My check engine light has been on in my brick ever since I drove through flood waters and stalled out. I’ve changed oil and flushed the transmission but ever since I’ve been getting awful gas mileage. Like 10 mpg city and 15 highway. I haven’t had the funds to get it looked at and am just not going on any long trips. The car runs fine on the highway but lags around town. Stepping on the accelerator just causes the car to pause for a moment, then revs normally. I’m guessing the engine is flooding with an overload of fuel, because if I’m steady on the pedal I don’t have too much of a problem.
I figure the problem is with the O2 sensor, even though I think it’s pretty new, like less than a couple years.
UPDATE: Now that I look at pictures of my catalytic converter install, I realize I have another O2 sensor I can test with. My old cat had cracked but I still have it in my basement, with O2 sensor attached. Looks like I need a new wrench and should start troubleshooting.
Looking at my iPhoto set I see I have tons of pics that I never got around to posting, of things like my overdrive install, flame trap, cat converter, etc. One of these days I should just dump it all onto this site.
hi, love your site.
if you havent already done so, i suggest you check your air inlet pipes, air filter, hot /cold flapy thing, and particularly the air flow sensor. if you sucked in some water / dirt/ leaves etc the residue could easily be blocking or affecting any of the above. i keep my air flow sensor ( MAF ? ) clean by regularly removing and spraying with contact cleaner. hope this helps.
also, in case you ave not seen this-
http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=24944
using this info, you can try the onboard diognostics function, and pinpoint why the light is on.
What code does it spit out?
Haven’t checked.
Thanks. I checked most of the air inlets, including replacing the air filter and checking the throttle body, etc.
Ahhh. I had no idea that I didn’t need a special tool to read the codes. I’ll try this out.
Looks like the box doesn’t work. I’m not getting the LED to light up at all.
perhaps you could post on one of the forums for a fix for the OBD unit, or another way to read codes. that would save a lot of guessing. a quick search suggests that sudden fuel problems are not uncommon, so there must be a known fix. 2 areas i personally have found to ‘enrich the fuel air mix’ are dirty MAF and faulty or missing or incorrect thermostat. but i dont think either of those would trigger the check engine light.