Check engine light

Ok, so I started my car this morning and the check engine light came on. I turned the car off and back on to see if it would go away and it did go away. Should I have it checked out or is it nothing? 2000 XJ with 49k miles.


Any help would be appreciated.

My 94 sport , like others, has a self diagnosis system built into the computer. The engine and electronics are different on a 2000, however. My "Check engine" light came on at 119,400 and It scared the crap out of me. Made me pretty nervous. I have the Haines repair manual for it and it said to do the Key ON OFF ON OFF ON method and the CE light flashes the first number of the code, pases and does the second number. I came up with a #51 which was a "lean" situation. It said to replace the O2 sensor. A dealer can help but they can also milk diag. time out of you.

Oh yeah, my teacher's 2000 Ram pickup and my moms 01 Caravan have this too, so im sure you do. Might save some $$ by giving them the code upfront.

Check in here http://allpar.com/fix/codes.html but I was under the impression that the codes weren't available on the 97+ XJ

Scanner time!!

'98+ XJs need a scanner to pull touble codes. There is no other way. Many have tried to circumvent but is not possible.

Sometimes a code will be set, but if goes off shortly most likely is nothing to worry about....esp if you notice no drivability difference. These later systems are so sensitive in so many areas is rather normal for there to be detected an occasional anomoly which sets the light.

My '98 has set the light a couple times- once on a steep decline down a long mountain trail using the engine as a brake. Light went off after 5 or so restarts later on. I think the post cat O2 sensor was detecting abnormally poor catylitic converter efficiency. Would make sense as how was being used.

The various tricks for getting computer codes don't work for late model ('98+) XJ's. There is a way to run a self diag on the instrument panel but that does not return codes from the computer. So you will need to use a scanner to get the code.

AutoZone has scanners and will retrieve the code for free. They also can clear the code if it is something that might be intermittant.

-Brian

jre29 said:

Ok, so I started my car this morning and the check engine light came on. I turned the car off and back on to see if it would go away and it did go away. Should I have it checked out or is it nothing? 2000 XJ with 49k miles.


Any help would be appreciated.

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jre29 said:

Ok, so I started my car this ........... I turned the car ....

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its not a car!!