Check Engine light

When the water pump and the hoses went out last week my car just turned off, I finally after the car is warm and I drive it for about 20-30 minutes the check engine light comes on and the car wants to turn off. It does when I let it idle. It won't turn on right away, I give it a few minutes and then it turns on but it idles funny? The weird thing is that when the check engine light comes on, I hold the gas to 1000rpm so it won't turn off. Once I start driving the car, the check engine goes away....it comes on and off while driving and when I stop. Any ideas on what might be causing this?

I changed the temp sensor thinking it was that, reset the computer but the problem still continues.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.:frown: :confused:

Is your car still over heating? Blowing white smoke out the tail pipes Could be a number of things. Instead of playing the guessing game, run a self test to determine what code your computer is throwing. Then post back the results.

You should always run codes but it sounds like a vaccum leak. Did your car overheat badly before you did the water pump? It doesn't take much to warp the lower intake manifold. I've dealt with this on customers cars a couple times.

Thanks for you input guys.
I ran the codes at autozone and after doing some research on what they meant it turned out that I had not one but tow vacuun leaks.
I got a hose, turned on my engine. I begin listening closely for the hizzing shound.

The first leak I found was from the hose that hold the pcv valve, I changed it.

the 2nd one, was from a hard plastic tubes that connect to the intake. I changed that too. As soon as I turned on the car, I heard and felt the diffence. It idle normal......I hate CHECK ENGINE Lights.

:biggrin2: