Ok, well this is kinda sad, I bought the car on Tuesday and already there is a check engine light on. I didn't do anything differently from usual.

The car isn't doing anything strange yet just the check engine light came on. The next day I have off work is tuesday coming up so I'm going to take it to the mazda dealership in town and get them to run a couple tests to see what it could be. Only thing is its my DD, so I have to drive it.. Do y'all think thats a bad idea?

Thanks in advance for the quick responses!!

 

What the year, mileage?

 

If its a solid CEL and the car is running fine then you should be able to wait. A flashing CEL is a more serious matter and should be looked at ASAP. If you can try stopping at a chain type auto parts store. Many will read the code for free, then look it up here with the search feature.

 

First off did you get gas lately? If you did check to make sure your gas cap is tight if it is just run down to the closest autozone unless no time then wait till the dealership if you get a small vac leak or very small vac leak good chance it's your gas cap being bad....

 

Its an 04 with 61 thousand miles, well just below 61 thousand.

I got gas quite a while ago, umm tuesday night to be exact so its not that.. And I might have to pop over to autozone tomorrow so I can get them to grab that code for me.

Is there anyway to find out if there has been recalls performed on the car?

 

Call Mazda or a dealer. But the recalls were for minor issues and wouldn't cause a CEL.

 

Alright, well I'll go by autozone tomorrow and check out what code its throwing and then I'll verify it on this board. Shoot I might even post an update if someone hasn't already ran into this problem, lol.

Thanks for the quick responses, and if anyone has anymore, please do post them!

 

did you put 91+ in?


i hear that the check engine may come on when lower octane is used.

but i could be mistaken.

 

I only use 93 octane, no ethanol added to the fuel..
So I was driving home and my fuel light came on so I stopped to fill up, after putting my gas cap back on the light went away, strange because I didn't touch it up until about 30 minutes ago. The strangest things happen to me I tell ya...

Do they have a habit of getting loose, should I check that every couple of days?

EDIT:
Thanks for the suggestion 04RX8man, I'm kinda annoyed that I didn't go outside and check it real quick.. -_-;

 

well when i first got my 8 my CEL came on, just take it to autozone and let them c what code it is , its prolly your gas cap that was my problem

 

If it's the gas cap, the light will come on as soon as you start the car. If the light comes on while driving, the CEL is from something else.

Get the code number itself, not just the text description. The code a leaky gas cap causes is usually P0455.

Ken

 

that is poo.

beers

 

wellll damn.... then i was mistaken... jesus.

 

61K, spark plugs, coils, wires? I needed all the above + a new cat at 59 K

 

I just bought the car, so I have no clue if any of that has been changed.. I haven't even checked with the dealership yet to check and see if there has been any recalls performed on the car..

I'm gonna get some money together and see if I can't change the plugs / coils within the next 2 weeks, and then the wires after that.

What would y'all suggest for the plugs (Brand) / Coils / Wires (Brand)??

 

yeah call up the mazda dealer to see what has been done....Like i said the CEL coming on is almost always just the gas cap if it comes on again have the code read and meake sure it's an evapleak(which would b the gas cap)....

 

Don't fret over the CEL

I had the same issue, car running perfectly fine, CEL on, it was annoying.
(the CEL I had was for the intake manifold tuning valve stuck open and a secondary air injection system malfunction)

Took the car to the dealership, they ran diagnostics, verified proper operation of the components the CEL said were malfunctioning, and was told everything was in good working order and the CEL was just a 'glitch' in the system and not to worry about it.

The worse thing that could happen is something wrong DOES actually occur to make the CEL come on but since it's already on, you might not know immediately.

 

If it ends up being your plugs, coils, or wires...find out when they changed those out at the dealer. They are supposed to swap that stuff before they sell it to you, also if they did swap them you have 12mo/12000mile warranty on the parts. They have to replace them for free. But first have the code pulled and go from there.

 

There you go

 

ok i'm glad i found this thread. my CEL came on when i first got it when i graduated. the light came on and my dad took it to advanced and the code was a small evaporation leak, so we got a new gas cap. this was just after HS grad so about 6 or 7 months ago. well about 3 weeks ago the light came back on, so i took it to O Reily's and did the test myself and same code and everything came on, btw the new cap wasn't OEM. should i take it to mazda and get an OEM cap?

and also, when i'm driving at lower RPM's in 6th gear, like at 2500 or 3000, there's a rattling noise. but it only happens when i put on the gas, not when it's in neutral.

i have an '04 MT with 72k as of Wednesday.

 

You can buy an OEM gas cap very cheap from Rosenthal Mazda...http://finishlineperformance.com/sto...cat=273&page=1

 

Exactly what mine keeps doing every few weeks. Comes on at startup, I clear it (thanks for teaching me about that fuse), it stays off for a few weeks... repeat. It didn't happen for the first few years I've owned the car, it just started a few months ago.

So most likely I just need a new cap? Is it common for them to go bad after a few years?