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Re: Check Engine light
At 2:01 PM -0500 1/11/2000, Daniel Isaac wrote:
>Hi Matt and thanks for the help,
>I was wondering what a 'driving cycle' is. I have driven the car a few
>times already
>but not very far and the light is still on. I am going try the spray
>bottle. This
>sounds like you are right since it was raining when it happened.
>Again thanks for the help.
>Dan
>Matt Zajac wrote:
Matt--
The last time you filled up at the gas station, did you close your
gas cap until it clicked?
The ODBII system (which is installed on our cars, and which the MIL
(malfunction indicator light, or the check engine light) is linked
to) pressurizes the gas tank to detect any leaks that would be
against federal emissions regulations (not exactly sure about that,
but the fact is that ODBII requires the tank to be pressurized)...
Anyhow, if you don't turn the cap until it clicks, then there is a
potential that there isn't a vacuum in the tank, which means that the
ODBII sensor interprets it as a failure in the injection/exhaust
system, and therefore causes the MIL light to light up.
It takes some time (I don't know what the requirements are) for this
to time out, but check your gas cap, perhaps it could be that simple
thing.
Otherwise, perhaps your Jetta needs a tuneup in order to prevent some
ODBII sensor from reporting some sort of injection/exhaust failure.
DISCLAIMER: I am not an expert, just a three year Jetta owner who has
picked up a few things off this list and offline. There may be
trivial inaccuracies in my message, but effectively, the tenor of my
answer is correct-- that a loose gas cap can cause a Check Engine
light to come on.
-Khan
Khan Klatt khan@mediaaccess.com
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