This very night, whilst driving home the "CHECK ENGINE" light came on. I was driving with cruise control on at 73mph. At the time, I was 15 miles from home and managed the journey without incident. The engine appears to be running fine and no strange smoke, smells, noises or bangs/rattling!!

I have just recently bought the car and it has a full service history and the engine appears solid (even though 150K on the clock). Just wondered what SIMPLE things could cause the "CHECK ENGINE" light to come on???

I read in the owners-manual that a loose fuel filler-cap could cause this...and funnily enough, it wasn't fully screwed tight! But, after 20mins I restarted the car and the "CHECK ENGINE" light was still there!

Any suggestions for this??

 

I think you need to buy yourself a code reader as you will see the "Check Engine" light many, many times.
They do not clear by themselves so buy it once and save yourself a trip to the mechanic every time you need it cleared
It also helps to WHICH code you have, there are about 100 or so of them and it can BE any one of them!

 

Most of the chain auto parts places will check it for you for free. Without the codes you will have a tough time figuring it out.