Car misfire question

K

KravtZ

Active member
Long story short I need to pass NY inspection. My car misfired this week. It was just for like 30 seconds then stopped. Now the check engine light is on so obviously it won't pass inspection. Does anyone know how long the check engine light will stay on for if it doesn't misfire again? Even if the light goes off, will the car computer continue to store the misfire code? I'm thinking about driving around long enough till the light turns off (happened last week) and then getting it inspected. I'm a car mechanical noob so any help help be great

It's on a 2003 VW Jetta with a 2.0 engine.

By the way, I reccomend never buying one of these cars it constantly is fucking up.
 
I had a similar problem in my crv, it misfired sometimes and then the engine light would stay on. I think you can get the computer reflashed so itll go away.
 
I had a similar problem in my crv, it misfired sometimes and then the engine light would stay on. I think you can get the computer reflashed so itll go away.
 
I had a similar problem in my crv, it misfired sometimes and then the engine light would stay on. I think you can get the computer reflashed so itll go away.
 
13547937:Titus69 said:
I had a similar problem in my crv, it misfired sometimes and then the engine light would stay on. I think you can get the computer reflashed so itll go away.
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How'd you get it to pass inspection? Did it pass after resetting the engine? Last year I had to buy a new cat and weld it in really hoping I don't have to deal with that nightmare again
 
get yourself an OBD2 reader. one of those cheap $20 ones that connects with bluetooth to your phone. then get Torque (phone app) and you can read fault codes and reset them.
 
You can get the code read at any auto parts store for free (auto zone, advanced) if you don't want to buy a scan tool, but they are nice to have.

If there is no longer a fault, the CEL should go out and stay when ever you turn the car off the on again, but yours seems to be staying on? Try disconnecting the battery. That should work.
 
13547989:DBack1321 said:
You can get the code read at any auto parts store for free (auto zone, advanced) if you don't want to buy a scan tool, but they are nice to have.

If there is no longer a fault, the CEL should go out and stay when ever you turn the car off the on again, but yours seems to be staying on? Try disconnecting the battery. That should work.
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Ok ill try this later when I get back from work. I also ready about turning on / off the keys without turning the car over.

My CEL literally hasn't showed up once for the entire year. Some moisture got into my engine from the heavy rain recently and it got onto one of my coil packs which caused a misfire.

I'm thinking about just driving around for like 2 hours stopping occasionally and turning on/off the car to get the light to go off. Had a friend who did that. But what do i know about how to fix cars...
 
Driving it around for a while should make it go off, if there is no longer a fault, but so should turning it off haha. Disconnecting the battery essentially turns the computer off and makes it reset itself. If the light comes back on after that than you know your problem hasn't gone away.
 
I had a 2002 Jetta 1.8T, it was a nightmare. Those cars look awesome IMO, probably best looking Jetta that has ever been made. One trick that will take your check engine light off is disconnecting the battery for about 5 minutes. Idk if you have but www.vwvortex.com is the best resource for any sort of issues you may have.

13547973:VinnieF said:
get yourself an OBD2 reader. one of those cheap $20 ones that connects with bluetooth to your phone. then get Torque (phone app) and you can read fault codes and reset them.
Click to expand...

13547989:DBack1321 said:
You can get the code read at any auto parts store for free (auto zone, advanced) if you don't want to buy a scan tool, but they are nice to have.

If there is no longer a fault, the CEL should go out and stay when ever you turn the car off the on again, but yours seems to be staying on? Try disconnecting the battery. That should work.
Click to expand...

These actually won't work that well. The codes that those type of readers spit out are not correct. It's VW's little bullshit special codes. You need a VAG com reader.
 
13548031:DBack1321 said:
Driving it around for a while should make it go off, if there is no longer a fault, but so should turning it off haha. Disconnecting the battery essentially turns the computer off and makes it reset itself. If the light comes back on after that than you know your problem hasn't gone away.
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13548033:ianrich511 said:
I had a 2002 Jetta 1.8T, it was a nightmare. Those cars look awesome IMO, probably best looking Jetta that has ever been made. One trick that will take your check engine light off is disconnecting the battery for about 5 minutes. Idk if you have but www.vwvortex.com is the best resource for any sort of issues you may have.

Great thanks for the responses appreciate it. This is going to sound like a retarded question...but do I disconnect the battery with the car on or off? Or do I disconnect it and then turn it back on? Haha i really dont know.
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13548051:ianrich511 said:
Lol, the car should not be running.
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Haha ok man thanks. So basically disconnect the battery, leave it unconnected for a while? Do I click the key over to try to run the computer? Or does disconnecting the battery inherently reset the comp?
 
13548064:KravtZ said:
Haha ok man thanks. So basically disconnect the battery, leave it unconnected for a while? Do I click the key over to try to run the computer? Or does disconnecting the battery inherently reset the comp?
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It will reset the computer. There are no additional steps. Disconnect, wait, reconnect. Its a pretty common trick when selling these cars. You go test drive, no CEL, buy car, on the drive home(after the engine has had time to start diagnosing itself) CEL pops up.
 
13547950:KravtZ said:
How'd you get it to pass inspection? Did it pass after resetting the engine? Last year I had to buy a new cat and weld it in really hoping I don't have to deal with that nightmare again
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Oh well mine was in no rush to be in passing condition. Do what the comments below say, good advice to listen tk
 
13548033:ianrich511 said:
These actually won't work that well. The codes that those type of readers spit out are not correct. It's VW's little bullshit special codes. You need a VAG com reader.
Click to expand...

they actually work perfectly well. The way the codes work is you will get a code, say P0123, and that code will mean a different thing depending on the make of the car. So a VW reading P0123 will be a different fault than a Ford with the same error. Your experience was probably that you read the fault code for a different make.

And I would recommend actually finding out what the fault code is. If you reset the fault codes without knowing what they are you won't know what went wrong until it happens again. And maybe next time it won't be so benign. $20 bucks will get you a reader that DOES work. I've used them and they're great.
 
There's something called the Vishnu reset you could try of the ECU. It involved disconnecting the negative terminal of the battery then pumping the brake a few times in order to bleed the system of charge. This will reset all the learned parameters of the ECU (this is either a good thing or a bad thing) such as knock correction, and give the factory tune values a fresh start. Drive the car for a week or two while it builds back up those learned parameters, and see if anything comes back up. If it does, shop or tuner time.
 
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