Check Engine Light

[emsp80]

Pretty dumb, but I recently ran out of gas in my 2000 impala and had to walk to a gas station to get more gas. When I returned and put the gas in the car it started up and ran like it always has, but the check engine light was still on. I then drove it to a gas station and filled it up and the light still stayed on. Two days later its still on. I was wondering if it needs to be reset or if I need to take it to a dealership to get it looked at?

[bigrod118]

take it to autozone or checker and hev them read the code is was set. they should be able to tell you what it is, if not bring the code back here and ill tell you what the code means.

its most likely a loose or faulty gas cap, common to happen.

hell, you can even look up the code yourself. http://www.impalaauthority.com/DTC.html

[tractorboy]

well did you check under the hood to see if the engine was still there,,,, sorry could not resist that.
it all depends if you have OBDII or OBDI. OBDII I have always thought it just meant that the gas cap was lose or not sealed, we had a bad locking gas cap that once replaced turned the light off, OBDII also has the MIL light and then needs to be scanned. OBDI check engine light,,there are 2 terminals you can short together on the ALDL that will blink the check engine light in a morse code fassion with the code of repair,,, for instance I had an ox sensor go bad, the check eng light came on, i shorted the terminals and the CE light blinked once then a pause , then blink 3 times then long pause, then all over again,,, this was error 13 ( not sure if that was the correct number) bad ox sensor.

[bigrod118]

well every car made after 96, is ODBII.

[phewop118]

It is probably indicating a misfire when you ran out of gas. Air got into the fuel lines and caused the engine to misfire. You will need to clear the code.