Last night my Check Engine light came on unexpectedly.
Coincidentally, I just passed 29,600 miles when i noticed, so my guess is that its reminding me to go in for my 30,000 mile checkup in 400 miles. I don't think I did anything detrimental to my engine that would cause this, and i don't notice any changes in the cars drive/performance.

anyway, i did some searches on here (possibly not enough...) but didnt really find anything. anyone out there have information on whether or not my guess is accurate?

 

first- does anyone ever EXPECT the CEL?

your guess is not accurate. the pcm does not ever throw aCEL for milage or time based regular maintenance intervals. it throws a CEL because it has detected a situation withthe sensors it monitors that is outside the normal operating parameters of your car and it thinks you should know this and get it checked out.

did you get gas yesterday?

 

i got gas monday night after work. tuesday morning i drove 1.5 miles to work, and 1.5 miles back. i didnt NOTICE the CEL during those drives (i'd like to think i am aware enough to notice immediately) but later that night I noticed it after starting the car on my way out for dinner.

 

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-tech-garage-22/cel-question-80323/

^ some answers offered to me. Maybe they will help a little.

I think it could just be a random problem. Especial if it goes right back off but you'll have to consider your situation.
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it has stayed on since last night. i was planning to give a dealer a call to see if they could offer any explanation or reccommend i bring it in.

 

the conditionds that could cause a CEL are too numerous for them to guess over the phone. they're going to tell you to bring it in.

 

If it's under warranty bring it in. I wouldn't even fool with it if it is on. I almost brought mine in and mine only flashed like 4 times and went off. So like a total of 4 seconds. You paid for the warranty take advantage of it!
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Search the forum for more information (under the issues and problems thread), there are a lot of posts about this sort of thing.

There's a good chance that you didn't tighten the gas cap properly on Monday. Check that first. If it's loose, then that could have thrown the CEL.

The light won't go off on its own until the engine has been turned on and off something like 30 times without the problem reoccurring, so tightening the gas cap (or fixing whatever the problem is) won't make the light turn off on its own.

If you take it to a dealer, they can figure out what triggered the light and clear the computer for you. As I understand it, a CEL doesn't indicate an emergency unless it's flashing.

Josh

 

manuel has this to say...

 

Besides my mods, the low fuel happens to me frequently.

 

i'm relieved to find out theres nothing wrong with my car.
I'm sad to find out i'm a retard!

Somehow I hadn't fully tightened the gas cap, as many people mentioned.
thanks for the help...i panic easily when it comes to my baby.