Malfunction lamp came on today Honda Accord 01 2.0 vtec

Doesn't seem to be any problems, not over heating, not leaking water or
anything, oil pressure is fine.

I had to drive the car 20 miles after the light came on and it was
performing fine.

Any advice? I know i'll have to take it to the dealer.

 

No idea without the code. Have someone (mechanic, autoparts store, etc)
read the code from the ECU.

 

Great, i've got to drive 150 miles tomorrow as well for a family
holiday ! I can see that being delayed a few hours.

 

So go to an autoparts store now or on your way home from work and have it
read. Might confirm it's just a loose gas-cap or something meaning you have
nothing to worry about. But without that code, nobody can do anything more
than make guesses, guesses that may be worse than the actual problem leading
to needless worry.

 

I'm in the UK Seth, all our autoparts stores are closed by the time I
left work and its a holiday weekend here. I'm sure the dealer will be
open tomorrow so I'll drive up there in the morning and see what
they're saying.

Thanks.

 

Many auto parts stores will read the code for you and it will tell you the
area of failure. Some failures aren't detected in driving performance but
could cause expensive damage such as burning out the catalytic converter.
Read the extended warranty and have it looked at...

 

The MIL light is never an emergency as long as everything is working okay.
As Woody points out, it could indicate a failure that causes the mixture to
be excessively rich which can damage the catalytic converter. However, if
you drive gently you are safe from that.

Go ahead to the family holiday, but to be safe keep it down to about 80
km/hr or 50 mph on level ground (or equivalent throttle on upgrades) until
you can determine the fuel economy. If it is fairly normal the speed
restrictions are lifted. Short bursts on the accelerator needed for merging
and similar maneuvers are okay in any case.

Do check the tightness of the fuel cap. If it is loose at all, tighten it.
That is the single most common cause of MIL lights, as it shows up as an
"evaporative control system leak."

Mike