Check engine light - any way to figure out what it means?

[adam]

Got my Karma 1 week ago. It was a demo with 2300 miles. They put 6.13 and the battery ground strap before I got it.

I put about 400 miles on it and this morning with a full tank of gas (and battery) I turned the car on and was greeted with the check engine light and the gas indicator showing I had zero gas left.

I drove 2 miles to Starbucks and parked and turned the car off. When I got back in I turned it on and the gas gauge was now correct but the check engine light is still on. Drove it about 60 miles today on a combination of stealth and sport modes. No perceptible problems but the check engine light is still on.

I won't have time to bring it in any time soon and need to drive about 75 miles/day. Two questions:

1. Is there a way to get more information about the check engine light without bringing to the dealer?
2. Should I try to "reboot" the car to see if it's just a false positive? If so, how do I do that?
   

[Deep Ocean]

Reboot cable is under the hood, but I wouldn't pull it unless your dealer tells you to.

[Skibum]

According to my dealer...
1. Ignore all "check engine" lights for now.
2. To reboot the car: turn off the car, exit, lock the door and wait 3-4 minutes.

[dennis]

(02-07-2012 04:04 PM)Skibum Wrote:  According to my dealer...
1. Ignore all "check engine" lights for now.
2. To reboot the car: turn off the car, exit, lock the door and wait 3-4 minutes.

That is the "soft reboot" procedure, which clears up most situations. If that does not work, you can try a "hard reboot", which powers off the electronics in the car:

1. Locate the plug shown below, under the hood on the passenger side.
2. Press on the locking tab and pull the connectors apart. Because the cables are tie-wrapped, you may not be able to fully separate them, but you need to move them a least one inch.
3. Wait at least one minute.
4. Put the connectors back together.
5. Lock and then unlock the car.

[SoCalGuy]

adam

curious - how/why did you get a demo car? was the dealer just selling it because he's geting a replacement?

[adam]

Check engine light problem resolved. I did a hard reboot (unplugging that cable above, thanks for the info!). After doing so, the check engine light did not come back on. However the trunk wouldn't open. I drove home anyway at which point the car warned me as I put on my turn signal that there was "bulb failure" in the turn signal. That went away after a few minutes and when I got home all was working (turn signal, trunk and no check engine light). For what it's worth, my dealer told me to ignore any check engine light unless it's flashing.

(02-08-2012 10:33 AM)SoCalGuy Wrote:  adam

curious - how/why did you get a demo car? was the dealer just selling it because he's geting a replacement?

I have 2 neighbors that ordered Fiskers 4 years ago. When the first one came in, I fell in love with it so called up his salesperson. The salesperson told me he had a new one I could buy which was silver wind EcoSport with black interior. When I went up to the dealership, he showed me the demo car he had which was EcoChic Silver Wind with glacier tri-tone interior. I loved the interior and he told me I could buy the demo if I wanted to.

It feels like the car is in high demand but I literally walked into the dealership and had the choice of 2 Fiskers. Maybe just in my area? I'm in south florida and this was the Fisker dealership in Palm Beach. The demo had 2000 miles on it and was used in the Top Gear review about to air. I bought it for $1000 off sticker.

[Karma 2012]

6.13 should have fixed the check engine light. However, I did see my checking engine light went on for less than a second this morning. Is it conceivable that they program it to turn off for now just to buy time to figure out the problem? I certainly hope that is not the case. How would you differentiate false positives from true positives?

[siliconkiwi]

My check engine light has been on for 10 days (since the day after I received my car), both my dealer and his service manager know about it and neither is worried. I'm on 6.13. "was supposed to be fixed..." :-)

[doug]

(02-08-2012 09:54 PM)adam Wrote:  Top Gear review about to air.

When does it air??

[Fabulist]

(02-08-2012 11:56 PM)siliconkiwi Wrote:  My check engine light has been on for 10 days (since the day after I received my car), both my dealer and his service manager know about it and neither is worried. I'm on 6.13. "was supposed to be fixed..." :-)

Mine came on, and has been pretty much on continuously, since Monday. I had a "Parking System Error" message along with the awful grinding noise you hear when you try to move the car with that error. A hard reboot cleared that but the check engine light has been on since then and when the engine runs the "Gas Cap Open" warning is also on. None of these warnings appear to have any real impact on the car's performance, but they are annoying.

-- Fab.