Check Engine Light

[southerngent]

Does anyone know how to get the check engine light to stay out on a 1998 ford explorer...6 cyl engine...2 door...no 4 wheel drive....have tried disconnecting the battery cable but it still comes back on...thanks for any help.

[smilingjack]

Go to a mechanic and have him fix what's wrong.
That's what the light mean'$ something is wrong.

Usually $omething expen$ive to fix.

Auto zone can run a check on it and tell you (maybe) what will fix it.

[chito]

Yes remove the light bolt

[SaigonTV]

Check your EGR sensor !!!
After few years, the carbon deposited around the sensor.
Just take it out and clean it. Save $

[superbond]

mine's has been on for a year,truck runs fine.Bought a code reader for $300.00 and it tell me that it could be 20 different thing from the O2 sensor to the EGR sensor.In the middle of winter when it's really cold the light goes out,go figure.I was told to clean two tiny sensors inside where your air filter is but becarefull,if you break them they are around $300.00

[#40Fan]

Will the code reader clear the codes? It should if it cost that much. I bought on for the newer OBD II vehicles that connects to my Laptop/PC.

I would be willing to bet that your problem is the DPFE. I can't think of what the acronymn stands for, but it is a little aluminum rectangular piece that has two hoses going to it. It is located right above the valve cover on the driver side. What it does is monitor the amount of flow the EGR is letting by.

The sensor that you are refering to inside of the air ducting next to the air filter is the Mass Air Flow. Just get some carb cleaner and spray on it. Then blow it off with an air hose.

[DenBuster]

If it's a hard code it'll stay on till you fix it.
If the problem is intermitente, then the light will go out after 30 on and off starts. You really need to have a mechanic take a look at it, but if the vehicle runs good and you don't notice and performance degradation, just ignore the light.

[keltic]

Your Explorer is an OBD2 vehicle and you cannot turn the light off by disconnecting the battery. It has set a code in the hard memory so the light will stay on until you use a scanner or equivalent to turn the light off. Some models will automatically turn off after a set number of closed loop runs with no reoccurrence of the problem but will be retained as a memory code until it is cleared. AutoZone will hook up there code reader and tell you what the codes say and maybe even try to tell you what’s wrong. Problem with that is their scanner is only a code reader operated by a person that usually has no idea what he’s talking about. The best solution is to go to a shop with a real scanner that reads the data as well as the codes. Many times the code that has set is only a sensor that’s being affected by a different problem. Example; I see an evap system malfunction code set all the time. You could change all the solenoids, canisters and vac lines and still not solve the problem. 95% of the time it’s caused by not getting the gas cap on right. Another is EGR insufficient flow, replace the EGR valve. Backpressure sensor, etc and still the same code sets. Clean the carbon that plugged the intake EGR passage and you fix the problem most of the time. These are just examples of what you can run into if you don’t know what your looking for or how to trouble shoot the codes that a code puller will give you. If it was I and I didn’t own a scanner, I would go somewhere that did have one. But then again, I have an updated Snap-On so I can do this myself. What you do is up to you. If you do use Autozone or someone like that post back what the code were and I will try to give you some things to check before you start replacing parts that may be unnecessary.

[smilingjack]

We are back to what I told you last night.

There is something wrong, go to a mechanic and get it fixed.

Auto zone will sell you a half dozen sensors and things their scanner says and it will cost you more than going to a mechanic in the first place would have cost.

When you disconnect the battery the computer clears the codes and the light goes out, but if you havent fixed the problem, after a little driving it will set the error codes again and the light comes back on.

[keltic]

Not on this vehicle SJ. The code will be set into the memory and will not leave until it is erased. Disconnecting the battery cable will not erase the code. It has to be done manually with a data link connection that gives the PCM a clear codes command. I see many vehicles that have been fixed before but the codes were not erased so when I scan them I pull codes that have nothing to do with the present problem. Most of the time I can figure this out with the freeze frame data but not always. You are right about going to a reputable mechanic though. However, even there you have to be careful, it’s unreal how many are still trying to diagnose and fix sensor and PCM problems with simple code pullers. If the aren’t using a Snap-On or OTC scanner I would be wary.(Mac is an OTC)

[smilingjack]

Well they must have changed it between 97 & 98 because I have a 97 and I reset the computer either with my code reader or by pulling the battery cable.

