Check Engine Light (CEL) - loose fuel cap

[RyanRA]

Has anyone had the Check Engine Light come on because of a loose fuel cap? According to the manual the CEL will turn off after a few days of normal driving after tightening the fuel cap.

It's been two days now and I'm finding it a little disconcerting to see the CEL on.

Thanks for any feedback.

 

[Daedalus]

Your fuel cap may be bad. You can have it tested, kind of like a radiator cap test. Hopefully it's not something else.

 

[Wheelman]

do you have an obd2 reader to make sure it is the fuel cap. If it is, the reader should be able to delete the code and reset the light.

 

[Larry Bastanza]

Tighten the fuel cap, then reset the ECU by pulling the 7.5 amp clock fuse in the front fuse box(located on the right wheel well, under the hood) If it is gone no worries, if the CEL re-appears, then get the code.

HTH,
LarryB

 

[RyanRA]

Thanks all. I had tightened the fuel cap 2 days ago - it was loose. Since I don't have an odb2 reader, I'll try resetting the ECU first.

 

[Da Hapa]

Ryan -

I had that happen to me last year. I was quite confused because the manual states something very wishy washy like "a few trips" and it goes away.

I re-tightened my gas cap and it did go away but only after several trips (more like 7-10 than 2-3) it did go away.

 

[RyanRA]

Christian thanks for that information. I couldn't stand seeing the CEL on, so I cheated and reset the ECU based on Larry's recommendation. CEL is now off... hopefully this incident was in fact due to the loose fuel cap.

 

[Da Hapa]

Christian thanks for that information. I couldn't stand seeing the CEL on, so I cheated and reset the ECU based on Larry's recommendation. CEL is now off... hopefully this incident was in fact due to the loose fuel cap.

The good news/bad news is that if it's something else... the CEL will come back on.