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 resetting check engine light...

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lounge lizard
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Posted - August 16 : 1:13p Reply with Quote Report this post to a moderator
need just a little help,

I have a 1997 ford explorere with a v_8 5.0L

how do you reset the chec engine light after an oil change?

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97F1504RAD
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Posted  - August 16 : 7:06p Reply with Quote Report this post to a moderator
With a scan tool.

Did you change the oil because the CEL was on or did you fix the problem for the CEL being on and also did a oil change at the same time?

lounge lizard
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Posted  - August 16 : 7:38p Reply with Quote Report this post to a moderator
the cel started flashing yesterday and I knew it needed an oil change so I did that and now I need to reset the cel for the mileage count.

97F1504RAD
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Posted  - August 16 : 7:54p Reply with Quote Report this post to a moderator
The CEL has nothing to do with oil changes. You have a problem with the vehicle and it needs to be fixed once you get the code and figure out what the trouble is.

Edited by - 97F1504RAD on August 16 7:55p

Buzz
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Posted  - August 17 : 8:42a Reply with Quote Report this post to a moderator
Quote:
Originally posted by lounge lizard

the cel started flashing yesterday


How is it running? I'm with 97F1504RAD something is going on here.

lounge lizard
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Posted  - August 18 : 5:07a Reply with Quote Report this post to a moderator
it runs fine. nothing seems to be out of order other than it needed an oil change.

some models had an oil reset switch under the dash and the CEL was the notice for drivers to get it looked at an it would need an oil change.
don't know what year they started doing it but when digital displays came in they out a message on instead/

97F1504RAD
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Posted  - August 18 : 9:58a Reply with Quote Report this post to a moderator
Your vehicle is a 1997 and it has OBDII in it and the CEL gets triggered when the ecm has detected a problem somewhere within the system. You most like have a soft code set and it should be retrieved and the problem diagnosed and then fixed.

Tom in Tacoma
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Posted  - August 18 : 10:11a Reply with Quote Report this post to a moderator
There's two things you can do to reset the light; disconnect the battery negative terminal for a few minutes, keep driving it and it will reset (providing the error condition is gone) after 10 engine starts.

But that wouldn't make the initial problem go away and it will more than likely come back on before too long.

crug75hid
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Posted  - October 17 : 12:50a Reply with Quote Report this post to a moderator
Thanks for the nice idea. I will implement it.

MrSVTGal
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Posted  - October 19 : 1:17p Reply with Quote Report this post to a moderator
At that age (12 years) it's probably something wear related that doesn't effect drivability, or you'd notice that something wasn't running right.

Ideas: The seal on the gas cap is bad, or the cap is not tight. Or, the downstream O2 sensors aren't seeing enough activity from the catalysts.

The only way to tell for sure is to use a OBD-II scan tool.

If it's something about O2 sensors, I'd replace all 4 (or at least the two that control engine mixture, which are the two UPstream ones, closest to the engine) and see if it stops complaining.

O2 sensor check engine lights also have this habit of not coming back for a while. So, if you reset the light it'll stay out for a while and then come back on at some random time that's not associated with any obvious engine problem.

MrSVTGal

lounge lizard
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Posted  - October 22 : 10:29p Reply with Quote Report this post to a moderator
it turns out that the plug wire on the drivers side is attached to the firewall by a wire holder. when the motor flexes, if it is too tight it pulls off the plug and shoots a code.

since I found this out and gave it some room on the plug side it has not thrown a code since.
tomorrow it goes for the inspection, emissions and all that jazz. so we will see if anything comes up.

lounge lizard
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Posted  - October 26 : 5:34a Reply with Quote Report this post to a moderator
well,
the truck went in for it's check up and it passed with flying colors. the code retrival test came up clean and it has mo problem in the emission testing. so everything is back to normal.
just have to move the plug wire holder ( on this truck) off the fire wall and I should not have this problem again.

thanks for the help everyone!
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