Check Engine Light Came On

mywayorcyway

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VeloClone

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When my wife was about 5 months pregnant, she sent me to pick up a pizza from a Sarpino's. I came back with the regular ranch dipping sauce instead of the jalapeno ranch dipping sauce and she made me go back to the store to get it.

The next weekend, she wanted the same thing. I made sure to pick up the right dipping sauce. On the way home a group of young adults were on the side of the road and flagged me to stop and help them. They needed a jump start and I had jumper cables so I got their car started. When I got home, my wife told me that it took 7 minutes longer than the previous week. She then proceeded to scold me because the people I helped could have been trying to mug me.

Or worse yet, trying to steal your dipping sauce.
 
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Isualum13

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Car might just be out of blinker fluid.
I saw somewhere on the internet a picture of eye drops captioned "blinker fluid". If I were to work in an auto parts store, I would keep a few bottles behind the counter so if/when a confused customer asks about blinker fluid I could give them the eye drops to give to the prankster.
 

aauummm

July is National Bison Month
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I saw somewhere on the internet a picture of eye drops captioned "blinker fluid". If I were to work in an auto parts store, I would keep a few bottles behind the counter so if/when a confused customer asks about blinker fluid I could give them the eye drops to give to the prankster.

They've even got it in synthetic blend now. Should be good stuff. They say it also works well as a muffler bearing lubricant and as a blind spot remover.
Synthetic-blinker-fluid-16oz.jpg
 
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dosry5

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When my wife was about 5 months pregnant, she sent me to pick up a pizza from a Sarpino's. I came back with the regular ranch dipping sauce instead of the jalapeno ranch dipping sauce and she made me go back to the store to get it.

The next weekend, she wanted the same thing. I made sure to pick up the right dipping sauce. On the way home a group of young adults were on the side of the road and flagged me to stop and help them. They needed a jump start and I had jumper cables so I got their car started. When I got home, my wife told me that it took 7 minutes longer than the previous week. She then proceeded to scold me because the people I helped could have been trying to mug me.

how long have you been divorced?
 
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besserheimerphat

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Apr 11, 2006
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I had a Chevy Silverado and that damn "Check Engine" light would come on periodically. It was always an oxygen sensor, my mechanic would re-set it and we'd be good for another 2,000 miles or so. More of a pain in the butt than anything.

You'd think with today's technology you could get a read-out telling you exactly what was wrong instead of this generic Check Engine bull$hit.
Serious question, but what would you do with that information? Suppose you got a dash or info center display that said "P0141 Oxygen Sensor Performance Bank 1 Sensor 1" - what would you do with that info? Sure, you could clear it and see if it comes back, but if it does you don't want to automatically replace the O2 sensor. There are a number of things that could be causing the problem. To get a more detailed message telling specifically what was wrong with the oxygen sensor, you need sensor sensors. And then those sensor sensors need diagnostics so you know when they aren't working. At some point you need a person to diagnose the problem and then actually fix it.
 
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mywayorcyway

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Serious question, but what would you do with that information? Suppose you got a dash or info center display that said "P0141 Oxygen Sensor Performance Bank 1 Sensor 1" - what would you do with that info? Sure, you could clear it and see if it comes back, but if it does you don't want to automatically replace the O2 sensor. There are a number of things that could be causing the problem. To get a more detailed message telling specifically what was wrong with the oxygen sensor, you need sensor sensors. And then those sensor sensors need diagnostics so you know when they aren't working. At some point you need a person to diagnose the problem and then actually fix it.

A number of people complain about all of the electronics in cars nowadays, but it's not all negative. Cars are pretty good about telling you what is wrong. On a '79 Olds, fixing things may have been relatively simple, but figuring out what was wrong could be a chore with lots of rabbit holes. The rabbit holes still exist, but you're more likely to end up on the right path. Most of the time, the computer tells you what is wrong and you fix it. On old cars, you had to figure out what was wrong.

Given your specific example, the solution probably is to replace the O2 sensor. They're cheap, and if they're easy enough to get to, you replace it for $25 and see if there are additional problems. Chances are, $25 and an hour later, your problem is gone.
 
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