Check engine light

[Smithy - 120 D4D Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Smithy - 120 D4D]

Working on accessory connections to my auxiliary battery yesterday, and went for a drive after putting the spare battery back in and the check engine light came on and stayed on for the 15 minute drive. Car was stopped at destination, and went for another drive and the light didn't come on again. Stopped again, went for a further drive and light still stayed off. Has this happened to others, and should i take it in for diagnosis, or assume it was.just an anomaly?

[matt150 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close matt150]

If it was me, disconnect both batteries and leave for half an hour (approx 3 beers). Hook them back up, reprogram ya windows and kick it in the guts. The light should buzz off. If its still on, perfect time to jump on line and order a Scangauge unit. You can clear and read codes with this unit..

Good luck..

[LeighW Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close LeighW]

Low battery voltage can cause some systems ie ABS to turn the check light on.

Battery most likely has now charged somewhat and lowered the load.

Cheers
Leigh

[Smithy - 120 D4D Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Smithy - 120 D4D]

If it was me, disconnect both batteries and leave for half an hour (approx 3 beers). Hook them back up, reprogram ya windows and kick it in the guts. The light should buzz off. If its still on, perfect time to jump on line and order a Scangauge unit. You can clear and read codes with this unit..

Good luck..

Cheers Matt - will do some research on Scanguage units. Thought I was almost done with mods... The light is off at the moment, so hopefully was just a glitch...

[Smithy - 120 D4D Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Smithy - 120 D4D]

Low battery voltage can cause some systems ie ABS to turn the check light on.

Battery most likely has now charged somewhat and lowered the load.

Cheers
Leigh

Thanks Leigh.

[mackayvx Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close mackayvx]

Ive had the same symptom after pulling out the alternator plug.
It just needed a good firm push in to locate it properly...

Did you touch the alternator?

[luckyphil Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close luckyphil]

Matt ,when you said reprogram windows is there a generic code for the 120 series or does every car have its own code , i remember a while back when i changed a battery i had to ring the dealer for a code but didn't ask the question then
thanks phil

[Smithy - 120 D4D Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Smithy - 120 D4D]

Luckyphil, I read somewhere that you need to operate each individual window, and hold the window down button for a few seconds, then you should have drivers side control of all windows again. I haven't needed to do this yet, but the procedure is something like that. If you don't do this, the drivers control for all remaining windows won't work.

[Smithy - 120 D4D Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Smithy - 120 D4D]

Ive had the same symptom after pulling out the alternator plug.
It just needed a good firm push in to locate it properly...

Did you touch the alternator?

Hi mackayvx, no I didn't touch the alternator at all, or the main cranking battery, just the auxiliary battery on the other side of my Redark SBI12. I did manage to cause a quick arc when I accidentally tapped my socket wrench against the body of the car whilst disconnecting the positive terminal, and other than that I did break a positive wire that I needed to tap into for dashlight illumination for a new switch I was putting in, and this wire would be on the main battery circuit.

The check engine light has gone off again now, and hopefully will stay off, so it may have just been a glitch?

Seriously thinking about buying a Scangauge II now, after doing some research though.

[cfryback Find all posts View Profile Close cfryback]

Luckyphil, I read somewhere that you need to operate each individual window, and hold the window down button for a few seconds, then you should have drivers side control of all windows again. I haven't needed to do this yet, but the procedure is something like that. If you don't do this, the drivers control for all remaining windows won't work.

It is in the manual - and I found it on a website as well. Silly way for electric windows, IMHO. The only thing that happens to our Subaru when the battery is pulled, is reprogramming the radio.

[luckyphil Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close luckyphil]

ah ,yes i remember now it was the radio that needed the code :???:

[mackayvx Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close mackayvx]

Hi mackayvx, no I didn't touch the alternator at all, or the main cranking battery, just the auxiliary battery on the other side of my Redark SBI12. I did manage to cause a quick arc when I accidentally tapped my socket wrench against the body of the car whilst disconnecting the positive terminal, and other than that I did break a positive wire that I needed to tap into for dashlight illumination for a new switch I was putting in, and this wire would be on the main battery circuit.

The check engine light has gone off again now, and hopefully will stay off, so it may have just been a glitch?

Seriously thinking about buying a Scangauge II now, after doing some research though.

No worries Smithy,
It may be worth getting the beast scanned for fault codes.
Hope it stays good for ya.