G'day,
My '99 Lantra Sportswagon has started getting the check engine light come on my regular drive to and from work. usually in the morning, when it's cold (it's Winter in Australia) the light will come on after about 5-10 minutes of driving, and then stay on for the entire trip (about 25km - up to 75 minutes driving). In the afternoon, on the way home, the light will come on when I hit the freeway and accelerate to above 80km.
If I stop, and turn off the engine the light generally does not come back on.
When I'm idling at traffic lights, it tends to dip down to about 500rpm until I give it a bit of gas, and then it will idle normally.
I've taken the car to Midas - the local mechanics franchise - and they had it all day without being able to find anything wrong. The computer did not provide any problem codes, and the car did not exhibit any of the symptoms.
I'm wondering if anyone has experienced anything similar, and would be able to offer advise. It seems to me that the codes get cleared whenever I switch off the engine. I don't think that's very normal.
The car has done about 255000 km.
Cheers,
Neil

Hi,

You've mentioned low RPMs. Are there any other problems while driving? Anyway, if u get low RPMs more often it could be something to do with idle speed control.


cheers!

This post has been edited by marek46: Aug 14 2008, 03:14 PM

My apologies for the delay in reply.
The main issue I get beyond what is described above is a shudder when travelling at around 100km/h+. It has cut out on me once while travelling at about 100km/h, and now that I think about it, it was just after this that the light started coming on, but that situation has not been repeated.
Neil

Hi,

I have experience with 'shuddering' at around 100km/h... The cause were worn spark plugs. I suggest that you check sparks(for proper gap, or if worn->replace), air filter (if dirty->replace) and check the 'buzz' sound of fuel pump-if it sounds like a really faint buzz(like mine was) it may be worn out too. These things caused poor acceleration, jumping and shudder of the engine. These are the things I had to replace.

cheers