[HotRodTodd]

Its a ford, do yourself a favor and just set fire to it, or push it over a cliff. Since its a ford, you should be very familliar to pushing that POS.
LMFAO !

[lojo]

You can take it to your local autozone and they will check and tell you what the codes are. They will reset and clear all codes and it's free. But what ever is causing the problem will cause the light to come on. Most of the time it is emission related and nothing serious just money. Other times its fuel filter cap or something cheap like that. Regardless I would get it checked asap becouse if it is a major problem like a deteceted slip in transmission or something of that nature it will cause more problems and more dollars down the line.

[superbond]

Hey #40Fan
It does clear codes and will make the "check engine" light go out (for about a day).I did take it down to a ford dealer and they putit on their code reader and it said it was the DPFE because the volts where low.$103.00 later and still "check engine" light came on.

[smilingjack]

Mine did that 2 weeks ago, $ 850 later it's still on have to go back monday for more (gueses) parts.

[#40Fan]

Take it back, smack them fuckers around and make them fix it this time for FREE! But, honestly, it could be something else. It is hard to explain to a customer that what you fixed was what was needed, but yet something else is still wrong. If they would have caught the all of the problems in the beginning it would help to make them seem like they knew what they were doing, but it doesn't always work out that way.

One thing to remember is to always ask for the old part back. That way if the light or problem returns you can always have them fix the new problem, put the old part that they replaced back on, and then see if that takes care of the CEL. If it does, then you can get your money back for the part they sold you. If you don't ask for the part back, more than likely you will get the "I threw it away already" excuse and end up paying for it.

[Stout1]

Check the gas cap. My engine light came on, no codes on it. Replaced the gas cap and boom the light went of and has stayed off...

[BirdieMod]

OB2 code readers are only about 79 bucks, Then get a chiltons manual for your model, For about 99 bucks you can at least know whats up if you cannot fix it and the mechanics can't screw you over.

Pulling the bat cable doesn't reset it and actually adds more error codes to the PCM showing you pulled bat cables.

[smilingjack]

Those cheap code readers are usually not worth the money.
They will give you readings that refer to things you can not understand and have you buying a shitload of parts you don't need.

[keltic]

Hey #40Fan
It does clear codes and will make the "check engine" light go out (for about a day).I did take it down to a ford dealer and they putit on their code reader and it said it was the DPFE because the volts where low.$103.00 later and still "check engine" light came on.

DPFE, This is the differential pressure feedback sensor signal; it is a reading that indicates trouble in the EGR system. Depending on your particular vehicle, it can be narrowed down to a few things. You have a backpressure sensor, an EGR control solenoid, EGR valve, and a few vac lines and wires. The first thing to check would be a restriction in the manifold that prohibits the egr from injecting exhaust into the intake mixture and pull the egr vac line and feel for a pulsing vac on it. If the tract is not restricted, you probably have a bad backpressure sensor, solenoid, bad connection, or vac leak. If the car is running fine, the chances of the problem being in the pcm are slight. If you sick of spending money on the problem and you live in a state that is lax on emissions inspections you can say screw it. The egr system will not put the pcm in a limp mode like a bad coolant or O2 sensor will. On a few cars, you may develop a slight spark knock during heavy acceleration but that’s rare unless they are heavy with carbon deposits from too much city driving. That is about as simple a run down as I can give you without seeing the car in the shop or at least having more information on it.

[BirdieMod]

I'd still get a book for it at least.

Alot of this new stuff you can read codes from the radio buttons or like my caddy the heater control buttons then it displays on the digital fuel data display. My jeep is just turn key on off 3 times then on and watch check engine light flashes.
Then look the codes up in the book.

