Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting 1998 contour

i just bought a 98 contour 7 days ago, it has 78,000 miles on it. tonight i was driving it and for no reason the check engine light came on. i tried tightning up my fuel cap since i read in the manual to try that. it didn't work. tried putting gas in it, thought that may work but didn't. tried turning car off then restarting but no luck. this is the first contour i have owned and am already having second thoughts. does anyone have any idea why this is happening? i am new on this site but have seen where several people are having this problem. i read in the manual that i need to have my emission controls checked. is this high? i just paid 7,800 and am hoping to not be paying to have it repaired every week. any ideas would be greatly appreciated. i was told the car had to pass a 62 point inspection before it was sold by a ase certified mechanic, but i am doubting this. thank you for your time and for any replies. thanks again, regina

Warm welcomes to the group!

Run by Autozone and ask them to pull the code for you. They can do this for free. If you ask, they will even give you a print out (looks like a reciept) that will give the code and a full explaination of what it means. If it is pretty common, they will give you some advice as to what you might try replacing to fix it, but first bring the code back here and post it in this thread. We can then give you advice as how to go about solving your problem.

If it makes you fill a little better, at least your emissions system is still under warrenty. All emissions components are under factory warrenty for 80,000 miles.