2003 CR-V Check Engine Light

My 2003 CR-V (54,000 miles) has had the Check Engine Light come on
sporadically over the last 4-5 months. It's come on four different times.
Each time it has come on, it has stayed on for about 3 or 4 trips, and by
about the fifth time I turn on the car after I first saw the light go on,
it's off. The first time this happened was in May, and it was a long time
before it happened again, but it's now happened two times this month. Any
idea why this would be happening. Nothing seems to be wrong with the car at
all -- in fact it was just in for routine maintainence.

Thanks for any info.

 

------------------------------

Didn't you ask them to write the CODES down for you?

It sounds like your gas cap is bad or you're topping up, or you have
been pumping gas with the engine running, but all is speculation without
the CODES.

'Curly'

 

You have to read out the error code to make any progress. There are far
too many ways for the check engine light to come on for you to get
anywhere without knowing the code.

John

 

Is the only way to see these codes to have a mechanic hook it up to a
computer? This was offered to me recently when I had the car in, but I was
told that would cost around $150, and that was only to find out what was
causing the problem (supposedly) not any work to fix whatever the problem
turned out to be. I don't have a problem spending the money, but I'm
worried I'll hear something like we still don't know what is causing it, or
they will try something (for some additional fee) that doesn't turn out to
be helpful and then I've spent money for nothing.

In response to the first reply -- I don't fill gas with the engine running,
or top off...also there's a label on my gas cap that says make sure to
tighten past three clicks, which I always do...but maybe something about the
cap itself doesn't allow it to seal properly??? I don't know...

Thanks for the help.

 

You could buy your own reader for less than that.

Also, lots of auto parts stores will read your codes for free. They can't
sell you repair parts if you don't know what the problem is.

Could be a bad cap.

 

Or it could be a deformed filler neck. Happened on my 2000 Odyssey.

 

Yes. There are about two-hundred errors that will cause the Check Engine
light to come on. You have quite literally NO idea what the problem is
until you get the code read.

Any speculation about gas cap at this stage is just that, speculation.

AutoZone in the US and PartSource in Canada will read the code for you
for free as a courtesy.

Correct. And never WILL know until the code is read.