[southerngent]

Thanks to all you guys...Lots of good info...ill check into some of this

[NtrigueU]

Map Sensor, Peace....

[mopar611]

Fuck them new vehicles and all their sensors!!!

[BirdieMod]

426 HEMI power Mopar611? :)

[iczer01]

I spent about 2 years and $1300.00 on that damn check engine light and each time checked the code but usually the O2 or EGR. In every instance the light would come on in around 30 to 90 days. So after 2 years of pulling my hair out I just let it go and low and behold about a year and a half ago it went out !!! I had the damn check engine light tested to make sure it wasnt out but everything checked out. I drive a 1995 nissan Maxima. The nissan mechanic said just about anything can set it off like quick changes in altitude or humidity. I have owned many cars and have blown a few engines and never once did the check engine light come on before the engine went out !



On the path to true wisdom the first step is understanding your own stupidity

[BirdieMod]

Some vehicals are just programmed at certain milages to force the check engine light to turn on also. A example is my Jeep wrangler, At 85K it turns the light on automatically for O2 sensor replacement whether it needs it or not.

[louder xo]

1st you should have it check to see what is wrong(code #'s). 2nd, post me your code. I am cert. mechanic from dealer, and then I will try to help you. Code can only set if there is something wrong with your car after two trip of drive cycles. That's mean you put you key into your car and drive and then take you key off and put it back in again and drive again. One great advise, to help your self please trust dealer mechanic.

[Matisse]

Its a ford, do yourself a favor and just set fire to it, or push it over a cliff. Since its a ford, you should be very familliar to pushing that POS.
LMFAO !

now....i must kill you for that opinion...biatch! :) :) :)

[Matisse]

its probably the oxygen sensors....you should have two of them....one before the cat converter and one after...replace them both.....have autozone reset the memory with their computer
i had this happen to my very badassed f250 about a month ago.....problem solved...til the next time the check engine light comes on..then..ill replace more shi-t...lol.grrrr...when you pull your o2 sensor...if its all black or mostly black....thats the cue also to replace it if not you will clog up your catalytic converter and since that is usually brazed on...its off to the muffler shop for a $400 parts and labor job...as i remember...my two sensors cost a total of $135 at Autozone..they only give a 90 guarantee on them though
but by all means..have them diagnose it first.....and you dont need to buy your own computer....why.?....theyll do it for you

[Matisse]

Fuck them new vehicles and all their sensors!!!

thats the way i feel when im driving my restored 79' CJ7 Jeep Renegade...until i realize that it gets only about 10 miles per gallon on the highway and thats even after replacing the shitty stock carb with a $400..38 degree Weber with electronic choke...oh well..at least it starts fine in all temperatures

:) :)

[HotRodTodd]

now....i must kill you for that opinion...biatch! :) :) :)
LMFAO !!
I get stuck working on those POS Fords that everyone else has tried to fix all the time. Hence my first(and correct assesment btw,LOL) reply.
I had one of those beautys today for example, been to the dealer 3 times, they said it was fixed as there were no more trouble codes. Two other shops said they did'nt know, then, to my shop, lucky me.
2002 E250 van, 5.4 toilet mod motor, no codes stored in the obd2 puter but yet it wont run over 40 mph.
C'mon, guess what it was, LMAO !

[bols2dawaLL]

Look at you guys , diggin up old posts to reclaim post counts - hehe

Hey , me too ! - LOL

[#40Fan]

Floor mat under the gas peddle?

