My Check engine light?

[BellaLatina]

I drive a 2003 Ford Explorer Sport and on Sunday my check engine light came on, so, I immidiately went to Auto Zone so they could tell me what was wrong (they plug some little thing in and its supposed to tell them what is wrong) The guy said something about it being a 'misfire' and that my Sperk plugs were burned out and I needed a Tune up...so, I went and got a tune up-the light turned off -but, it turned back on again this morning -two days later- What is Up? Can I wait till the weekend to fix it???

[BosC0mp]

autozone computers are not all that great they dont tell u all you need to know this weekend take it to a shop and have it put on a decent computer is all

[JStang]

It may be that the code just needs to be cleared, now that you have had the repairs done. Or there may be another problem that you need to have diagnosed. If it runs fine now, you can still drive it, just be careful, because there could be something else wrong that you don't know about. If it starts making weird noises, not running right or anything, park it and get it back for another diagnostics check ASAP.



Also...you can't always trust those OBD 2 scanners that Advance/Auto Zone have. They are a cheaper version than mechanics have, and they don't always catch everything. My Thunderbird that I use as my daily driver actually needs at least one catalytic converter replaced, and the scanners at Advance and Auto Zone never detected this, only a few other things like EGR and O2's. I took the car to a friend who is a mechanic, and it showed the catalyst code...and I know this is correct, because now I can actually hear popping metallic noises where one of my converters is coming apart inside the casing...

[zellparis]

boy would i love to check your engine out

[kay81363]

j stang's right. 1 i didn't know that scanners could pick up on burnt plugs, but that asside, newer vehicles have the service engine  light come on at certain intervals automatically. what you could do is, disconnect the - lead from the battery for at least 30 seconds, reconnect it and see if the light still comes on. on my car i can turn the key to the start position, w/o the car running and press on the gas pedal 3 times to clear the automatic signal off. there may be a similar process for your vehicle.

[Phonebreaker]

There is a difference between the "Service engine" and the "check engine" lights. Check engine almost always has something to do with your exhaust system or something minor. Did you get gas right before the light came on? It sounds goofy but that light can come on for something as minor as not having your gas cap on or tightened down right (that would draw air into the gas lines).

  Auto zone said you had a miss-fire, and your spark plugs were burned out? I really don't think their little trouble shooter reader can detect that. Could you tell something was wrong when driving? If you had a miss-fire you'd know it, and if a spark plug blew you wouldn't be able to drive it the same, you could feel a difference in the acceleration for sure. Besides either of those things would have tripped the Service engine light. How is the vehicle driving now? Good luck..