Need Help CEL is on........

[GtSDrkmnX1]

I was driving to work tonight, and out of the blue my CEL popped on. Does anyone have any suggestions on why it came on. I didn't do anything wrong, it just came on while I was driving at normal speeds. Please Help!!!!

[coOOlcelica]

disconnect the negative terminal and keep your fingers crossed!!!

[swift 21]

if you want to get rid of your cel just leave the power cable on your battery and only disconnect the negative. in other words leave the positive on. after about ten minutes put the negative back on and everything should be ok.. What that procedure does is reset your ecu so any error codes that were there are delted. dont worry most of the time cel has to do with air flow and not your engine!!!

[GtSDrkmnX1]

So nothing should be wrong with the Engine????

[swift 21]

no you should be ok usually your cel is just your emissions for example your O2 sensor. don't worry if it is still under warranty you can take it in but don't worry probably nothing major. Trust me you are not the first one with a cel light on!!

[GtSDrkmnX1]

Thanks everyone!!!

[swift 21]

NO PROB! HOPE IT WORKS OUT

[Maelfyn]

Resetting the ECU isn't going to fix the problem. It will get rid of it temporarily but it doesn't resolve anything. A CEL could be a wide variety of problems. You'll need an OBD-II scanner to even begin troubleshooting your problems.

[z6joker9]

yep, which you can drive down to autozone and they will hook your car up to the obd II scanner for free. or you can go to the dealer and let them charge you $50. that way you'll get a good idea of what the problem is. the most common one is that people dont tighten the gas cap or they leave the car running when filling up. that'll throw a code on our cars.

[ZZT 231]

our cars are like that
i once got a "phantum lite"
which means there's nothign wrong with the car and like celi just acts mental all of a sudden
i went to toyota dealer
i was under warrentee and they cleared it for me
the guy in the counter was like " maybe u'r down gearing too much, the cel acts up if u do that u know"
WTF, God knows he's a idiot

[JaySong]

Originally posted by swift 21
if you want to get rid of your cel just leave the power cable on your battery and only disconnect the negative. in other words leave the positive on. after about ten minutes put the negative back on and everything should be ok.. What that procedure does is reset your ecu so any error codes that were there are delted. dont worry most of the time cel has to do with air flow and not your engine!!!

Actually, What I found out was that the CEL does not get erased from the ECU. It's still recorded in it although it may not show up. Also the CEL may rebound.
It happened to me and when I took it to the dealership, I had three different codes show up eventhough I had disconnected the battery do make the lightd disappear. So they reset the ECU by hooking it up the diagnostic machine( i don't know the name for it).

If your cel keeps comes back on take it to the dealership and they will reset it.

[swift 21]

thanks guys for all that info good to know!!