Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting is this suposed to happend

Hi everyone i think this is a simple ??? My car just hit the 41,000 mile mark an my check engine light came on. Keep in mind this ia a 98 csvt an i just bought it last week. Is this a ford thang to get me in for service or what?? I did check the easy stuff like oil, water, power streeing an brake fluid an they all seem to be ok. Thankx for all the help.

Some of the parts places, like Autozone, will pull the OBDII code for free. As long as it seems to be running OK, I would do that first and post the results here. I'm sure someone would be able to help.

Most likely culprit is an O2 sensor. If the error you get from the code is a "catalyst bank 1 below efficiency" or "catalyst bank 2 below efficiency" you probably don't have a bad cat, just bad 02 sensor.

{EDIT} Almost forgot to mention that Bank 1 is the "right hand" cylinder bank, towards the back of the car. Bank 2 is the easy one to R&R the O2 sensors on. {EDIT}

My old '96 just got a new set of sensors for this very reason.

Also, the SVT is a higher-revving car (cam profile, etc. etc.) and it has a light flywheel. Don't shift too early, if you're not going over 40 you shouldn't have it in 5th. Shifting low in the SVT bogs it, and can trip a CEL.

Of course, with an SVT, if you're going 58 in 2nd it's a good time to shift :-)

Originally posted by 2 guard:

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Is this a ford thang to get me in for service or what??

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No, but the CEL can be a multitude of things. You will need to get the code pulled in order to know what the problem is. As was posted earlier, Autozone will do it for free.

Thankx guys for all your help. I had no idea that some of the major parts stores would pull codes. Thankx again