Black5.0Lincoln

First I would like to thank those that responded to the headlight question I had. I replaced the bulbs and that made a whole new diffrence.

Now I was driving the Mustang last night (1997 GT, no mods) and the gas guage was getting to the red area. I pulled in to the gas station and filled her up. When I get back into the car, I saw the check engine light was flashing on and off. It was not steady, it was flashing. Then the engine started to run rough. I shut her down and waited like 5 - 10 seconds then restarted. The rough engine was now smooth running but the engine light was steadily on now. I am at a lost as I dont even know where to begin with this one.

The only thing done to this car was the changing of the intake manifold to the new one that Ford offers.

Otherwise the car is bone stock. It has around 60,000 miles on it.

I did check the forums but it seems that some of you got the light when you did mods to the car. Any ideal why a stock stang would throw a light?<edited><editID>Black5.0Lincoln</editID><editDate>37914.3978356481</editDate></edited>

mdvaldosta

Get the codes pulled and see what set the light off first.

gvr4ever

Did you turn the car off when you filled up? I heard that the later fords will throw a CES light if you put gas in it while it is running. This makes no since to me, but that is what I have heard.

Black5.0Lincoln

Come to think about it guys, I did not shut the car off when I filled up. I was wondering that same thing if the gas cap could have triggered the light. But, someone told me even if it did, the light would have gone off on the next restart of the engine???

Is that worng/right??!?!

mdvaldosta

What happens is that there is a vacuum pulled on the fuel tank and fuel system, and leaving the cap off can trigger the check engine light, but its not a common thing. I fill my car up on hot days with the car running (I dont want to hear it) and have never had a problem, and I have also seen people forgetting to put their cap back on and the light comes on. In no cases I have seen has the vehicle ran bad because of that though. </P>


You *could* reset the cpu by unhooking the battery and it will go away until / if the problem arises again, but I would rather find out what tripped itfirst so you can be sure to fix it or not do it again.</P>

SilverGTV8

Usually if you filled up with out shuting the car off or didn't put the cap on tight the CES light will come one. This started around 95 model year. Usually you can get rid of it 1. turning the key to the on postition 40 times(it's just ridiculus) 2. pull the battery terminal and lose all presets on you head unit. It will normally go away after 3 cold starts i.e. after sitting for a couple of hours, or just have the code pulled.</P>


And why would you fill up a car running? Do you have a death wish?</P>

Dan04COBRA

Yeah, I was gonna say..</P>


You are asking for an explosion by leaving your car running. God forbid it has a freak backfire and blows up the place..hehe</P>


Disconnect your battery for a couple minutes and all will be well.</P>

gvr4ever

Do you guys use any cheap code readers so you don't have to go to the dealer? Or at least knowing for sure before they tell you what is wrong with it.

mdvaldosta

Go to autozone, they will scan your car for free

gvr4ever

Ya, but I'm used to having one in the car with me. Do the ones from wally world really work? I mean, if the car isn't driving right, I wouldn't want to drive it to autozone. If the cheap code readers work, it could save a tow truck trip. </P>


A code reader is something I would want, but I guess I won't need it for awhile. I'll be getting a 03\04 stang.</P>