Emissions indicator

[wajman]

Has anybody had the emissions indicator, looks like an engine, illuminate for no reason?

I was cruising with the Yellow Bird and filled up the tank, it was very low. After starting back on the road, the emissions indicator came on. Nothing seems to be amiss. Bird runs fine, just has this indicator on. The last thing I want to do is take my bird to the dealer. Has anybody had this experience? Is there a reason running low on fuel could have caused this? I did check to make sure the gas cap was tight. The bird is in for the night but it would be nice if the problem was gone in the morning.

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Ford Nut
67 Mustang Fastback
97 Cobra
99 Explorer
2002 Taurus
Yellow Bird

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[LON O'CONNELL]

If and this is a big if, when you filled the tank up you kept putting fuel in after the nozzle had clicked off to round off to the nearest dollar this sometimes will put overflow fuel into the evaporative emission system and put gas into the charcoal canister. This will turn the light on. When I worked at Ford as a Service Advisor, our diagnositician told me to never round off to the nearest dollar on these newer cars and just to quit putting in fuel when the nozzle clicked off no matter what the dollar amount was. We saw several vehicles come in to the shop where this was the case of the MIL (Malfunction Indicator Light) coming on.

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Yellow/Yellow Prem. 02 Bird w/full accent
1999 F150 Super Cab 4x4 Off Road
1998 Taurus SE Sport 24V

 

[KYbluebird]

There is about a hundred things that can cause this indicator to light up. If what caused it has cleared up, then after three drive cycles, with no malfunctions, the indicator will turn off.

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Ron

VIN #7729, seq.#7505, blue premium,
partial blue interior, no top, Louisville Ky.

 

[wajman]

Thanks for the inputs on the emissions light. It three driving cycles does the trick, two more are happening today. I will followup to let you know the results. Thanks again.

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Ford Nut
67 Mustang Fastback
97 Cobra
99 Explorer
2002 Taurus
Yellow Bird

 

[LON O'CONNELL]

Remember that a drive cycle is from completely cooled down to operating temperature. driving 20 miles, parking for 30 minutes and taking off again will not be two cycles.

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Yellow/Yellow Prem. 02 Bird w/full accent
1999 F150 Super Cab 4x4 Off Road
1998 Taurus SE Sport 24V

 

[fdthird]

Back last summer, the "Check Engine" light came on in my 2000 Mustang Convertible when my hand slipped off the key in the middle of the starting process. Whatever stopping in the middle did caused the light to come on...the car started and ran fine and I continude to drive the car with the light on. About a month later as I was preparing to take the car into the dealer, the light went out.

Since then, both my wife's 2001 Taurus and my son's 2001 Focus have had the engine lute go on...both caused by a sensor that was out of tollereance. The service manager told me Ford got a bad run of sensors. Also said that most of the "check Engine" light problems they see have to so with gassing up the cars.

 

[wajman]

Thanks for the advise on this engine emissions light. I performed the three runs from cold for at least an hour and the light went off. I was not looking forward to the trip to the dealer. Special thanks to Lon too.

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Ford Nut
67 Mustang Fastback
97 Cobra
99 Explorer
2002 Taurus
Yellow Bird

 

[KYbluebird]

Over three hours of driving to make a light go out, that's ... fun!

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Ron

VIN #7729, seq.#7505, blue premium,
partial blue interior, no top, Louisville Ky.

 

[Erict]

I have been lucky on my Tbird, this light has yet to bug the hell out of me.

But on my Volvo this "emissions" indicator is the stupid light of stupid lights. It is constanly on if:


If the octane level is not 92 or better.
If I overfill the tank
If I dont screw the gas cap on just right
If I corer (right hand only) too hard with a full tank.
If I fill up on a wednesday after 4 but before nine.
If I happen to see a great looking gal while driving with my wife and she notices the long stare.
If if if...

The light resets after a while... I think its 600 clicks or 14 days.

So it ends up being on more often than not.

This lamp even cost me 85$ when it came on the first couple of times and I made the mistake of telling the service rep.

The workorder comments: Check emissions control lamp on condition.... Solution: Reset lamp indicator.

In short, an other example of over engineered solutions that ends up being ignored because its meeningless.

 

[10of11]

My dealer has a monthly orientation for new car owners. During the session they went into great detail to emphasize how we could avoid turning the light on. (This apparently applied to all or most of the cars they sell, not just T-birds. So far so good for me but I've only filled up once. They told us that not getting the gas cap on correctly would turn it on (as I already knew from this great forum!). They also said that the light could be turned on if you inadvertently tighten down the cap and catch the cap tether underneath since it might deform the gasket. The light might come on even if you take the cap off and then put it back on correctly. So, in addition to checking the cap, we may need to check the tether and the gasket. Still, it is a wonderful car.

 

[LON O'CONNELL]

One thing to remember is to be sure and turn the key to the off position when filling the fuel tank. If you leave the key on to listen to the radio and remove the filler cap, you are going to get a MIL lamp on situation.

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Yellow/Yellow Prem. 02 Bird w/full accent
1999 F150 Super Cab 4x4 Off Road
1998 Taurus SE Sport 24V

 

[fdthird]

Erict...

My Mom unloaded her 1995 Volvo 850 because of that very problem. The check engine light drove her nuts!! An 80 something woman doesn't want to get into a car everyday and see that yellow light come on.

I've heard some folks say they put electrical tape over the light! The sad part is that most vehicles label the light CHECK ENGINE which makes it sounds like you are running out of oil or something.

It seems to be getting worse too! Can we thank Uncle Sam for this????