1997 Civic--Malfunction Indicator Light On

Hello All-I could use some help. My Malfunction Indicator Light came on last night. I checked the manual and it only says that this indicates some sort of problem in one of my emission systems.

It said to check and make sure that the gas cap was on and tight, and I did. The cap was fine. It says that even if it was the gas cap, it would take several drives for the light to go out.

In a nutshell, has anyone ever experienced this, and how seriouscan it be to drive with it on. The manual seems to say wait for 3 drives to see if it goes away, but then it also says that it could caude serious problems.

DOes anyone have any input?

Much thnaks!!

my last car i bought last year, which was a 03 lancer oz rally when i first put in gas i didnt click the gas cap tight enough and the check engine light was on for 3 weeks, so unless your car is not running right u shouldnt have to worry.

first off, what car do you drive? second, the CEL (check engine light) is a plenty common thing and it just means that your ECU (engine computer) is detecting/detected something wrong. if you have a pep-boys or autozone near you take it to them and ask if they will read your code. they'll hook up a computer to your car and it will tell you what the code is.

mine did the same thing twice, since i had my car ( i bought it brand new 1997 CIVIC LX sedan) i just went to the dealer those times and they shut it off. one was because i left it parked for three months (was deployed), and the other was a malfuntion on the emission sensor. nothing bad, car will run regardless.