turning off cel

alright, my cel light came on the other day because my #1 was misfiring (in my case, not firing at all). so watever, i replaced the spark plugs, that wasn't it, i replaced the distributor cap and rotor, and that seems to have fixed the problem. my friend says i have to clear the cel code manually, it doesn't just go away (the code was 71 by the way). the only way i know how to do that would be the disconnect the ecu from the battery via the 7.5amp fuse under the hood. is there any other way or is the light supposed to turn off by itself after the problem is fixed, cuz if so, i'm still screwed.

oh, another thing, i was driving, and the entire shifting mechanism shifted all the way to the right on me. i couldn't access 1 or 2nd gear, then it popped back into place, well almost all the way back, wtf!!!