Did you know that you can take your car to a place like Auto Zone or Checker Auto Parts and they can "read" your engine to see what the trouble is?

Of course, I wasn't able to do anything about it myself, but at least I was a bit more prepared for the $950 price tag it came with after doing some research on the internet.

The lady said if a car is newer than 1996 they can read it, and some 1996s (mine is 1996 and they were able to read it).

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It's not what you make; it's what you spend.

that is good info to know

THANKS

How much do they charge for the computer read? Around here it averages from $40-$90 for car dealerships or auto shops.

Autozones do it free (last I knew). Thats why one would want to go to them over a dealership. I don't know the other place, but I'm sure they do too. I don't think we have them here.

Yup - free

AutoZone.com | In Our Stores | Free Engine Check

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That is really great to know.

My DH has his on in his car and cannot figure out why!!

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Grace

Wife to Stoney

Mommy of Sarah (8.5), Hannah (7), and John(5)

Our Auto Zone actually has a (handwritten) sign in their window that says they can't reset "Service Engine Soon" lights. I guess they got tired of people looking to do it!

We had that problem a lot with our previous vehicle. After several expensive service visits, come to find out, it comes on if you don't put your gas cap on exactly straight (like the threads aren't quite right). A bit of research showed that in the manual after I got tired of taking it in.

We finally learned that if we needed it reset, to just unplug the battery for a few seconds. If it becomes really annoying, try putting a small picture or momento in front of it. That's what my neighbor did.

Autozone will check it for free here. They can even test your battery too.

I was going to share the reset light fix too, but grassisgreener beat me to it. Just unplug the battery and it will reset the light.

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Mom to Kaylee (10/2006)
Waiting on our second bundle of joy to arrive January 2009!

Yeah, they can check it, but if there is an actual problem, it will come back.

I've been driving around with mine on for almost a year now. It's the O2 sensor thermostat sensor, or something goofy like that. Expensive part with no real purpose. Our mechanic friend has a computer dealie, and whenever we're over, he checks it so I know it's not something else. Someday I'll fix it....

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Sorry, I forgot the mention that it's free. They won't reset it, just tell you what the problem is. You would still have to go to a mechanic to get it fixed if you couldn't do it yourself.

The O2 sensor is one of the things I had to replace on my car. It has to do with putting oxygen into the fuel and supposedly my gas mileage will increase now. That wasn't the expensive part of my repair though, so maybe yours is something a little different.

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It's not what you make; it's what you spend.

Yeah, mine is some sort of part that deals with the O2 sensor, not the sensor itself. He explained it to me - something that deals with checking the temp of something to do with the O2 sensor - said it was a $100+ part that didn't do much other than check something else LOL.

I also drove around for a year with the light on for a bad thermostat. It ran low, but I knew that the actual temp was fine. Finally got that fixed, and then about 4 months later it came on for this thing.

Stupid light. I'm used to it now.

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