Check Engine light illuminated

[Teddie]

A bit of background on the 2005 Kia Sedona. Until a year ago was only driven in the summer and only has 33,000 miles. Driven Upstate New York, not too much dust (only one Hailstorm), and has a new front bumper.

The check engine light came on in the Family's 05 Sedona while driving Westward on New Jersey I-80. Owner's Manual says the check engine light has something to do with emissions system. The engine is still under warranty so we kept driving the 180+ miles to home (after listening for abnormalities checking fluids with everything normal) and nothing happened. I have noticed occasionally it smells like gas and BBQ and the gas mileage is crummy (high teens) so my theory is a bad O2 sensor.

What are your opinions?

Looked around and did not see this asked elsewhere.

[spike88]

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Yes. Problem could be a bad sensor.

If your vehicle is still under warranty, I'd suggest you get the dealer to investigate it. They have a special code reader and should easily identify the "root cause" of the problem. If past warranty, then perhaps your most trusted auto shop needs to investigate the problem - with their special code reader. Replacing sensors (like an OS Sensor) in hopes to eliminate the "check engine light" situation would be like being blind folded and told to drive a peddle bike on busy city streets. re: Not a wise thing to do. With diagnostic codes from an attached code reader, one has a much better odds of finding the "root cause" of the problem...

If wondering, my previous GM vehicle had "check engine light" problem one time as well. Took to my local auto shop, they attached their GM vehicle code reader and discovered its gas tank cap was loose. They "zeroed out" its computer codes, tightened its gas cap down and `away I went` (with NO charge). Never had the "check engine light" problem again. And, I didn't need to randomly "guess" on sensor replacement parts either.

Hope this helps....

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