Issues

Owned my 99 Sephia since 2003...got a good deal on it, after my 94 Ford Aspire (made by Kia) was totalled. Didn't really want this car, but you get what you can afford, right? Basically almost as long as I've owned it...30k miles later, the check engine light has been on. I think its been on since I was on the way from the dealer to work (so roughly, since 5 miles after I bought it, and maybe for 15 miles in between the few times I've had it checked). I'm confident that it doesn't have any problems that are actually triggering it...it just bothers me. My dad is my go-to car guy and while he doesn't have a reader he knows cars well enough to figure out most of the non-computer problems without it. Another problem (which I've seen mentioned) is the whole O/D on/off thing flashing and the car running with overdrive off for an undetermined amount of time...its completely random (it seems anyway) when it decides to shut it on and off. Thankfully, that isn't very frequently, so it hasn't seemed like that big of an issue, just an irritance. I'm not sure I agree with the "tranny going out" comment, as I would expect the problem to be a lot worse and would have assumed the car would have died by now. And if that is the problem...it probably isn't worth replacing as the car isn't worth that much anyway. The only other problem I have is that sometimes it misses a lot...not just when it is wet outside, so that is not the problem. Right now its not exhibiting any of these problems...except the check engine light, which just needs a piece of black tape over it be fixed...but it sure is tempting to chuck this thing sometimes. Any inexpensive solutions for other problems?