so the light's on, i had it checked in auto zone, they said it was a small leak, i changed the gas cap, disconnetcted the bateray and put it back on, light's still on. where should i go from here, what else can i check?
still runs ok doesn't it.....drive on...something as simple as a misfire in a cylinder can give a check engine light...they often don't mean sh@#
Put a piece of electrical tape over the check engine light and drive it til the wheels fall off
I take it they said the gas cap was leaking. If so, the fault is a gas tank pressure problem. The system usually is made up of charcoal canister, solenoid, and pressure sensor all located near the gas tank. There may also be a solenoid located by the engine. These all work together to collect excess gas fumes and send them back to the tank. If the gas cap didn't fix it, it could be one of the items I mentioned. I would search online with the code you got from AutoZone and see which components your car has. If it indicates the charcoal canister, it might just be the solenoid by the canister (its a lot cheaper). The solenoids tend to go bad after many years because of their exposure to road water, salt, etc.
Some faults need a reset to clear the light and disconecting the battery doesn't always do the reset. Take it back to Auto Zone and they can clear it with their OBDII reader. If the light returns, you still have a problem (obviously).
First of all, Id have auto zone or someone with a diagnostic tool reset the check engine light. You don't always reset it when you disconnect the battery. Second. You need to specify what kind of leak. It sounds like you assumed it to be the evaporative system. Correct? If the cap didn't help there are still several valves and hoses that could be bad. And maybe its not the cap but where the cap sits thats damaged. Either get a schematic of the evaportive system and rule things out one by one or take it to a mechanic. Thats assuming that the leak was the evap system.
