check engine light

Mike P

Mike P

c:enter
Staff member
Paid Member
I was driving the other day in the monsoon we had out here on LI and I hit a big nasty puddle, didn't see it coming until too late. I was going about 30mph, right after it, it felt like the car was gonna stall. I kept it going and then the check engine light came on. It has since stayed on. The problem seemed to have gone away but the light is still on. Then yesterday when I turned my car off, it just died, so I jumped it, it ran for another day with about 3 startups in between, then again just died. Did I do something bad? Or is it cooincidental my battery died? It seems old but its not marked properly so I can't really tell. And can the light be turned off with a computer? I know I will get an answer from it when I connect it but its not for a few more days for that. thanks for any help.
 
The check engine lite more than likely came on when the computer detected the missing. How old are your plug wires? You might see if spraying water (mist) on them causes the motor to miss. If so, time for another set of wires.

The raw fuel could also have given the O2 sensors bad data and it adjusted the computer wrong. I'd pull codes and reset the computer.
 
HOTLNC said:
The check engine lite more than likely came on when the computer detected the missing. How old are your plug wires? You might see if spraying water (mist) on them causes the motor to miss. If so, time for another set of wires.

The raw fuel could also have given the O2 sensors bad data and it adjusted the computer wrong. I'd pull codes and reset the computer.
Click to expand...

No plug wires on 2nd gen. If water got in the plug wells that was some big puddel.
 
If you're running a CAI you may have sucked up some water causing it to miss, hopefully not enough to do any damage.

You could have possibly got the alternator too wet and killed it too. You need to do some more diagnosing before we can really help you. Right now we're just shooting in the dark.

Get a volt meter and test the Volts while the car is running, should be 13.8 or so.

Get a code reader and pull the codes before you try to clear them (they won't really "clear" but the light may go out). The code readers are about 140 for a decent one...worth the money in my opinion.
 
You might have got your air filter wet. When they're wet, they don't flow very well.

It's easy enough to replace. not as easy as some though.
 
ok so I went to change my battery since it was dead (or so I thought), when I messed with the cables I surprisingly got power (cables weren't loose but lots of rusty). So then I started it and what do you know, Check engine light is now off. WTF? No more stuttering and no more issues from when I hit the HUGE puddle. I guess I need to change my battery connectors now. They look kinda cruddy.
 
Sounds like you just had a quinky dink. Probably jarr'd the battery or something causing a CE light. Just get a battery terminal cleaner, I'm sure the connectors are ok, plug changing connectors should only be a last resort, aftermarket ones suck.
 
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