Hi, I am a new member who has a problem with a my 2000 Miata. The check engine light just came on at 30,000 miles. There does not seem to be anything wrong with the engine etc. Is this light pre-programed to come on at 30,000 miles, and if so, how do I turn the light off?<IMG src=smileys/smiley19.gif border="0">

has your gas mileage gone down? the car can run fine with a CEL but if you fuel mileage has gone down, i would check the O2 sensor. </P>


The Auto Zone stores here will run a check on them for free.</P>

I had a 97 Miata with this problem (at higher mileage) soon after I changed the oil. After I paid the local Mazda dealer $65, he took 3 seconds to reconnect a vacuum line that had come loose and it ran fine. The next time it happened I knew where to look and reconnected it myself. It's very easy to pop this line off as you wrestle the oil filter out from the top.

where do you find the vacum line?

Anyone have experience of check engine problem not being fixed? Mine has never been figured out and I keep spending money for a car that runs wonderfully.

I'll just repeat an advice that I got on this board,

Remove fuel cap,
Disconect battery cables,
reinsert fuel cap, tight
wait 30 minutes
reconect battery cables,

mine was fixed this way and had no problems since

FYI...I have a 2000 Miata, which I dearly love. Shortly after I purchased it, the check engine light came on for no apparent reason. I was surprised because it was running like a dream. I was close to home, so I drove it and called the dealer. He asked if I had left my keys in the ignition upon fueling up. Yes, as a matter of fact, I had. The dealer turned the light off at no charge...THE FIRST TIME...the second time cost me $83. I have since learned to remove my keys from the ignition and to make sure I turn the fuel cap until it clicks 3 or 4 times. It's in the owner's manual...go figure. Anything to make money for something which is not intuitively obvious to the owner. I like the tip about how to turn it off yourself since it's easy to forget about your keys. Thank you!

Did you ever get an answer to your check enginer light question? Mine just came on. I have a 2000 with 36,000 on it.

So many posts about a check engine light being on but no mention of the code that was stored. On your 2000 there are 93 different codes that can cause the check engine light to come on. They range from a loose fuel cap causing an evap system leak, to leaving keys in RUN position while refueling which gives a fuel level sensor range/performace problem, to engine missfires and so on and so on. The thing to remember is that your engine computer has seen a malfunction in some part of the system and it turns the light on so you will have it checked to see if it something major or very minor. By going to a dealer or trusted repair shop they can retrieve this code and will then usually diagnose why this code was set. Say your light came on and code p0172 was stored. This code definition says the adaptive fuel control is maxed at rich. You may notice poor mileage or mayber not. The code does not tell you why system is too rich, just that it is. Is then up to mechanic to figure out why. Taking to a shop can get expensive if it is a simple loose fuel cap. They still charge an hours labor ususally. An alternative is that many parts stores such as Knecht's, Autozone, etc will often retrieve this code for you at not charge in hopes that you will then purchase a part from them to repair. If your light is on, go to one of these stores and have them tell you the code #. Should be a letter P followed by 4 digits 0-9. Post with that code # and any abnormal things your car might be doing and maybe we can figure out what to do from there. Disconnecting the battery is often only prolonging a problem that may get worse and cause more damage.

ORIGINAL: Marco

I'll just repeat an advice that I got on this board,

Remove fuel cap,
Disconect battery cables,
reinsert fuel cap, tight
wait 30 minutes
reconect battery cables,

mine was fixed this way and had no problems since



Do not Do this!!!
primarily on 2000 and up vehicle's

Todays vehicles are computer drivin for the most part...its not like the good old days when your could fix you car in the drive way with a case of beer with the boys.

Take your car to the dealer for a definate code...then worry about how to "fix" the problem

I have a 2002 Tribute that's check engine light came on a little while ago. When the dealer told me it would take a week to get the car in, I went ahead and took it to a local shop (this was after trying the fuel cap trick). The shop diagnosed the problem, but told me that I needed to see the dealer to get the problem fixed. When I called the dealer back this time, they were much more willing to see me at an earlier time. I took the car into the dealer and told them what the shop had found. They treated as if I were stupid and didn't know what I was talking about. Calls were not returned at all, but after several attempts, I managed to get a hold of someone who told me (after much debate with himself) that they thought the air conditioner needed flushed and that an engine coil was misfiring. I was told this should take an hour or two to fix and that they would call when the car was ready. When I wasn't called back after three hours, I called again and left another message. After calling two more times, I finally got a hold of someone who told me that they thought they had the problem figured out, but that they were taking the engine apart and testing some other things to make sure. When I asked why if they thought they knew what the problem was, he could give me no answer. I asked when the car would be ready and he said it should be by the next morning around 11:30. About two hours later I got a call from this same man telling me he was returning my call (the one I had made 5 hours earlier). The next morning, I was called and told that the coils all seem to be fine, but that the computer that runs the engine is not working properly. They will have to order a new one and it would be three-five days before the car would be fixed unless I was willing to pay more to have the part overnighted. On top of this, he tells me that the air conditioner issue was more than likely caused by the computer misfire and it had been unnecessary to flush it. So, now instead of a repair of about $500, I will be paying closer to $1300 and part of that money was unnecessary labor to tinker with other problems that never really existed.