Help.. need to turn off the Check Engine Light

[pinkpippi]

Hi ~ I drove through a flooded area last night due to Hurricane Dennis and the water was only less then 2 feet and many other cars were driving as well. My problem is that after I reached my destination, my car sat for a few hours and then I left to go home, after I was on the road for maybe a mile, the Check Engine light popped on. Now I think it might be my distributer cap (?) but I did not stall. I had that happen to a Honda several years ago. I need to know how to turn off the light or reset it. I don't have any issues with the engine or trans, as I think it was only the water that made the light come on... Any Ideas please?

thanks - Carie

oh - 2001 SE

[nismo_pilot]

yeah, find your ECU and hit it with a hammer a few times.....all joking aside unless you have a scanner that will let you reset the ecu, you may have to take it in....

[pinkpippi]

Thanks... I went to Advanced Auto Parts and tried to run a OBD thing and it didn't completely link to my system and so I went back and the guy said that I should take it to a mechanic... okay - so I know that I will more then likely have to do this but this guy said that I would have to pay between 65-125 for one hour which is totally bogus - what a scam. I plan on going to Pep Boys to have then run a diagnostic test. When it didn't 'lnk' it was mentioned that it was my computer system, do youfind that to be true? everything works, cd, am/fm, windows, milage etc. What is the ECU? ;-)

[sirsmiley]

did you fill up with gas recently? could be moisture...let it dry out, remove gas cap, tighten gas cap 3 full twists and drive for about 30 minutes...

ECU is the computer of the car, it records malfunctions and various data on speed, fuel flow etc, there will be an OBD II plug underneath the drivers dash, it will look like a plug on say a computer printer or something, it has 2 rows of pins and they plug a handheld device into it and itll tell of any errors and can clear them for you (although they will reoccur if there is something actually wrong)

[pinkpippi]

Hi ~ Thanks for the info. Actually I did fill up yesterday and I always make sure that it clicks multiple times prior to shutting the little door to the gas cap. I did re-check it today and everything seems to be normal. I am hoping that it just needs to 'dry out' we are experiencing tons of rain. I figured out that the ECU was the computer chip - when I did the OBD , it connected to the plug you are referring to and that is when it was trying to connect, it failed without connecting or establishing a link to even get a read out of what is going on. Let me ask this... how serious is this if I were to continue as is without further work? I know for a fact that everything was fine prior to driving through the water. I was not experiencing any issues. Either way - I know I will have to take it in, it is just that I am leaving on thrusday to go to texas, mexico and won't be back till next monday, can it wait till then?

[nismo_pilot]

chances are you may have shorted a sensor or something, but if your car runs it may be fine, just a signal problem or something of that nature, i fyou notice ANY change in performance or sputtering or anything like that dont drive it, get it tested first

[Sentradriver]

All thought I should recommend a mechanic you could unplug the battery for about an hour then plug it back in the light should go out but if it comes back on go see your mechanic

[phred923]

I have an 01 GXE and have the Check Engine light also, been coming on every once in a while over the last few weeks. I took it to a local dealer finally and paid $85 to have it checked, and they came back with a $440 estimate to replace some sensors. Code was P1491 VC cut/V Bypass/ v/ Rec Replace Purge Volume Valve and Drain cust Valve. Second time in less than a year, forst was a $600 sensor replacement, can;t remember which one. Seems odd given less than 80K miles. Ligh should go off today if form holds, then maybe back on tomorrow or the next day. ANy thoughts?

[slideways...]

my friend's 01 SE has a check engine light and it spits out the purge canister/cutoff valve thingy code. i pretty much said ignore it and he has had no problems whatsoever it has been on almost every day for almost a year.

all it is is the EVAP system which controls emissions and nothing more. there is no loss of gas mileage with it on and seems like no loss of power(from the seat-of-pants sensors).