Questionmy sons check engine light went on. he has a hole in his exhaust pipe. do you think the light has anything to do with that. i don't want to spend 700 on repairing it if that would not have something to do with the light coming on.
PS the car was off the road for 4 mths could this have anything to do with it.
AnswerHi Vivian,
It depends upon where the hole in the exhaust system is located. I would suggest that you get a readout of the fault codes. '97 was a 'transition year' when a new code system was being adopted so you may or may not be able to get the codes using the ignition key: turn it "on-off-on-off-on and leave on" doing that in 5 seconds or less elapsed time. Then watch the check engine light, which remains 'on', to see it begin to flash, pause, flash, etc. Count the number of flashes before each pause. Then repeat to be sure that you have an accurate set of counts. Then tell me the counts in the order of appearance.
If that doesn't work then do it again and observe the odometer window to see if it changes to show 4-digit numbers prefixed by a P. Tell me those if that happens.
He can also go to an Autozone parts store and they will do a readout using a plug-in fault code reader, for free. Get the number of any fault codes. Then write back.
That is the most economical way to move forward on this problem. Also, tell me what engine size is in the car.
Roland
