Clearing the engine maintenance light on dash?

Anyone know how to clear the engine maintenance light on the dash. Just got this truck with 87000 K on a 92 XJ and need to clear it.
TIA,
Dennis

TheXJfiles said:

Anyone know how to clear the engine maintenance light on the dash. Just got this truck with 87000 K on a 92 XJ and need to clear it.
TIA,
Dennis

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Is this the emission counter thingy? You should be just able to unplug it if that is what it is. I'm not sure when they changed it over [early 90's I think some time] but the dealer can reset. I know my '90 can't be. I just unplugged.

OK, I'll unplug it.....ugh....what do I unplug.....the bulb going into the dash panel?

I have a 92. There is no "thing" to unplug except the light. The way you turn it off is to have someone hook up an OBD scanner and clear the code. There is a reason it is on and you should find out.

One way to do that is to turn the ignition key on - off three times, leaving it in the on position when you finish. Don't start the enging during this process. The Engine light will start blinking and you should count the times it blinks. The codes are two digits long so you may get more than one code. The blinking is in sets so three is three blinks with a pause. You may need to do it a couple of times to get the hang of it. Do a search and you will find a list of codes or look them up in the FSM.

Thats good info. Thanks. It is the maintenance light thats on, not a check engine light. I thought it comes on at 82 K or so to let you know to change the O2 or something like that.

The maintenance lights does come on somwhere around 90k or so. The way its supossed to be cleared is to hook the computer up to a scan tool. Diconnecting the battery wont work. I never got around to hooking mine up to the scan tool and my steering wheel was in the way anyway so it didnt bother me. After a few thousand miles and a couple months it went off on its own, but that could just be cause the bulb blew out.

Most shops will charge an hours labor just to hook up your jeep to the scan tool which can be anywhere from $50 to $80, so if you dont want to spend the money I would just see if it will eventually go out.

Dean

Yank the bulb. It won't go out unless it blows. My '91 was on for years till I yanked it out while I had the cluster out trying to fix my erratic guages.

It is the one that says "MAINT REQ'D" right?

sjx40250 said:

I have a 92. There is no "thing" to unplug except the light. The way you turn it off is to have someone hook up an OBD scanner and clear the code. There is a reason it is on and you should find out.

One way to do that is to turn the ignition key on - off three times, leaving it in the on position when you finish. Don't start the enging during this process. The Engine light will start blinking and you should count the times it blinks. The codes are two digits long so you may get more than one code. The blinking is in sets so three is three blinks with a pause. You may need to do it a couple of times to get the hang of it. Do a search and you will find a list of codes or look them up in the FSM.

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Thanks. I wasn't aware it was done that way. I was under the impression it was about the same as mine was, but was resettable.

As for when it comes on, it's supposed to come on at 82,500miles and as mentioned, at that point the O2 sensor is supposed to be replaced.

sjx40250 said:

I have a 92. There is no "thing" to unplug except the light. The way you turn it off is to have someone hook up an OBD scanner and clear the code. There is a reason it is on and you should find out.

One way to do that is to turn the ignition key on - off three times, leaving it in the on position when you finish. Don't start the enging during this process. The Engine light will start blinking and you should count the times it blinks. The codes are two digits long so you may get more than one code. The blinking is in sets so three is three blinks with a pause. You may need to do it a couple of times to get the hang of it. Do a search and you will find a list of codes or look them up in the FSM.

Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure you're talking about the wrong light. My '91 has both the "CHECK ENGINE" light, which will flash to show codes and only comes on if a problem is present as well as a "MAINT REQ'D" light which is simply a timer and must either be reset by the dealer or disconnected. I know this changed sometime in the later years but not sure when.

On a 1992, there are TWO lights;

1. "Check engine"
2. "Maintenance Required"

The check engine engine light is used to determine problems in the engine control system, and flashes a sequence to indicate codes.

The maintenance required light is designed to go on at 82,500 miles automatically, regardless of status of the engine control system. This light is supposed to be a reminder to change the O2 sensor. Note: it does NOT indicate the O2 sensor is necessarily 'bad' or 'failed', but merely that 82K miles have passed, and the O2 sensor is probably in need of changing.

The maintenance required light can ONLY be reset by using a Chryco proprietary "DRB Scanner". Given it's relatively unimportant function (to remind one to change the O2 sensor), removing the bulb is the easiest way to deal with this. (Provided, of course, that one is certain the O2 sensor is in good working order!!)

All of this is straight from the FSM. (I used to own a 1992!)