Took my 99 FRC to a spring Show and Shine. When I started the car to return home, the Check Engine light came on. All the gauges were OK and there were no codes. I stoped the car, loosened the gas cap and re-tightened it. I checked the engine bay and there were no signs of oil leaks or any strange noises. I stopped the car several times, let it cool down and restarted the engine. Same thing, Check Engine Light came on. It was not blinking, just stayed on. I have not had one problem with this engine. It has 64,000 miles on it. I put some new feul in it yesterday but did not notice the Check Engine light being on. It was 92 Octane fuel. Any ideas?

 

If the check engine light came on some kind of code is being thrown. Hold the Fuel button down on the dash and press the Options button 4 times. Make sure you manually scroll through each section of the codes(The first category might not have any codes). Do not remember which button to scroll with button it is one of the ones in the middle. This will allow you to see the code.

 

Thank you very much. I will give it a try!

 

Could be the new gas was higher in ethanol content and leaned out the engine...

 

Just a thought here. Didn't happen on my vette but my daily driver which had 58,000 miles at the time (close to the mileage you have). Threw a code for a bad upstream oxygen sensor which caused the check engine light to come on. Replaced sensor and deleted code and light never came back on. I've been told that those sensors go bad anywhere between 50,000 and 100,000 miles. Of course, like corvettedoug said, there has to be a code thrown that caused the check engine light to come on, so that's what you need to find first.

 

Where is the sensor located?

 

Here is a link that shows how to look at and erase your fault codes, I would suggest looking at them, writing them down and erasing everything (this will also turn the light off) then see what happens, worst case scenario you'll get the light and fault code again.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/techti...D=26&TopicID=1

 

I've got a lot more than 100K miles on my sensors and they've never been changed and still performing nominally. In fact, nearing three times that many miles now. They can get messed up of course if the mixture was way out of whack.
Corvettedoug is correct that if the light is on, a code is there. It will certainly tell you what is the cause.

 

Perhaps I should have chosen my words more carefully. What I should have said was that the oxygen sensors tend to start failing between 50,000 and 100,000 miles, not that they all fail this early but that's when they tend to start failing. As you've experienced, some last well beyond 100,000 miles, but some don't, as I've experienced on my daily driver at only 58,000 miles.

I think we all agree on our advice to rkhegler, that he first needs to determine what caused the check engine light to come on, that will tell him what's wrong and what needs replacing/repairing. I'm not suggesting that he go and change out the oxygen sensors without knowing what code(s) have been thrown.

Note to rkhegler: If you're not able to ascertain the code(s) through the DIC, you can go to almost any auto parts store (I know Autozone does it free of charge) and they will hook up an OBDII code reader to the port under the dash and tell you what code(s) have been thrown.

 

Once the code is cleared and doesn't come back, is it safe to say their might have been a glich in a sensor or reading? Should I still have it checked out or wait for the light to come back?

 

If it were me, I would clear the code once and see if it comes back. If it does, that's confirmation of a problem. That's what I did on my DD. I cleared the code (after finding out what it was) and waited for it to come back, which it did throwing the same code. So I replaced the oxygen sensor (which is what the code indicated as having gone bad) and the check engine light has not come back on since.

So to answer your question, I would wait to see if the light comes back on a second time.

 

On my last Corvette I had an O2 code come up once every 3 or 4 months, I would look at the code and it would even be shown as a current fault but would still let me erase it, once erased I'd be good for another 3 or 4 months.

 

if it comes up as a "H" code just reset it and forget it

 

Sent you a PM with some codes!

 

Got it and I'll also PM you back

You sent a PM that showed a P1415 code which is related to the AIR system, this is what caused the "check engine" light.

When the engine is started the first couple minutes of run time it operates in open loop, what this means is the oxygen sensors aren't controlling the fuel mixture also the air pump kicks on and pumps fresh air into the exhaust system and the PCM looks for this by measuring the voltage at the oxygen sensors, if it doesn't see the correct voltage it sets a P1415 or P1416 depending on which bank is not reading correctly (the problem is I can't remember which code is for which bank).

If you look at the drivers side of the engine next to the exhaust manifold you'll see the air pipe going into the manifold, look at the black piece in the pipe, this is a check valve, these check valves can get corroded up inside and block the air.

The one you can see on the left side hardly ever goes bad the one that does go bad is for the right bank and it's mounted right behind the left cylinder head, you can probably run your hand along the airpipe as it goes behind the head and feel where it is.

These valves are cheap to replace, I just bought one last weekend for $18 right down the street at a parts store but unfortunately if it's the one for the right bank you'll have to remove the intake manifold to get to it, for me it's not a bad job but for someone who may have never done that type of work, you might be intimidated by it, there are links that show how to do this job and how to remove the intake so I hope someone else chimes in with the link.

Another code you showed was B1001 for the SDM (Sensing and Diagnostics Module), basically the description of this is when the ignition is turned on the SDM compares a restraint ID with the BCM (Body Control Module) the restraints ID is the last 4 digits of the SDM part number, it also compares the VIN stored in the SDM with the VIN stored in the PCM.

I don't think this is much to worry about right now because if it were a problem I think your DIC would have displayed a "Service Vehicle Soon" message.

Now that you know what your codes are go ahead and erase everything and drive the car to see what happens, the P1415 code may have just been a fluke and it may correct itself.

 

Runamuk,

Well, I did everything you said to do. I erased all of the codes and took the car out for a short drive. The check engine light did not come back on. I will go for a longer drive this weekend and then check the codes again. Thanks for all of your help. I sincerely appreciate your efforts as well as the others who chimed in. Have a great weekend.