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In need of help! Just 2 days ago my Service Engine Soon light came on....

2010 Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback GTS

I am the original owner, it has 66,XXX miles. Since owning the car for 7 years this is the FIRST time SES light came on.

The car only has a K&N cold airtake. There is nothing else done with the car.

1. About 8 months ago my car was HIT n RUN while i was parking. which broke the tire rod and side fenders on the driver side. (thats where the eletricals are). Insurance fixed it and it runs without a problem.

2. The heat shield above the exhaust fell off while i was driving. IDK could that be an issue with the SES Light? But it fell off about 1 week before and the Light came on 2 days ago.

3. As far as servicing the engine. I've had always taken it to the dealership for the daily routines for oil changes and check up. Which they have always reset the XXX miles til oil change info. There is nothing else done with the car as far as transmission fluid flush or any other fluid changes besides the oil change.

4. I have moved far away from my dealership which i can't go back to get a check up. So for the past year i have been changing my own oil using Mobil-1 and Mobil-1 Filter and never had problems with the SES light being on.


5. On occasion the (Routine Maintenance Required) warning pops up, It is because of the system hasn't been reset after doing my own oil changes. but the warning disappears.

What could be the problem being SES light on?
Is it because the system hasn't been reset yet and the computer thinks i haven't changed my oil in 1 year? thats why the SES light is on?

Please help! thanks in advance!

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You have two options. One, go to AutoZone or some other place that advertises 'free diagnostic' and get the OBDII code pulled, or unplug the battery for half an hour and then plug it back in to reset it and hope the light doesn't come back on (because if it does, you'll need to hit up a diagnostic place to find out why).

So the SES turned off by itself today. Before i parked the car the light was still on. I ran out for an errand and the light was off. Should i still bring it to an autoshop and have it checked?

The responsible car owner thing to do would be that, yes.

There are over 1000 codes that can trip that light. If the car is running and driving fine and your fuel consumption seems to be the same it's probably just some dumb emission system error or issue. The light comes on when any number of system tests are performed at their scheduled intervals (or required driving conditions) during normal driving and one or more of those tests result in failure. The PCM will continue to run those tests even after the failure has been logged, and the light will turn back off if whatever caused the failed test passes it on the next attempt.

If the light's off you may not be able to get anything from having it checked, just wait for it to come back on. If it's on solid and not flashing the car is perfectly fine to drive. And sometimes it's just a glitch in the system that causes it. I normally tell people to clear a code the first time they see it, and if it comes back then it's a real issue. In your case, it obviously was working fine for the second test so just wait and see.

This post has been edited by Spaz on Jun 26 2017, 07:34 PM

I have to say dropping the money and buying my own OBDII reader. It was soooooooo worth it!

It's nice when you can make sense of it, but from my time behind the aftermarket parts counter in a green shirt I've seen plenty of times where a code could have any number of solutions and people will just start throwing parts at it down the list instead of doing further diagnostic to narrow it down with less monetary involvement.

Yeah, a code only gets you so far. You have to know how to diagnose around a problem in order to actually know what's wrong. For instance, there's a code for 'mixture rich'. Okay, well, your mixture could be reading rich for a shitload of reasons. Maybe your O2 sensor is fucked, maybe your cat isn't working, maybe you're fouling a spark plug, maybe you have a vacuum leak, maybe your ECU is malfunctioning, maybe an injector is sticking, etc etc etc etc.

I know a lot of people take diagnostics for granted, but as Spaz said it's important to understand that an error code is only a starting point, not an ending point.

Literally my year-long headache with the Accord.