Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting CEL comes on after accelerating

<- 95 contour gl, zetec, atx

my stupid CEL keeps coming on in my car after accelerating, then it stays on for a little bit, then is gone. i had this checked out last summer and the guy said the light didnt stay on long enough for him to grab any codes. it went away for awhile but lately its been happening again this summer.

i think it may have something to do with the heat , i dunno.
anyone else had similar problems, or know what the deal is.

thanks for any help in advance.

Throttle Position Sensor, classic sign of it.

so is that something i should check out right away or what?

Won't blow up your engine, no But you should replace it, it can make it stall and stuff. It's a cheap part. I replaced the one on my beater (95 tracer) and it was $40 from the dealer.

It doesn't matter if the CE light is 'on' or 'off' during the moment when you hookup the scan tool to pull out the codes. Ford OBD-I has a continous memory section of the test that will store any previously set code into a memory for 3 or so weeks, so you can still know what code had set at an earlier time. This is specifically to help you chase after these intermitant type problems

After you find the code post it here and someone can help you diagnose it. The 95 codes are different than the all the others due to the older OBD I computer.

I had the same problem, except the CEL light would stay on. It did this several times and I reset the computer by disconnecting the battery.
The problem was cured after I got a new battery. Never checked the codes, but it must have had something to do with low voltage.