Amber enginer warning light :(

Glowing

Hi all,

Was on the M50 the other day and noticed my engine warning light was on.

I haven't been experiencing any issues with the car, apart from a slightly sluggish start (but that could be due to the cold) - the engine temp gauges were all fine, no oil light on or anything, half tank of petrol, and it was driving absolutely fine. Car was given a full service last September when I bought it.

The car manual says the following:

If this light comes on while driving, the
vehicle may have a problem. It is
important to note the driving conditions
when the light came on and consult an
Authorized Mazda Dealer.
The check engine light may come on in
the following cases:
• The fuel tank level being very low or
approaching empty.
• The engine’s electrical system has a
problem.
• The emission control system has a
problem.
• The fuel-filler cap is missing or not
tightened securely.

If the check engine light flashes
continuously, decrease your speed and
consult an Authorized Mazda Dealer as
soon as possible.

Does anyone have any ideas what might be causing this? The Mazda garage I bought it in is in Offaly and is closed this week

Would you keep driving it or lay it up until you could get it to a garage?

Thanks a lot

Gary ITR

General rule of thumb is an orange light is ok to drive on but try get it sorted asap. If it goes red park her up

MarkR

That's happened to me a couple of times with my avensis. I disconnected the battery for a few minutes to clear the error, and when I reconnected the battery the warning was gone.

Obviously if it comes back you'll want to find a garage that can read fault codes from your car. Doesn't have to be the main dealer.

Santa Claus

I know with Volkswagens the engine warning light goes amber and then red.
My sister got an amber engine warning on her 6 day old golf and was told by the AA (who do volkswagens breakdown line) that it was safe to drive it to the garage. She wanted it taken to the garage by the AA as she was afraid it would cut out on her but they said VW only allow them to tow cars when the engine light is red !

This may not be the same for Mazda but thought I'd let you know anyway!

Glowing

Thanks all - doesn't actually say anywhere that the light would go from amber to red - could be just on or off?!

Will try the battery trick this evening - and double check the petrol cap too.

johnpaul6

Glowing wrote: »

Hi all,

Was on the M50 the other day and noticed my engine warning light was on.

I haven't been experiencing any issues with the car, apart from a slightly sluggish start (but that could be due to the cold) - the engine temp gauges were all fine, no oil light on or anything, half tank of petrol, and it was driving absolutely fine. Car was given a full service last September when I bought it.

The car manual says the following:

If this light comes on while driving, the
vehicle may have a problem. It is
important to note the driving conditions
when the light came on and consult an
Authorized Mazda Dealer.
The check engine light may come on in
the following cases:
• The fuel tank level being very low or
approaching empty.
• The engine’s electrical system has a
problem.
• The emission control system has a
problem.
• The fuel-filler cap is missing or not
tightened securely.

If the check engine light flashes
continuously, decrease your speed and
consult an Authorized Mazda Dealer as
soon as possible.

Does anyone have any ideas what might be causing this? The Mazda garage I bought it in is in Offaly and is closed this week

Would you keep driving it or lay it up until you could get it to a garage?

Thanks a lot

where in dublin are u based i have fault code reader i can plug in and see where fauly is ,
if u have not got it sorted let me know john

andyseadog

MarkR wrote: »

That's happened to me a couple of times with my avensis. I disconnected the battery for a few minutes to clear the error, and when I reconnected the battery the warning was gone.

Obviously if it comes back you'll want to find a garage that can read fault codes from your car. Doesn't have to be the main dealer.

fault codes get stored on the ecu, so disconnecting the battery shouldnt remove them.


general rule of thumb with the 'check engine' light on is, if it sound ok and still drives ok the chances are it still is ok. just get it looked into when you have a chance. any sort of small glitch could have caused it and its really nothing to worry about

Glowing

Thanks all, you're great

You've put my mind at ease - I'm no longer afraid my pride and joy will burst into flames at the next T-junction

Will double check everything tonight, and fill her up just to be on the safe side (though maybe it'll all just add fuel to the fire LOL)

Row

What engine,year model of mazda have you got...?

MarkR

andyseadog wrote: »

fault codes get stored on the ecu, so disconnecting the battery shouldnt remove them.


general rule of thumb with the 'check engine' light on is, if it sound ok and still drives ok the chances are it still is ok. just get it looked into when you have a chance. any sort of small glitch could have caused it and its really nothing to worry about

I was thinking along the lines of small glitch when I mentioned the battery thing. Just my car's way of saying "Look! Something happened!".

Glowing

Row wrote: »

What engine,year model of mazda have you got...?

2002 MX-5 Phoenix model - 1.8 petrol.

franksm

I think with the MX5 the EML lamp is orange only - it never goes red. When it's lit, it can mean nearly anything is problematic - from a spark plug, an ignition lead, a coil or a sensor.

Whatever the case, the engine goes into 'limp home' mode which means it disregards signals from the air-flow sensors and adds more fuel than normal to the air/fuel mix. That's almost alway safer for the engine, but not for the catalytic converter. I would be worried about doing more than 10 or 20 KM with the car in this condition.

Should be easily fixed though, just a matter of getting the codes read and replacing the problem part. If it was something absolutely major (head gasket etc) you'd see and smell the problem yourself anyway

johnpaul6

my offer still stands , i have fault code reader, i am a mechanic , if you want i can read the code and clear it for u, and tell you what u need to do , i live in walkinstown, if u want pm me

unkel

Happened to my mother in laws '03 Octavia today. Engine light yellow and the engine was running rough, misfiring. Hooked it up to my OBD2 reader and sure enough, it reported a misfire in cylinder no. 2

Probably the coil pack - it happened to her before a few years ago. Not expensive to fix.

