[ladyandjan]

Last aug. had the distributor module fixed due to car stalling & then not starting. Upon picking-up my car the mechanic informed me that now the check engine light would always be on and at that time also asked if there was anything wrong w/the pollution control equipment and he said no there wasn't. Have to take emissions test. How can the light be disengaged, turned-off or whatever it takes to get it out. The state won't let you even take the test with the check engine light on. Called the mechanic a few days ago and he suggested I bring the car back to find out why the light is on (which I thought was kind of funny) since he had already told me the light would stay on. All help will be appreciated. Thx!

[labman]

Tracking down why those lights are on and fixing the right problem on the first try is very difficult unless the car is hooked up to a computer with the software to find out what all the sensors are reading. Usually you can read codes easily by shorting a couple of contacts. Problem is, the code only tells you the sensor is reading out of range. The sensor may be bad, or something else may be wrong causing the problem.

When the check engine light comes on, the computer quits using the inputs of the sensors and falls back on an average value. The car then runs less efficiently and pollutes more, thus the refusal to check it. You may have noticed poorer preformance or gas mileage with the light on.

I wouldn't take it back to that mechanic. He may just start replacing sensors until he hits the right one, and then charge you for all the ones he replaced. $$$$$$$$$$ Find somebody with the right equipment to do the job right. They will see to it that your car will pass on the first try.

[CroCivic91]

I don't know about Fords, but I know that when a Check Engine Light comes on in my Honda, and I take care of it, it will still remain on until I reset the ECU. It's usually done by disconnecting the negative lead from the battery and connecting it back after 10-15 seconds.

[thebriggsdude]

you could try ^^^^ his way, now I've seen with that a old buick had all the check engine lights on and not a damn thing wrong with it, all was hooked up, all the sensors were right and the computer reset, so instead of hell they snipped the wires, not saying do that but it might be your computer needs resetting, don't know much about fords because I generally don't like them much. :D

[ladyandjan]

I don't know about Fords, but i know that when a Check Engine Light comes on in my Honda, and I take care of it, it will still remain on until i reset the ECU. It's usually done by disconnecting the negative lead from the battery and connecting it back after 10-15 seconds.

Did disconnect battery this past sat. left it off for over 10 min. re-connected cable then drove car hoping light would go off-did not. Have until July 20th to either find a way to get the light out or get rid of the car. Thanks for your help.

[ladyandjan]

you could try ^^^^ his way, now i've seen with that a old buick had all the check engine lights on and not a damn thing wrong with it, all was hooked up, all the sensors were right and the computer reset, so instead of hell they snipped the wires, not saying do that but it might be your computer needs resetting, dunno much about fords because i generally don't like em much. :D

If I knew where the wires were I'd snip them myself. Only ended up with this Found On The Road Dead, Fix Or Repair Daily, (Ford backwards) Driver Returned On Foot car because at the time had no other choice. I personally would never, ever own a ford car-they make great trucks but cars are another matter entirely. My next car will be a foreign one as I don't want to have to worry about something going wrong with an american car and having a recall after people get hurt or killed from driving cars with unsafe parts. I know foreign cars get recalled (sometimes) but no where near the rate of american cars.

[thebriggsdude]

Ever tried gm, less recalls then ford, had a recall for fords about serious life injuring stuff. If you want to you could take the dash front off and just snip the lights wire, might just be a bad sensor though that's telling it that, but of course I've seen a ford taurus riding along no problems at all but major back pressure in that 4 cylinder, enough it didn't blow the head cover gasket but yet made it leak like hell and back, well it caught on fire behind the injectors and almost went boom :D ford crap to me, chevy and gm very good, hell I see old cars like mine driving around all day long, even in the city I see them. And that's a lot of driving and stop and go driving, idling etc. your better off with no hondas, nissan and toyota are very good cars. My bro tried to blow his nissan up, no go it withstood it and it was well worn. Just fords seem to always have a problem. I'd sell it like that or sell it for parts, trust me for parts, other people need them :D oh and kia's pretty good to. No hondas though, something about their valves crashing into pistons not everyone knows, newer ones I'm not sure about that but their mowers are total crap, trust me my friend, melts the blocks down for alluminum or when he gets a pretty good freebie he uses it. But because it was free.

[CroCivic91]

As a last resort, try to take off the gauge cluster, and remove the bulb that lights up the Check Engine part.

[thebriggsdude]

Yeah but most can be permanent bulbs that require snipping.

[labman]

As a last resort, try to take off the gauge cluster, and remove the bulb that lights up the Check Engine part.

Removing the bulb would be easier to undo than snipping the wire. Neither will get you through inspection. They will turn on the key and see if the light comes on before the engine starts. You will then have to pay to fix the light as well the cause of the problem.

You are going to have to either fix it, or dump it. Selling it with the light removed or wire cut would be unethical. It may be illegal too.