[jimmymac725]

to hotrodtodd one of 2 things lack of air going in or (more probable) lack of exhaust flow, plugged cats, i too am a ford line tech see this alot, also seen alot of stupid stuff, like a plugged air filter of fuel filter, this is due to lack of maintainence,(or too tight or lazy to have the normal stuff done) a car or truck requires alittle more than just gas and a key. :) :) :)



jimmymac

[HotRodTodd]

to hotrodtodd one of 2 things lack of air going in or (more probable) lack of exhaust flow, plugged cats, i too am a ford line tech see this alot, also seen alot of stupid stuff, like a plugged air filter of fuel filter, this is due to lack of maintainence,(or too tight or lazy to have the normal stuff done) a car or truck requires alittle more than just gas and a key. :) :) :)
jimmymac
We have a BINGO !
Yes the dumbasses at Ford have struck again with thier "better ideas" and decided to put, not one, not two, but four catalytic converters on some of thier toilets.
The Y pipe on this POS has a cat on each side just after the manifolds. The cat on the drivers side was 60% blocked causing 20lbs of back pressure at 2000 rpm.
The sad part is that you can't buy a new Y pipe from anyone but Ford, at a cost of $950.00.
But according to the local Ford dealer there wasn't anything wrong with the truck because it had no trouble codes they could find, LMFAO !

[werks]

Does anyone know how to get the check engine light to stay out on a 1998 ford explorer...6 cyl engine...2 door...no 4 wheel drive....have tried disconnecting the battery cable but it still comes back on...thanks for any help.
Break the lightbulb....it'll never come on again! Other than that.....could be a million things...literally!

[Phottoman]

Mind if I stick my two cents worth in here? I own a stretch Limo that took me six months to find, I went searching for a specific body style, and even though there were newer models available, I needed trunk space, so I went looking for a '97 Lincoln Town Car 100" stretch (eight passenger). AT the dealership in Las Vegas where I bought it, when I started the car, the "check engine" light came on and I was told to take it to their mechanic. I did, and that started a whole round of mechanics. His sensor/computer said it was the number 2 bank of cat converter and/or sensors, and he would need a couple of days for the parts to arrive. I didn't have time to wait in LV so I drove it home, and took it to a reputable muffler shop, they too said it was the cat converter and/or sensors. They replaced with cheap after market stuff and I insisted that I wanted all OEM, so the price went up, and by the time we were done I was into them for very close to $2000 US. Needless to say, that was three years ago and the light still keeps coming on, and everyplace I take it tells me the same thing, sensors and/or cat converters ("Number 2 bank"). This being said, I needed to smog it again this year (every two years in this state) and I disconnected the battery and reconnected, and went for the smog check, AND I told the smog guy what I'd done. He said that up till the '97 I could get away with that, but in '98 the computer had a memory and would show up on the smog check/report. Nothing showed up, I got smogged, sent the report with fees to DMV and the next day the light came back on. I think it's just a way for FORD to make more money off us (my rant) but wanted to add my experiance to this thread.

[werks]

Mind if I stick my two cents worth in here? I own a stretch Limo that took me six months to find, I went searching for a specific body style, and even though there were newer models available, I needed trunk space, so I went looking for a '97 Lincoln Town Car 100" stretch (eight passenger). AT the dealership in Las Vegas where I bought it, when I started the car, the "check engine" light came on and I was told to take it to their mechanic. I did, and that started a whole round of mechanics. His sensor/computer said it was the number 2 bank of cat converter and/or sensors, and he would need a couple of days for the parts to arrive. I didn't have time to wait in LV so I drove it home, and took it to a reputable muffler shop, they too said it was the cat converter and/or sensors. They replaced with cheap after market stuff and I insisted that I wanted all OEM, so the price went up, and by the time we were done I was into them for very close to $2000 US. Needless to say, that was three years ago and the light still keeps coming on, and everyplace I take it tells me the same thing, sensors and/or cat converters ("Number 2 bank"). This being said, I needed to smog it again this year (every two years in this state) and I disconnected the battery and reconnected, and went for the smog check, AND I told the smog guy what I'd done. He said that up till the '97 I could get away with that, but in '98 the computer had a memory and would show up on the smog check/report. Nothing showed up, I got smogged, sent the report with fees to DMV and the next day the light came back on. I think it's just a way for FORD to make more money off us (my rant) but wanted to add my experiance to this thread.
i've seen 20 plus year techs pull out their own hair over stupid things like this! if it runs....poke out the bulb and forget it! CRC makes a product called G2P....it's an emissions test formula....seems to work very well on cleaning things up! i've used it on a few occasions...with good results!!

