Check Engine Light...WTF?

[Watarski]

I get into my P5 to make a quick beer run...And the check engine light comes on and stays on. I drive about 5 miles, shut the car off, nothing. Light stays on.

A little background info:

-I changed the oil for the first time yesterday and put a different filter on, a K&N oil filter; used the same 10W-30 Mobil1 that was in there before. I drove over 100 miles last night and everything was fine.

-My car has the injen cai and the racing beat catback. The original owner (I bought the car 2000 miles ago) got a check engine light and had to clean the maf b/c oil from the filter got on it.

Whew, now the main question - How do I check the code(s)? Do I need to buy a diagnostic tool?

Any help is much appreciated-
craig

 

[Tengo]

autozone does the engine light code check for free. just ask them if they can check it out. they're real nice about. well with me they were. hope you can find out the problem. ive had a CEL for like 6 months due to a dead trasmission speed sensor.

 

[Scott]

Could be something minor, or it could be the beginning of a serious problem. If it's not blinking, and the car is running fine, it's probably the o2 sensor or something along those lines.

but if the CEL is blinking, stop driving the car and get it checked out ASAP, because something is broken.

 

[Watarski]

Ok, so now I feel like a d-bag. I just went out to go to AutoZone, and the light went off as soon as I started it. Drove around the block, shut it off, turned it back on, light stayed off. I'm happy it's off, but now I want to know what would have caused it...

by the way, thanks for all the quick replies...this board is awesome-

 

[Tengo]

Ok, so now I feel like a d-bag. I just went out to go to AutoZone, and the light went off as soon as I started it. Drove around the block, shut it off, turned it back on, light stayed off. I'm happy it's off, but now I want to know what would have caused it...

by the way, thanks for all the quick replies...this board is awesome-

yeah just go to them if it comes back on. and your welcome buddy

 

[pasadena_commut]

Ok, so now I feel like a d-bag. I just went out to go to AutoZone, and the light went off as soon as I started it. Drove around the block, shut it off, turned it back on, light stayed off. I'm happy it's off, but now I want to know what would have caused it...

Is your gas cap just a hair loose? That might cause an on again off again CEL.

I don't know if the Protege computer keeps a log of recent CELs that were not explicitly cleared. If it does you still might be able to read the CEL number with the right reader.

 

[GNO]

On my scanner, I can look up history that hasn't been deleted. So if the light is off, but was recently active, I can still find out what caused the light to go on in the first place. I don't know if AutoZone has the ability to check that, but you can ask just so you know what caused it.