Check engine(idiot) light

[baker5150]

Touching the two wires together only works if you do it while standing on your head amd rubbing your tummy and humming...


a capacitor will discharge itself anyways. It only stores power if power is going to it. Then it doscharges for a time till its used up.

Right, but some caps can hold power for hours.

We use one that holds full range for up to 4 hours,  We have to discharge the unit before doing any maintenance or we get a little tickle.

[jackelope]

Don't you need to disconnect the battery then touch the + and - wires together?   

Worked on my wifes Audi this way, light came back on a few weeks later thou.
But Audi lights come on when the washer fluid gets low.   

with the battery gone= no power in the system...what good would touching 2 wires together do?

I was told, and it makes sense, that the computer or other parts of the vehicle have power storage for memory.  Like a capacitor.  By touching the 2 wires it drains the storage which erases the memory.   

Maybe one of the techs knows.

I doubt it they seem to be book smart only lol.

Oh man....stevemiller...you should take a moment and step away from this thread. You're spouting off incorrect nonsense then you say the auto techs who are commenting are only book smart? Get real. Do us all a favor and walk away.

[jackelope]

lol  For 300k 400k Better not ever be an engine light lol

I can guarantee you from 18 years in the car fixin' business that there are lots of cars that won't clear codes by disconnecting the battery.
All that is pointless anyway, because if all you're doing is clearing the code and not fixing the problem, 98% of the time the light is going to come back on anyway. On the 2% that don't come back on, the light would have gone off on it's own eventually.

I can guarantee you and anyone else that wants truth that if you unhook all batteries on all vehicles for a period of time at most 3 hours all codes will be gone and a service tech will not be able to pull any codes from the vehicle until they trip again. also I said it will only be temp before it comes on again if its not fixed. But if you fix the problem yourself at home in your driveway and the battery is unplugged the entire time and the vehicle is fixed it does not NEED TO BE CLEARED BY A DIAGNOSTIC MACHINE. Guaranteed.

By the time you leave your battery disconnected for 3 hours in a feeble attempt to clear codes you could've driven to O'Reilly's 16 times and had them clear the code for you.

[jackelope]

I am not much of a gear head. I have a 2007 Chevy 2500  6 litre gasoline truck. Is there any way to reset or disable the check engine light without taking it to a professional?  I have heard about some kind of reader thing that you plug in and it tells you why the light is on/ gives you a code. 
Like I said, don't know much about this kind a thing, If I need to buy the reader thing(or something else) what is it that I would need to buy?

Thanks all.

To simply answer the question YES,you can by yourself reset the computer takes 1 min. UNHOOK BATTERY,leave off 1 min. codes are all clear,UNTIL YOU RUN IT AGAIN LONG ENOUGH THAT IT GOES OFF AGAIN. lol.If you fix the problem yourself unplug battery 1 min. and drive,if you did the right stuff your done.

1 minute or 3 hours....same difference.

[Woodchuck]

I doubt it they seem to be book smart only lol.

If anyone here wonders why people that work in the auto repair business are not super eager to come out with that or offer advice, this would be why.
Woodblock out. 

[jackelope]

I doubt it they seem to be book smart only lol.

If anyone here wonders why people that work in the auto repair business are not super eager to come out with that or offer advice, this would be why.
Woodblock out. 

Well said.
 

[cbond3318]

The times I have had a light and fixed the problem myself, the light clears itself after a few run cycles 


I have all the respect for honest mechanics/ technicians that make a living at their craft. I could NOT do it, I can hold my own and fix what is broke only out of necessity but let me tell you it is a PAINFUL process at best.

 

Now my next mission is an ABS light that is 2 years old 

[Kittman]

So I got it checked...p0446,
Evap issue.   Everything I Google talks about the charcoal canister, solenoid, valve, etc. in the system. YET people say it could be the gas cap.  Going to try to do a home remedy/fix via google 1st then go from there.

PS. Tried to reset/turn off light by disconnecting battery like some said......Did not work, sorry, lights still on

Different Question
Can a exhaust leak near the engine make the light come on/send a code?

