Was driving to the movies and my Check Engine light came on. The car was just in the shop 1 month ago for its 10k mile checkup. Any ideas? Can I continue to drive?

 

call the motoring assistance # for more info
if steady can drive but schedule service
if flashing STOP, much more serious issues with your engine

 

go to an Autozone or autoparts shop and get the code pulled.
then we can figure out if it's something you need to take her in
right away or not.

ever since i did the emissions recall they put in v42 and get
SES on and off all the time now. it always throws the front 02 sensor DTC,
but there's nothing wrong with the sensor.

 

you

 

you might wanna get it in as soon as possible.mine went on and it was not only the oxygen sensor but they had to replace my entire computer

 

My Check Engine Light came on at about 5K miles. Service dept checked gas cap first (of course). Told me if the car was running smoothly then I could wait a week or so to bring it in. If it was running rough, then computer was probably bad.

I brought it in a few days later and they replaced the O2 sensor. It had shorted out. All else was OK.

 

Check out the only aftermarket MINI code reader tool. A little cylinder shaped toy from Peak Research. It comes with the proper connector, a check engine reset feature (that works) and an easy to read manual with a MINI specific code chart. The tool also resets the oil service flag.

Mine threw the dred light and living 340 mi. from Mr. dealer makes for an easy choice to pull the code before making a winter road trip. The code was something like, "engine did not reach temperature within time...". The code was a ghost, never came back after reset and the Northwest was 10 degrees for weeks. These errors can be false trips or real trouble indicators. Most codes are emission related or not really critical. Serious errors trip the EML lamp and place the car into "limp it home" mode. That one is a severe issue.

The toy is $100 but auto store flavors ($60 - $150) may not reset the lamp and their code charts are for domestic and generic imports. Our German friends may have selected different error descriptions for the same number code. Cool Tool, me likey.

 

went off by itself last night not sure what that means, I had called Mini to schedule an appointment but they are out till tuesday.

 

My car was doing the exact same thing for a month. In one month I had the SES light turn on 7 times and turn off 7 times. My friend had a ECU Reader and we plugged it in and it turns out it was a "Bad 02 Senor - Bank 1 Sensor 1"...

When I called my Service Manager I said my SES light kept coming on and he cut me off and said "Bank 1 Sensor 1" right? He said it was the 5th 2005 hes seen that month with the same problem.

It's not a big deal dont worry. You might just be getting really bad gasmileage. Have your dealer pull the code

 

been there, replaced ab O2 sensor

 

yep, that's the one mine throws too. car runs normal...been running normal
from Aug05 when i got the recall service done... .

02 sensor is working fine, idles fine, drives fine, etc. just the SES light
on and off from time to time. hope the next program revision fixes this.

 

CEL can be almost anything, from minor things to major problems...

Get it checked asap.

 

Mine comes on every time I start the car; but then it turns itself off.