[Matisse]

LMFAO !!
I get stuck working on those POS Fords that everyone else has tried to fix all the time. Hence my first(and correct assesment btw,LOL) reply.
I had one of those beautys today for example, been to the dealer 3 times, they said it was fixed as there were no more trouble codes. Two other shops said they did'nt know, then, to my shop, lucky me.
2002 E250 van, 5.4 toilet mod motor, no codes stored in the obd2 puter but yet it wont run over 40 mph.
C'mon, guess what it was, LMAO !

brakes locking up.....lol.....or someone set the emergency brake and took three different mechanics to notice it...lol....or a vacuum leak? :)

awww fok..i give up..what was it?

[Matisse]

Floor mat under the gas peddle?

blahahahahahahahahaha that was my next guess :)

[Matisse]

hey hotrod....then they told me right at autozone...said if you drove a vehicle too long with check engine light on and the problem is indeed a faulty o2 sensor.....then your cat[s] will get clogged up and youll be into some big bucks to fix it then.......those cats,no matter how many there were.....4?......probably went bad because the sensors went bad....if the sensors went bad...then it wasnt burning fuel as it should have and thats why the cats got clogged up and needed replaced
personally..i cant see how they could put four cats on a van...maybe two after the y pipe if it had dual exhaust
btw....how many o2 sensors did it have stuck in it???
$950 to fix that is painful......of course....i know of a few shade tree mechanics that will swear that all you have to do is remove the problem cat...take a screwdriver and break up the core inside into small pieces and dump it in the trash....then put your shell of a cat back on and head down the road
that van is too new probably couldnt find one in a scrap yard but you never know....id do a google search before i relied solely on Fords' word or advice to buy from them

[jimmymac725]

matisse, what a cat does i chemically chang some bad gases into less strength, the egr system adds to the intake air to keep the combustion chambers below a certain temperature this keeps the gas nox (nitrogen oxcide) from being formed, hence, it also keeps exhaust temp down which will extend the life of your cats, also ford has a standard 8 year 80000 mile warranty not because their nice but because its federally mandated,(on cats and the pcm only) and yes you could chisel out a cat to improve performance but, by the time a problem arrises it has already broken up and has packed your mufflers, seen this alot you replace the cats only to find your performance still sucks because it still cant breath, so dont blame ford thank your government leaders at the epa for this little problem, but what do i know i still love the smell of a 2 stroke engine smoke. jimmymac

[Matisse]

nawww....i wasnt suggesting he hollow out his cats....i wouldnt.....whenever any check engine lights comes on,everyone needs to get it properly diagnosed and repaired...its always a plus when you can repair something yourself with only the parts to cost you..........hey i love Ford...i have three of them ...all trucks....i know...pray for me....lol :)

[jimrod]

Take it to a local shop and ask them how much to clear the code. If they are cool about 40.00, but some assholes charge 80-100.00

[Trapofmind]

The cheapest way to make an engine light go away is to take a piece of black electrical tape and cut it to fit then place it squarely over the light on your dash.

The light wont get through the tape therefore you will not be able to see it anymore.

[autodave]

In most cases, the check engine light is not of immediate concern. That is the reason that it is ambur in color. Warning yes, but get is fix asap. You can go to the local walmart and get an inexpensive code reading for about the same cost as going to a mechanic. Around 60 dollars and you own the device for later on. I am a mechanic and own 2 shops and it is our policy to read, log and reset the trouble codes for free the first time. I takes all of about 2 minutes to read and clear out the codes. I bought one to the cheap ones from walmart for my son and every so offten, his car gets a glitch and turns on the light. His will happen when his car is up to operating temp and he has to run through water. That will cool off he's cats and thus get the system a wrong reading and turning on the service light. And believe me, if my poor mentally challenge son can run the cheap code reader, anyone can! good luck