Below is a TSB link that may prove to be useful for the code you found:

http://engine-codes.com/uploads/gmc/2101090.pdf

[huntnphool]

lol  For 300k 400k Better not ever be an engine light lol

I can guarantee you from 18 years in the car fixin' business that there are lots of cars that won't clear codes by disconnecting the battery.
All that is pointless anyway, because if all you're doing is clearing the code and not fixing the problem, 98% of the time the light is going to come back on anyway. On the 2% that don't come back on, the light would have gone off on it's own eventually.

I can guarantee you and anyone else that wants truth that if you unhook all batteries on all vehicles for a period of time at most 3 hours all codes will be gone and a service tech will not be able to pull any codes from the vehicle until they trip again.Guaranteed.

 Once again, not on all vehicles!

[jackelope]

So I got it checked...p0446,
Evap issue.   Everything I Google talks about the charcoal canister, solenoid, valve, etc. in the system. YET people say it could be the gas cap.  Going to try to do a home remedy/fix via google 1st then go from there.

PS. Tried to reset/turn off light by disconnecting battery like some said......Did not work, sorry, lights still on

Different Question
Can a exhaust leak near the engine make the light come on/send a code?

Below is a TSB link that may prove to be useful for the code you found:

http://engine-codes.com/uploads/gmc/2101090.pdf

Bingo...Well done.

[stevemiller]

lol  For 300k 400k Better not ever be an engine light lol

I can guarantee you from 18 years in the car fixin' business that there are lots of cars that won't clear codes by disconnecting the battery.
All that is pointless anyway, because if all you're doing is clearing the code and not fixing the problem, 98% of the time the light is going to come back on anyway. On the 2% that don't come back on, the light would have gone off on it's own eventually.

I can guarantee you and anyone else that wants truth that if you unhook all batteries on all vehicles for a period of time at most 3 hours all codes will be gone and a service tech will not be able to pull any codes from the vehicle until they trip again. also I said it will only be temp before it comes on again if its not fixed. But if you fix the problem yourself at home in your driveway and the battery is unplugged the entire time and the vehicle is fixed it does not NEED TO BE CLEARED BY A DIAGNOSTIC MACHINE. Guaranteed.

By the time you leave your battery disconnected for 3 hours in a feeble attempt to clear codes you could've driven to O'Reilly's 16 times and had them clear the code for you.

Once again you dont read thoroughly enough to respond.I said if you fix it yourself which would probably take enough time to reset you wont need to go back again to have it cleared.SO YOU BACK AWAY AND STOP SPOUTING nonsense.

[h20hunter]

Why did you edit it? I thought you were onto something when you put MOD in big bold letters? Really told him!

[jackelope]

lol  For 300k 400k Better not ever be an engine light lol

I can guarantee you from 18 years in the car fixin' business that there are lots of cars that won't clear codes by disconnecting the battery.
All that is pointless anyway, because if all you're doing is clearing the code and not fixing the problem, 98% of the time the light is going to come back on anyway. On the 2% that don't come back on, the light would have gone off on it's own eventually.

I can guarantee you and anyone else that wants truth that if you unhook all batteries on all vehicles for a period of time at most 3 hours all codes will be gone and a service tech will not be able to pull any codes from the vehicle until they trip again. also I said it will only be temp before it comes on again if its not fixed. But if you fix the problem yourself at home in your driveway and the battery is unplugged the entire time and the vehicle is fixed it does not NEED TO BE CLEARED BY A DIAGNOSTIC MACHINE. Guaranteed.

By the time you leave your battery disconnected for 3 hours in a feeble attempt to clear codes you could've driven to O'Reilly's 16 times and had them clear the code for you.

Once again you dont read thoroughly enough to respond.I said if you fix it yourself which would probably take enough time to reset you wont need to go back again to have it cleared.SO YOU BACK AWAY AND STOP SPOUTING nonsense.

It took me 10 minutes to replace the evap purge valve that had my check engine light turned on.

[Woodchuck]

Did your light magically clear?

[jackelope]

Did your light magically clear?

Mine? It did when I cleared it with a scan tool. You know...the appropriate tool for the job...