Check engine light is on

I just purchased a 97 Eagle Talon ESI, 54K miles, yesterday from the Chicagoland area, i drove it home --150 miles, drove awesome! But, when i went to start it this morning, the check engine light is on, but it seems to run fine. I am a new owner, and I am new to talons, so does anyone know what I should do?

Thanks,
kat:)

katschmitty;
Sorry to respond so late to your post, somehow I didn't see it earlier.

I have a 92, and all of my knowledge is pretty much on Talons of that year, or up to 1994, so I can't give you information specific to your vehicle. However, I can offer some help.

First, the engine light only comes on when a fault is detected by the ECM. Actually, I take that back, it comes on for a few seconds when you start the car, that is normal, but it should go off. A fault detected by the ECM means one of the sensors that feeds it information has gone out of a specified range that it expects to see. This can be anything from a throttle stop switch to an oxygen sensor, the only way to know is to get the fault code out of the computer.

My first recommendation would be to buy the Haynes manual for your car. I recommend doing this becuase it is the only manual of I have seen for Talons, and it is actually pretty good. It is well worth the $12-15 you will spend for it. The manual will tell you how to check for fault codes, and what the codes mean. It also has lots of other useful information that might be difficult to find elswhere. It also lists all of the sensors in the system, many of which you can check with a voltmeter or ohm meter yourself, if you're inclined.

Hopefully it's something simple and inexpensive to repair! Good luck!

Mark

Thanks,

i took my car to my buddy who works at mistubishi dealer, he ran the codes, and it came up as the evaporative soleniod vent sensor.... i think that's what it was....he said it was $220 part to replace, but it isn't vital for the car to run well.

ive never heard of that sensor.

what did he say it does?

Sorry, it isn't a sensor, it is a valve, it is mounted near the fog lights, but my buddy said that because i don't have fog lights, the valve isn't protected so road gunk and what not has it plugged or something. I am not sure what it does, but i think i read somewhere else in the posts that the solenoid is the start for a series of other sensors... so if it goes bad then you have major problems. I need to run codes again, becuase my buddy said he wasn't 100% sure because he was using eclipses' codes. so i need a run codes on it for a talon.