[thebriggsdude]

That's why sell it as is. :D or for a parts car

[CroCivic91]

no hondas though, something about their valves crashing into pistons not everyone knows

Don't bash the Honda man, pistons MIGHT hit the valves only if your timing belt snaps, which doesn't happen if you change it every 80k miles. Honda is in fact quite a durable car. I know my Civic survived being tortured by my brother for 4 years, and I mean torture like driving with no oil, driving with 2 years old mineral based oil, spark plugs being 4 years old, air filter being 6 years old, one timing belt for 145k miles, tires heavily underinflated and below 2000rpm ALL the time (5th gear at 37mph?). So don't bash the Honda.

[thebriggsdude]

No I'm not bashing it, I know they are good just that most people do not know to change the belt and do not know that the pistons might hit the valves when the belt snaps. Talk about torture :D 2.3liter 4 cyl. Olds well lets see, I did burnouts in it, ran it for years with the same oil, never changed the plugs, timing chain did snap, replaced it, did more stuff to it like not giving a damn about pot holes. The alternator, well I fried 2 from abusing it, all said and done I changed the oil and plugs and the fuel pump and chain and it still runs :D , but no no bashing the honda, no no no, its just the belts most don't think about.

[ladyandjan]

ever tried gm, less recalls then ford, had a recall for fords about serious life injuring stuff. if you want to you could take the dash front off and just snip the lights wire, might just be a bad sensor though thats telling it that, but of course i've seen a ford taurus riding along no problems at all but major back pressure in that 4 cylinder, enough it didn't blow the head cover gasket but yet made it leak like hell and back, well it caught on fire behind the injectors and almost went boom :D ford crap to me, chevy and gm very good, hell i see old cars like mine driving around all day long, even in the city i see em. and thats alot of driving and stop and go driving, idling etc. your better off with no hondas, nissan and toyota are very good cars. my bro tried to blow his nissan up, no go it withstood it and it was well worn. just fords seem to always have a problem. i'd sell it like that or sell it for parts, trust me for parts, other people need em :D oh and kia's pretty good to. no hondas though, something about their valves crashing into pistons not everyone knows, newer ones i'm not sure about that but their mowers are total crap, trust me my friend, melts the blocks down for alluminum or when he gets a pretty good freebie he uses it. but because it was free.

Would have to find someone to help take off the dash front. But if the wires are cut for the bulb would that show up during the emissions test or would everything read as normal? If anyone can answer this please do.

[ladyandjan]

As a last resort, try to take off the gauge cluster, and remove the bulb that lights up the Check Engine part.

Your idea might work the best because since there is nothing wrong w/the pollution control equipment then with the bulb out I could take the test and the car would then pass so I'd have more time until I have to get a new car this Oct.

[CroCivic91]

As labman said, if they have to turn the car off and start it - they will see that the light doesn't get on when they turn the key, so they would suspect you taking the bulb out.

[thebriggsdude]

Either that or you could find a friendly garage to do it, because they will know that everything is fine just the bulb might be blown. :) most won't care.

[ladyandjan]

either that or you could find a friendly garage to do it, because they will know that everything is fine just the bulb might be blown. :) most won't care.

Would like to know where the bulb is for the check engine light located? Trying to find someone to remove the dashboard for me or if it's simple enough (with someone's help on here) maybe I can take it off myself) and then would need to know how to disable the bulb/light or whatever it is to get the 'check engine light' not to light up. So can you find out or tell me how to get at the bulb or light? Found info on the net that states if your car is older than 1996 (I have a 1991) then the emissions test is done with the dynaometer which spins the front wheels so won't have to worry about the check engine light cause they won't be checking that with an on board diagnostic tool which they do use on cars that are newer. All help in getting to this light will be highly appreciated. Thx!

[thebriggsdude]

Well like I said I don't like fords and hardly work on them so I don't know where exactly, but they are behind the dash, if its around the speedometer it's just easy to remove the front off and the take the gauges out and either take the light out or snip the wires off to it. Like I said most won't even care, they will look and see if its all fine and give you the bill, trust me, man that had the olds was running around with all the lights on, even the fasten belt one. If you don't want to take the dash or what you have to to get to it, a piece of black electrical tape will be the best way of covering it, that's the only other way to do it with out doing anything. But you should be able to take the front cover off to get to it. Without taking the dash off.

[CroCivic91]

I have no idea about your Ford, but I did take out my whole gauge cluster (in my Honda Civic 91) yesterday. The situation in my case was that I just had to remove the gauge cluster cover that is held on by 4 bolts, 2 on top, and 2 below, to get to the cluster. From there I undid 4 more bolts to get the cluster free from the dash, removed the speedometer cable and 3 clips from behind and I had it separated. Then, you simply check the back of the cluster, and notice where the check engine light is, and take it out (it's all plug and play, no need to cut anything - at least not in a Civic).

After that, just put everything back the way it came out.