Hi,

I'm experiencing an issue with a check engine light. The car seems fine after driving it. I live in Portland, OR and work in the suburbs, so I drove it about 20+ miles with the check engine light on. It didn't seem to have any problems. I took it to an AutoZone and they couldn't get it to read from the OBD2 scanner. The guy at AutoZone said "maybe you need a fuse," but I doubt it. I changed most of the fuses when I had an ECM issue about a year ago.

What's been done and needs to be done to the car (from what I know):
Changed oil and flushed engine
Swapped out the electronic engine control module
Normal maintenance, like changing head light bulbs, etc.
Brakes need to be swapped out in the next couple months, which I'll get to when I have time

What bothers me about it is that the ODB scanner wouldn't even read the check engine light. The last time I had a problem with a check engine light, it was because of the gas cap not being screwed in. I'm not seeing any issues with gas mileage, and my oil filter was recently changed, air filter looks fine. I'm at 130,000 miles. Any ideas?

 

You are referring to the CEL and not the service due warning light?

The service due light comes on every 7,500kms or 5,000miles and needs resetting.
It normally extinguishes after about a minute once car is running also.

 

Yes, the check engine light. The service light does come on, as it always has, and it goes away after about two or three minutes, like you described. The check engine light remains on all the time. No one can read a code off of it; the car won't link to a code reader.

 

On my 2001, after hooking up the code reader, I have to hold a slight bit of tension on the cord for it to maintain a connection. I always thought it was my cheap code reader's problem but it could be the OBD-II port is off somehow. Maybe you have this too?

 

That's a great idea. I'll try that. I don't have an OBD-II reader myself, so I usually have to get it done at AutoZone or through a mechanic, unfortunately. I'll have them do it again and see if they can try it with some tension in the line.

As an update, I noticed that the car shifts hard and when I had to hit the brakes and then speed up again earlier, I noticed the RPMs kicked up to about 3.5k and the car hesitated before pushing past 20 mph. Maybe a transmission thing?