Check engine lights and gas caps...

Just a heads up.

My mom has a 2000 Accord LX sedan 2.3L auto that she just loves.
The car has been well flawless since she bought it. Well about
6 weeks ago, she called me saying that her check engine light
came on and won't go off. She stated that my youngest brother
has gasing up her car and that he didn't tighten up the gas
cap correctly. She tightened the gas cap but the problem didn't
go away. I told her to wait it out before taking it into have
the car looked at. About 3 weeks after her car, I made a trip
to Houston to visit family. I gave her car a good once over
to see if anything was obviously out of wack.

I went through her owners manual about refilling and found out
that her Accord has a vapor recovery system that would trigger
the check engine light if the cap wasn't tightened with 3 clicks.
According to the manual the problem would go away after 3 trips
if the cap placed on again correctly. But it had been 3 weeks
and much more then 3 trips. So I was at a crossroad. She wanted
me to take it into the dealer to have looked at. But I was a
bit skeptical. Instead I took a $10 gamble and purchased her
a new gas cap from Honda. 2 weeks later the light still wouldn't
come off. She was really getting worried now so I told her to
go ahead and take it in to have inspected ($80). Well on the
drive to the dealer, the check engine light finally came off.

Since the light didn't come of until an event (not closing the
gas cap correctly), I knew it was something related to that.
However I didn't think it would take soooo long for the system
to recover from it.

 

ALL cars have that, ever since OBD II.

 

That damn check engine light has become a cash cow for dealers.
All the dealer will do is read the code, turn the light off, and tell
you to bring it back if the light comes on again. That's standard
procedure and the correct thing to do, but $80 to do it? Outrageous!

All you need to do is reset the light yourself. Make sure you have the
radio code handy, then disconnect the battery, or pull the ECU fuse.
If the light comes on again, that's the time to go see the mechanic.

 

Take it to AutoZone, they will read the code and reset it for free

 

Take it to AutoZone, they will read the code and reset it for free

Wouldn't recommend it. I went once and it took the moron more than an hour to
do it. He couldn't find the plug to plug in the code reader. I had to find it
for him.




....................
I do not killfile nor use do-not-call lists.

 

I am sure not all of them are the same. Or you prefer to pay $80 for
somebody who can find it faster??

 

I am sure not all of them are the same. Or you prefer to pay $80 for

Just buy the code reader, bought mine for $10, and do it yourself.




....................
I do not killfile nor use do-not-call lists.

 

where did you buy it??

 

------------------------------------------
Monkey,

If he overfilled the tank by 'topping up', he may have caused a couple
more problems (which apparently took a while to resolve) because the
evap cannister gets filled with LIQUID gas, and can take a while to
purge itself. Depending on outside temperature and how far her trips
were, it could take a while for the gas tank to stop 'burping up' into
the cannister. Gas is very expandable and it comes out of the ground
COLD, so you're not supposed to top up Hondas, according to the manual.

'Curly'

-----------------------------

To REPLY: If there are a couple of underscores in my return address,
you must remove them to reply directly . . . . . . Thanks.

Regarding stage performances: When everyone else has finished playing,
you should not play any notes you have left over. -

 

where did you buy it??

it was some auction site, unfortunately now defunct.




....................
I do not killfile nor use do-not-call lists.

 

I don't think you can find one so cheap, they are around $100

 

Are these code readers generic across all Hondas?
I have a '96 Integra, my brother has a 2002 RSX
and my mom as a 2000 Accord. It would be a great
thing to get then.

I remember years back when I was driving an old
beater. My dad had a chilton manual that said if
we pulled the connector from under the dashboard
ans shorted out certain points, the check engine
light will flash a code. Just wondering if Hondas
do that too. This was in a '81 Chevy Chevette.

 

I had almost the exact same problem right after I bought my car. I
replaced the regular gas cap with a locking gas cap. The place where
I bought the locking gas cap had incorrect lookup/cross-ref
documentation, so they sold me the wrong cap. After 2 fill-ups, my
CEL came on and I couldn't figure out what was wrong with it. I ended
up phoning Honda dealership and they told me that you can reset it by
turning the car on and off 3 times. I tried that and it still didn't
turn it off, so after driving around a few more weeks, I finally
decided to take it into Honda - off went the locking gas cap and back
on came the stock gas cap. The day before the appointment, I had to
go do some shopping and go figure, the CEL turned off!

After that, I took a closer looked at the gas cap and noticed that
although almost identical in sizing, the locking cap was a little bit
shorter. Then through some sleuthing, I had somehow did some more
cross-referencing and found out that they had sold me the wrong
locking gas cap. Got the correct locking gas cap now and the CEL
hasn't come on now for 2 years.

Just an FYI on the CEL... I've got a 2001 prelude and you can actually
get the CEL code from it without the reader (although the reader will
probably tell you a lot more). All we do with our cars is open up a
panel on the center console (floor area) and there will be a connector
that you can jump with a piece of wire or paper clip and then turn the
car onto the accessory mode. The CEL light will flash out the code
that is the problem and then all you do is look up the code.

 

The affordable ones are OBDII generic across all makes of vehicle - dunno
if any have brand specific switches/settings. I don't think they'll
deliver the "freeze data" which could be useful in some situations; for
that you might need a Honda specific reader and AFAIK that contains data
that Honda is very secretive about... meaning big $$.

That works for some models, e.g. your Integra - the connector is tucked
behind/above the passenger side kick-panel. Any model which started after
~1998 seems to not have the jumper method and requires a OBDII code
reader.

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??

 

Most Hondas will flash out a code if you don't have the tool. Don't know
about the newest ones, but at least up to '96 they do.