year warranty. he even told me if there is something wrong he has to pay for it so im not worried. The car also has bean sitting there not running in the lot for about a month when the temp was between -2 up to about 45 degrees.

[PyRo]

If you suspect somthing, hear a nosie or somthing take it in get a recibt and save it. If 2 months after the warrenty runs out you find out that noise was the motor about to blow you can still make the dealer pay for it since you took it in and they just overlooked the problem.
They will try and downplay problems while the car is under warrenty. Go there after the warrenty is up and they will have no problem finding things wrong with the car.

[Barfly]

yeah sales guys are idiots a lot of the time. This guy was trying to tell my dad that this civic had a turbo in it. I had to call BS on that one. haha and then one dealer told my roomate that you could flip a corvette on a highway at highway speeds, because the dealer was trying to sell his mom on a SUV and he happened to mention something about that SUV flipping at highway speeds. Funny thing is my roomate beleived him, even when I told him he was wrong, he stilled tried to prove me wrong by looking it up on the internet.

[Restola]

Any autozone should be able to plug something in and tell you whats causing the light to come on.

[dansim]

just bring it back to the dealer and say fix it, thats what ive been doing (i got a new car 99 elentra las tuesday)

[lord1234]

massachusetts has a NO LEMON law. If the car is uninspectable and you paid more than 600 dollars for it...you have the right to return it within 3 days.

[GA Devil]

Check engine dummy lights usually come on for a few reasons. Its sometimes at a miliage marker to tell you to have it checked out. Alot of times tho its a clogged pcv. Best bet is to pick up a manual from your local auto parts store about your car. Its good to have anyay. Inside there will be a trouble shooting sectin giving all the reasons for that car the check engine light will come on. I wouldnt suggest taking it to the dealer directly to fix cause its nothign for them to reset it or just take the bulb out. Ive seen it done even by the best rep dealers. Find out what it is first with the book or by a second place diagnostics. Then tell them to fix what was found or find out if they will just reimburse you parts and labor if its somethign you can do yourself. That way you know its done. Hope this helps.

[cphilip]

Anything in the emmissions can cause the light to come on. Its all a part of ODBII systems that came in in the middle 80's. Some of them are cheap and some of them are expensive and or difficult to replace. Oxygen sensors, Throttle position sensor or even a lose gas cap. Some of those Oxygen sensors can be difficult to get to or even difficult to remove. I once had one that was so welded to the manifold we had to take the manifold off to extract it. And so that can get expensive for a 40 dollar part.

A code reader for ODB II systems will point you in the right direction. But one thing you can do is disconnect the battery for an hour or so to allow the capacitors to discharge and this will reset the light for you and clear the codes. A good code reader will also have a reset function. But this battery disconnect will do it as well. Clears the memory. A good code reader is like $250.

And then re screw in the gas cap and check for any lose vaccum lines. If the light comes back on them you need to read the codes and see what sensors are giving a reading. Some of them are a result of the other one. So its not a simple thing to diagnose but at least it gives you a starting point. For instance if one Oxygen sensor is giving a errorneous reading it will set the fuel too right or lean and make the other one give a code. And a throttle position sensor can give the Oxygen sensor a reading that sets a code. So you get like three codes whenever only one of them is wrong. From this though you can make an educated guess and run some simple diagnostics to narrow it down.