1996, Base, 120,150 miles

The first time was in July, right after I bought the car. Turned out the gas tank had a hole in it.

This time it came on when I was on my way home from school. Temp and such were normal, and I didn't notice that anything was off. I got home and checked the fluid levels. Tell me if what I saw was normal.

1. Transmission fluid was way above the level it's supposed to be (I was looking at the hot side, pretty sure this isn't normal) EDIT: Nevermind, I didn't check this with the engine idling
2. The coolant was steaming. The lid seemed to be very loose, but the fluid was right under the max line.
3. Oil was perfect, but I thought I may have seen a tiny bit of steam when I pulled the dipstick out.

After that I left the hood up and started the engine. To see if anything sounded wrong, I stuck my head out the window as I revved the engine to about 2200 RPM and back to idle. I noticed that when I let off the gas, it would pop a couple times (between about 2200 and 1800). Normal?

And I just passed the 120k service mark. Could it have anything to do with that?

Thanks a lot, you people are always helpful.

 

You can take it to an AutoZone and have them pull the codes to see what is wrong. That light comes on for damn near everything.

 

How much does it cost at Autozone (or Napa, that's a lot closer). I went to a mechanic near my house today, and he told me it would be $55 just to pull the code.

On a side note, whatever it is seems to be killing my fuel economy. I've gone 35 miles on this tank, and the fuel guage is already down to about 14.5.

 

AZ does it for free.

 

Okay, the light went off about 100 miles after it came on, but the gas mileage is still suffering. I've gone from about 22 to 17 mpg. Any thoughts?

Heh, I just realized that I only put 200 miles on my car last month.