Check Engine Light Came On

Cyinthenorth

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I got off work last night, and the wife wanted pizza. I ordered it from my Little Caesar's App and walked out to the car to drive over. It's not far from where I work, so 3 minutes later I'm parked in front of Little Caesar's. The place is walk in only, and I've still got 15-20ish minutes to wait, so rather than stand inside awkwardly, I stay in my warm car, leaving the engine on, cuz it's cold why wouldn't I?

At this point in time, everything is fine. I pull out my phone, do some bs'ing on CF, check my Action App, make a few bets on my William Hill app etc all of a sudden, 20 minutes is up. I take my eyes off the screen for the first time in 20 minutes and discover that my dash is lit up like a Christmas tree. Check engine light and ABS lights were on, and a few others (should've grabbed a picture). I immediately shut my car off, went inside and grabbed my pizza, hoping that all would be well when I got back in the car. Maybe it was a daydream or something.

I get back to my car, and lo and behold all the lights were off....EXCEPT...the check engine light. Took it to Auto Zone and had them run a diagnostic on it, and they mentioned the only thing that came back on their little report was something about a brake light switch sensor. They couldn't tell me much else, but said it should be fine and reset my check engine light so that it is now turned off.

Internally, I'm still freaking out. Any car geeks out there have any advice for me?
 
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CoachHines3

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I got off work last night, and the wife wanted pizza. I ordered it from my Little Caesar's App and walked out to the car to drive over. It's not far from where I work, so 3 minutes later I'm parked in front of Little Caesar's. The place is walk in only, and I've still got 15-20ish minutes to wait, so rather than stand inside awkwardly, I stay in my warm car, leaving the engine on, cuz it's cold why wouldn't I?

At this point in time, everything is fine. I pull out my phone, do some bs'ing on CF, check my Action App, make a few bets on my William Hill app etc all of a sudden, 20 minutes is up. I take my eyes off the screen for the first time in 20 minutes and discover that my dash is lit up like a Christmas tree. Check engine light and ABS lights were on, and a few others (should've grabbed a picture). I immediately shut my car off, went inside and grabbed my pizza, hoping that all would be well when I got back in the car. Maybe it was a daydream or something.

I get back to my car, and lo and behold all the lights were off....EXCEPT...the check engine light. Took it to Auto Zone and had them run a diagnostic on it, and they mentioned the only thing that came back on their little report was something about a brake light switch sensor. They couldn't tell me much else, but said it should be fine and reset my check engine light so that it is now turned off.

Internally, I'm still freaking out. Any car geeks out there have any advice for me?

sensors always trigger the light

usually its the gas tank sensor

wouldnt worry too much.
 

Cyinthenorth

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More importantly, who orders pizza from Little Caesars when you can get a hot and ready?
We wanted a half n half. I'm not sure what they have hot n ready but we didn't think they could do that
 

Agclone91

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Buy an OBD-II scanner like they have at the auto parts store. Even a really cheap one like this one on Amazon is helpful. When your check engine light comes on, plug it in under the dash and scan the computer. It will spit out a goofy looking code like P0420. Put this code into google with your car make, model, and year and google will direct you whether it is something minor or an issue you need to get checked out.

Otherwise, like others said, wait until it comes back and take it back to O'reilly's and write down the code, or skip the middle/free man and go to a shop.