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Old August 12th 06, 04:07 AM posted to rec.autos.makers.mazda.miata
Bill[_5_]
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Posts: 8
Default Check Engine Light Came On

W. Kiernan wrote:
> wrote:
> >
> > I have a 1999 Mazda Miata. The check engine light came on
> > and stays on. It's been a year and 8 months since the oil
> > was changed. Would that cause the check engine light to
> > come on?

>
> My '99 does that when I don't turn the gas cap until it clicks. The
> check engine light stays on for a few days after I tighten it. If your
> gas cap was loose but you've tightened it now, and you really don't want
> to look at that unnerving yellow light, and you don't mind getting your
> hands a little dirty you can reset your "MIL" (malfunction indicator
> light) right away. Get in the trunk and disconnect one of the battery
> cables. Next press on the brake pedal for about thirty seconds.
> Reconnect the battery cable and you're good to go. WARNING! This
> deletes all your preset stations on your radio and resets the clock to
> 1:00. If you have the anti-theft code enabled on your radio you will
> have to reset that as well; there are instructions for doing this at
>
www.miata.net. Or you can just wait a couple days and see if it goes
> out on its own.
>
> And hey, get that oil changed! If you can afford another $40, get your
> spark plug wires replaced - go to a Mazda dealership and insist on the
> blue NGK plug wires. Miata plug wires are shot after 30-40K miles, and
> if it's been that long since they were changed you'll notice the
> difference immediately. Your car will be much, much happier, and happy
> cars make happy drivers. My wife and son and I drove up to North
> Georgia in her xB last month; boy oh boy have they ever got some roads
> up in those hills that look like they were custom-made for driving a
> Miata. Funny though; the whole time I was in N. Ga. I saw not one
> Miata, only SUVs and pickup trucks.



On a similar note.... I *really* screwed up, now I'm right in
the middle. I had the fuel-cap CEL thing on my '99 about two years
ago, pulled main fuse long enough to reset ECU, but not lose radio
presets, and light went out until a month or so ago. I did the
'backyard reset' a couple of times to no avail. Finally took it to a
local indie shop where a good friend, and _great_ mechanic, works.
They either reflashed ECU or pulled power- I got conflicting stories-
but all was fixed. Until I got four miles down the road, and whoopie!
here's the CEL. I took it back in less than good humor, only to find
that it was my friend's last day there, he was going lobstering.
All I found for sure was that the code it threw was a PO 7135
(or 1135? couldn' read his writing) which, I was told, was a general,
generic, "Your engine has a problem." And now I'm wishing I'd driven
the car a little further, and gotten a new gas cap although I think
that I would have lost the 31 dollars they charged me in that case.
(I.E. not applied to re-do after I take car, fiddle, and bring it
back. Only fair, I guess.)

Any ideas/thoughts would be welcomed. I have extra keys, I
suppose I could pick it up Sat afternoon or Sun and work on it. And
this is the week I'd planned to sell it!
TYIA to all for reading/thinking about this.

-Bill


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