Worried...

[New Jeeper]

So I get in my jeep today and as my odometer (sp?) hits 37440, my check engine light is on. I dunno what it could be. My jeep is kinda dirty, almost looks all tan instead of silver due to the dirt. I did the 15 second check with the key in the ignition and the light stayed on as it should. Could it be that I just need an oil change and a tune up? Has this happened to anyone else?

I would greatly appreciate any and all help as i'm worried something could be wrong.

Thanks.

[JeepGal]

Check your gas tank cap Sometimes its as simple as that...it could take a couple hundred miles for it to reset/recycle itself.

Ive had this happen to me.

HTH

Tam

[New Jeeper]

Well, I undid the cap and retightened it. I checked to make sure all the openings for fluids under the hood were closed. Nothing seems to be working.

[nagal]

Never hurts to do a tune-up and oil change, so I would start there. Once you do that, go to AutoZone (or probably any national autoparts store) and they can pull the computer code and clear it for free (at least they do that here in CA).

Like Tam said, it takes awhile for that light to go off even when the problem has been fixed.

[FRMNJJ]

ive done the same thing with the gas cap, takes a while but it will shut off

[JeepGal]

The computer cycles through the checks, and it takes a while for it to return back to that one. You can take it to the dealer to reset it, if its bugging you Theres a few guys out there that run with it on all the time

Tam

[Black & Tan TJ]

Thought I heard something about disconnecting the neg. battery terminal for a min. or two then reconnected it. But you'll probably lose your radio presets, clock... things like that. My guess if it's something really wrong the light will go on again.

B&T TJ

[Jeri Lyn]

Thought I heard something about disconnecting the neg. battery terminal for a min. or two then reconnected it. But you'll probably lose your radio presets, clock... things like that. My guess if it's something really wrong the light will go on again.

B&T TJ

99% of the time, the check engine light deals with emissions. You can disconnect the battery, but that won't solve whatever is causing the light to come on. Is the jeep running rough? Is the engine temp right where is should be? Has your gas mileage gone down? I vote you go get the code pulled and go from there; either you can fix it yourself or have a shop repair whatever is making the light go on.

My :2:

Jeri Lyn

[New Jeeper]

I took it today and powerwashed everything including the engine. Then I took it to the best place in town and had all the old oil flushed out and got all the gunk out and stuff. They said everything looked fine and I had no leaks. The jeep handles fine, temp and gas mileage are still the same. I guess i'll get the code pulled and go from there. I'm also gonna get an alignment done too.

[4x4garage]

Definately get the code checked. I had the check engine light come on and I had multiple issues that I didn't even now about... Everything was running fine... but sure enough things ran a lot better with the new coil packs in, etc...

Autozone will check the code for you if you go when it's not busy. If you don't know what the code means, post it here and Ill see if I can pull one of the diagnostic manuals and give you the specifics.