Hello,

so I have a 2001 Pontiac Sunfire SLX car and this morning I had the check engine light come on for the first time in near 3 years of ownership. Well it doesn't say "Check Engine" but it look like an engine icon.

My car seem to run normally as far as I can tell. Do you have any idea of what's coming? The car got about 60 000 miles, 2.2L engine, 4 speed automatic transmission and is a 4 doors sedan. I doesn't have any mods done to the cars. I changed the spark plugs about 2 years and a half ago along with the fuel filter and this year the air filter.

In the manual of the car it say it's a problem with the smog equipment malfunctioning or something like this. I'll first check that my fuel cap is on right but after this, it could be the O2 sensor? Can it be anything else?

The shops around here want a fortune only to read the codes on the computer of the car.

Sorry for my bad english I speak french normally...

Hope some of you can help me find the problems, maybe this is common to these cars and someone know what's coming.

With out a code its really hard to tell what it may be..But you could always start with the gas cap..

dont you have an auto part store by you? I know here in ohio any autozone or advance autoparts will read engine codes for free. you just walk in tell them your engine light is on and ask them to check it.

they will plug in a little reader... and it will tell you exactly what is wrong.

the check engine light could mean HUNDREDS of things.... it could be a loose gas cap, or it could be a blown engine. you wont know unless you "read the code" that is usually free. you can even buy a code reader and read them yourself for less than $50...

the shops that are charging hudreds of dollars are doing a full diagnositic scan on the car.... that is much more involved and only needed in bad situations.... "reading codes" is fast and easy.

just go to an autoparts store and tell them your engine light is on and you need to get your "codes read". they will do it for you or tell you where to go to get it done or sell you the tool to do it yourself.


once you know the code and what the engine light is on for... then come on here and tell us and we can help you fix the problem.

Yeah but I'm in Canada the only auto parts stores I have is Canadian Tire, UAP/NAPA, Carquest and Auto Parts Plus...

I never hear saying go there they'll get the codes out for free or anything ever... I guess this goodness is only available to USA people.

I called a couple of places and so far the cheapest is like 39.99$ + Taxes...

I cant resolve myself to pay that much only to get a friggin code!

I remember with my old Trans Am GTA 88 I could check the codes manually with a trick, isn't there a way with these Sunfire too?

i would just buy the code reader itself then... i think you can find them for like $30... i have one, and i use it all the time... all my friends and family come to me when their engine light comes on. It is a good tool to have.

I am suprized the stores wont read it for you... because it doesnt cost them anything at all to read it for you.... but chances are if they read it and tell you what is wrong... you will buy the parts to fix it while you are there...

so it is bad business practice for them to NOT read it for you.... you wont buy their parts if you dont know what parts you need.

if they dont read it... you will have to take it to a shop... and then the shop sells you their parts and makes the money off you, and the parts store gets nothing.

Just went to a local mechanic that accepted to check it with is OBDII reader for free on my lunch break and only one code for oxygen sensor #1 came up.

He erased it for now and the light hasn't come on again yet.

If it did that, does it mean it's begining to die and I'll have to replace it soon?

Or can it read wrong one time like this and still be ok?

Thanks!

JF

the oxygen sensor code(P0171 i believe) is just an emissions code and shouldnt affect your driving. worst case scenario it makes the system run lean and you get crappy gas mileage. try runnin some RXP (6.99 at autozone) through it. RXP is a decarbonizer, and it will clean out your egr system, O2 sensors and cat. converter, and your fuel injectors. If that doesnt work, just replace the sensor. I believe the sensors for our cars run about 30 dollars apiece, may as well replace both and be done with it.

erasing the code won't help you any. all it does is reset your systems into a "not ready" status. the car will go through a drive cycle, usually 50-200 miles and reset. chances are if you have a problem, the light will come back on. if not, you should be good.

Thanks for the reply, I'll try to buy a similar cleaner to my local Canadian Tire and see what happen. How do you put the product in the car? Is it something that goes in the fuel tank? I know this sound stupid but I'm no mechanic lol. Thanks!

JF

just dumps in your gas. try to do it just before filling up, as it will mix better with the fuel. i believe one 2.5 oz bottle treats 25 gallons if im not mistaken

So basically I can buy pretty much any good brand of injectors cleaner and it should do what you said? Because I never saw the brand you told me.

rxp is supposed to be the best. you can try other stuff like lucas, zmax, and guaranteed to pass(CRC)

I finally changed the front oxygen sensor for a NTK brand one that was the only one I could get locally otherwise they had to order... Is it any good or it's crap like Bosch?