Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting cel

howdy

after the timing belt broke i was told buy one shop that it bent a valve in #4. and it wold cost me $800. well took it to a friend who pulled it apart and (with great advice from "The Davis")we retimed it and it runs fine but the cel light was on. so off to auto zone and a quick check it says misfire on #4. i asked if they would reset the code and they told me they couldnt do it per store policy. well when i went to leave no more cel.

my question is . is it possable that it was reading the misfire from the first time job that was incorect and it reset itself?

i have no clue.
thanks in advance

phinfan

2000 contour 4cyl vct
"we are the people our parents warned us about"

It's possible, but probably not. They may not have gotten the timing right. This happened when I had my timing belt replaced last year. Contour timing is very sensitive. You might want to take the battery cables off for about 15 minutes to half an hour, let the computer reset itself. If that CEL comes back on and it's the same code, then the place your timing belt was done didn't get the timing quite right most likely. That's what happened to me. Take the car back and make them set the timing again.

Also, I don't see why Auto Zone couldn't reset the CEL. That's odd. Every Auto Zone I have been to has asked me if they wanted for them to reset my computer after they've checked it.
Good luck

Autozone is complying with the new regulation by the Federal Government.

It seems there were a large number of people that "couldn't pass OBD-II port Emission Tests" and would just go and have the CEL's turned off.
(BTW - disconnecting the battery trips a code for 3 driving cycles - i.e. long enough to retrip the original CEL)
Therefore the Government stated the only time "a commercial shop" could turn off the light was after approved and "documented" repair work.

While most small shops won't even pay attention to this law the big chain stores do because of the greater chance of heavy fines and litigation.