Honda Car Forum

Just a heads up.

My mom has a 2000 Accord LX sedan 2.3L auto that she just loves.
The car has been well flawless since she bought it. Well about
6 weeks ago, she called me saying that her check engine light
came on and won't go off. She stated that my youngest brother
has gasing up her car and that he didn't tighten up the gas
cap correctly. She tightened the gas cap but the problem didn't
go away. I told her to wait it out before taking it into have
the car looked at. About 3 weeks after her car, I made a trip
to Houston to visit family. I gave her car a good once over
to see if anything was obviously out of wack.

I went through her owners manual about refilling and found out
that her Accord has a vapor recovery system that would trigger
the check engine light if the cap wasn't tightened with 3 clicks.
According to the manual the problem would go away after 3 trips
if the cap placed on again correctly. But it had been 3 weeks
and much more then 3 trips. So I was at a crossroad. She wanted
me to take it into the dealer to have looked at. But I was a
bit skeptical. Instead I took a $10 gamble and purchased her
a new gas cap from Honda. 2 weeks later the light still wouldn't
come off. She was really getting worried now so I told her to
go ahead and take it in to have inspected ($80). Well on the
drive to the dealer, the check engine light finally came off.

Since the light didn't come of until an event (not closing the
gas cap correctly), I knew it was something related to that.
However I didn't think it would take soooo long for the system
to recover from it.

In article <3F69A1FF.241714DD@monkey.com>, monkey <monkey@monkey.com>
wrote:

> I went through her owners manual about refilling and found out
> that her Accord has a vapor recovery system that would trigger
> the check engine light if the cap wasn't tightened with 3 clicks.

ALL cars have that, ever since OBD II.

On Thu, 18 Sep 2003 07:15:59 -0500, monkey <monkey@monkey.com> wrote:

>Since the light didn't come of until an event (not closing the
>gas cap correctly), I knew it was something related to that.
>However I didn't think it would take soooo long for the system
>to recover from it.

That damn check engine light has become a cash cow for dealers.
All the dealer will do is read the code, turn the light off, and tell
you to bring it back if the light comes on again. That's standard
procedure and the correct thing to do, but $80 to do it? Outrageous!

All you need to do is reset the light yourself. Make sure you have the
radio code handy, then disconnect the battery, or pull the ECU fuse.
If the light comes on again, that's the time to go see the mechanic.

Take it to AutoZone, they will read the code and reset it for free

"monkey" <monkey@monkey.com> wrote in message
news:3F69A1FF.241714DD@monkey.com...
> Just a heads up.
>
> My mom has a 2000 Accord LX sedan 2.3L auto that she just loves.
> The car has been well flawless since she bought it. Well about
> 6 weeks ago, she called me saying that her check engine light
> came on and won't go off. She stated that my youngest brother
> has gasing up her car and that he didn't tighten up the gas
> cap correctly. She tightened the gas cap but the problem didn't
> go away. I told her to wait it out before taking it into have
> the car looked at. About 3 weeks after her car, I made a trip
> to Houston to visit family. I gave her car a good once over
> to see if anything was obviously out of wack.
>
> I went through her owners manual about refilling and found out
> that her Accord has a vapor recovery system that would trigger
> the check engine light if the cap wasn't tightened with 3 clicks.
> According to the manual the problem would go away after 3 trips
> if the cap placed on again correctly. But it had been 3 weeks
> and much more then 3 trips. So I was at a crossroad. She wanted
> me to take it into the dealer to have looked at. But I was a
> bit skeptical. Instead I took a $10 gamble and purchased her
> a new gas cap from Honda. 2 weeks later the light still wouldn't
> come off. She was really getting worried now so I told her to
> go ahead and take it in to have inspected ($80). Well on the
> drive to the dealer, the check engine light finally came off.
>
> Since the light didn't come of until an event (not closing the
> gas cap correctly), I knew it was something related to that.
> However I didn't think it would take soooo long for the system
> to recover from it.

>Take it to AutoZone, they will read the code and reset it for free

Wouldn't recommend it. I went once and it took the moron more than an hour to
do it. He couldn't find the plug to plug in the code reader. I had to find it
for him.




....................
I do not killfile nor use do-not-call lists.

I am sure not all of them are the same. Or you prefer to pay $80 for
somebody who can find it faster??

"DrPimpDaddi" <drpimpdaddi@aol.commodore64> wrote in message
news:20030918104508.28408.00000983@mb-m03.aol.com...
> >Take it to AutoZone, they will read the code and reset it for free
>
> Wouldn't recommend it. I went once and it took the moron more than an hour
to
> do it. He couldn't find the plug to plug in the code reader. I had to find
it
> for him.
>
>
>
>
> ...................
> I do not killfile nor use do-not-call lists.

>I am sure not all of them are the same. Or you prefer to pay $80 for
>somebody who can find it faster??
>

Just buy the code reader, bought mine for $10, and do it yourself.




....................
I do not killfile nor use do-not-call lists.

where did you buy it??

"DrPimpDaddi" <drpimpdaddi@aol.commodore64> wrote in message
news:20030918115201.14296.00000929@mb-m18.aol.com...
> >I am sure not all of them are the same. Or you prefer to pay $80 for
> >somebody who can find it faster??
> >
>
> Just buy the code reader, bought mine for $10, and do it yourself.
>
>
>
>
> ...................
> I do not killfile nor use do-not-call lists.

monkey wrote:
>
> Just a heads up.
>
> My mom has a 2000 Accord LX sedan 2.3L auto that she just loves.
> The car has been well flawless since she bought it. Well about
> 6 weeks ago, she called me saying that her check engine light
> came on and won't go off. She stated that my youngest brother
> has gasing up her car....... <SNIP>
------------------------------------------
Monkey,

If he overfilled the tank by 'topping up', he may have caused a couple
more problems (which apparently took a while to resolve) because the
evap cannister gets filled with LIQUID gas, and can take a while to
purge itself. Depending on outside temperature and how far her trips
were, it could take a while for the gas tank to stop 'burping up' into
the cannister. Gas is very expandable and it comes out of the ground
COLD, so you're not supposed to top up Hondas, according to the manual.

'Curly'

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

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>where did you buy it??

it was some auction site, unfortunately now defunct.




....................
I do not killfile nor use do-not-call lists.