OP - if you happen to be around Lucan in the next few days, I'm happy to hook up the diagnostics (for free of course) so you get an idea of what's wrong.

Pkiernan

OP:

Your car is TELLING you there is a problem.

It is silly to try to get the light to just turn off as others have suggested.

This is the Homer Simpson solution - where he has a piece of black tape over the oil warning light.

The problem may not be significant, but you should get it checked out.

It could be something as simple as a loose petrol cap, but have it checked.

Glowing

Hi guys,

Thanks for all your feedback and for the offers of the code reader. You're all very kind.

I unplugged the battery for a few mins, and resealed the petrol cap the other night, also checked oil and water levels - the light is now gone! Took it for a couple of spins since, no problems whatsoever. I'm hoping it was just 'one of those things'. I also read on other forums that the light can come on sometimes when you're driving in slow traffic and on the clutch a lot - it happened that I was stuck in heavy traffic on the M50 when I noticed it. Not sure if that was just a coincidence though.

What I am going to is to ring the Mazda dealership anyway on Tuesday and see what they suggest and whether it's safe not to do any further investigation for now. Do you know if the code 'history' is stored on the car CPU (or whatever the car equivalent is?) so you could see what caused the issue after the event?

Thanks again

Glowing

Bo]]ocks

I spoke too soon. It's back. Probably not a bad thing as at least this way I can get to the bottom of it.

So are any of you kind Gents with code readers free this afternoon or tomorrow morning/afternoon to help me get this sorted? Would be forever grateful

I'm in South Dublin but I guess the nearer the better as I don't want to drive her too far.

Thanks a lot

unkel

Glowing wrote: »

So are any of you kind Gents with code readers free this afternoon or tomorrow morning/afternoon to help me get this sorted?

Yup I'm around this afternoon. I'm in Lucan. PM me if you want to drop over for a read out of the fault code

Glowing

Onkle very kindly tried to check this for me this evening, but his plug didn't fit into my socket

I'll let him explain what we need and I'll see if anyone here has the right tool?

Cheers

franksm

Ask on www.mx5ireland.com/forum, I bet someone there has a reader.

I have a generic OBDII reader, but it won't fit the Mazda

Gary ITR

Plug didn't fit the socket... sweet lord

I have the OBD2 generic lad that fits most 2002+ cars as per the EU directive, but unfortunately Glowing's car is the older type socket. Somebody with a Launch XT or Snap-on kit will be able to do it.

Gary ITR

What's needed the first one, I have the second one which only works on the newer cars

unkel

Onkle wrote: »

What's needed the first one, I have the second one which only works on the newer cars

Now I getya. The latter is OBD-II the first one OBD-I. All cars sold in Europe have been OBD-II for 10 years now, and the US were several years ahead of us, so most European cars sold over there were OBD-II compliant in the mid 90s or so

My '99 and '01 cars are both OBD-II. The '02 MX-5 must be a Japanese import so

Let us know when you get sorted, Glowing!

Gary ITR

unkel wrote: »

Now I getya. The latter is OBD-II the first one OBD-I. All cars sold in Europe have been OBD-II for 10 years now, and the US were several years ahead of us, so most European cars sold over there were OBD-II compliant in the mid 90s or so

My '99 and '01 cars are both OBD-II. The '02 MX-5 must be a Japanese import so

Let us know when you get sorted, Glowing!

It's still actually OBD-II, just a different socket, my Teg is the same, OBD-II but a different socket, I changed my ECU out for an OBD-I just a few weeks ago for my tune on Neptune which only works with OBD-I

The MX-5 isn't an Import either and neither is my Teg

unkel

I didn't getya so

Bring on standardisation please

Gary ITR

unkel wrote: »

I didn't getya so

Bring on standardisation please

It's here now!

All cars produced from 2002 onwards have the standard socket

unkel

You sure about that? I'm getting (a bit more) confused here

I thought OBD-II always had the standard socket?

From wiki:

OBD-II Diagnostic connector

Connector

The OBD-II specification provides for a standardized hardware interface—the female 16-pin (2x8) J1962 connector.

As in your link here's another pic of the connector:

Gary ITR

My own car is definitely OBD-II, I bought an OBD-II to OBD-I harness so I could install the OBD-I ECU and I don't have a standard 16 pin socket

Technoprisoner

check on an mx5 owners club...you dont always need a computer or reader to find out the codes

Technoprisoner

found it

http://www.mx5oc.co.uk/forum/forums/t/204.aspx

woops my bad that is only upto 95 but should be able to do it on your car...just have to find it

edit a second time unless the second picture is the same connector?

Gary ITR

Technoprisoner wrote: »

found it

http://www.mx5oc.co.uk/forum/forums/t/204.aspx

woops my bad that is only upto 95 but should be able to do it on your car...just have to find it

Crap.. I've done this before, why I didn't think of it today is beyond me

Technoprisoner

Onkle wrote: »

Crap.. I've done this before, why I didn't think of it today is beyond me

thats one i learned back in nam hahahaha

nah that was the whole point of obd and why it was brought in by law was so that ordinary folk could know what the problem was with there car so they didnt have to go back to the dealer to find out....but the manufacturers just made it difficult for them to find that out

Glowing

Right - I've a very un-exciting resolution for you! We had our LED soldered and ready to go this morning when my dealer phoned and was open today. Since we were headed that direction anyway we said we'd bring her in to put an end to all this guess work!

Turns out it was the speedo sensor in the gearbox which was throwing up the error, even though speedo was working fine. They couldn't find anything wrong at all so just cleared the error and its still off (for now).

So not a very exciting end to the amber light saga, but thanks all for your help and advice, much appreciated!