Engine Light After Sitting for Two Months

cycaza · #1 (**permalink**) 07-23-2007, 07:06 AM

So my car has been sitting in the garage for two months. I turned it on a month ago and all was ok, and today I went to warm up the engine and the engine light came on and warmed me to take the car to the shop.

The engine sounded a bit different than usual. Like a loose belt or something, but it was running fine.

is this normal? or does something go fubar if the car is not turned on regularly?

Anyone experienced this before or does anyone have clues?

Arrggg

c

**TX-KmanS** · #2 (**permalink**) 07-23-2007, 01:34 PM

One of the first things that my service adviser told me when I was introduced to him when I bought my car was to drive it routinely. He told me that these cars are meant to be driven and that problems can start happening if you let it sit too long. He wasn't specific, he just said problems.

Without knowing any specifics as to the warning, the CEL usually refers to some error with your cats or the O2 sensor on your exhaust. I would recommend that you get your car to service to check it out.

I'm going to move this thread to Cayman Complaints and let others chime in as well as to what they think it might be.

**K-Man S** · #3 (**permalink**) 07-23-2007, 02:49 PM

This is why I recommend people buy an inexpensive OBDII reader to read out the code(s) and see what the check engine light (CEL) means. If it is something like 431 that's cat efficiency and could mean that you have 400 cell cats that didn't do a good enough job of scrubbing the exhaust and your dealer will replace them with 600 cell units. Could be any number of things and without knowing the code we would just be guessing so a trip to the dealer to have them read it out is in order.

cycaza · #4 (**permalink**) 07-23-2007, 04:00 PM

Thanks TX and KMan. I kind of figure it was in the exhaust. Is this something expensive and should I take it in ASAP? As I have to be in LA for a conference and should be back by late August.

**TX-KmanS** · #5 (**permalink**) 07-23-2007, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cycaza

Thanks TX and KMan. I kind of figure it was in the exhaust. Is this something expensive and should I take it in ASAP? As I have to be in LA for a conference and should be back by late August.

It may or may not be a problem with the exhaust. As K-Man S indicated, without the error code, we have no idea what the problem is. It shouldn't cost you anything since the car should still be under warranty, and I wouldn't wait to have this looked at. I certainly wouldn't drive much with the CEL on since it could be something serious.

I'm still leaning towards an exhaust problem, but you just never know. Take it into service and see what they say.

**Gray-S-Man-06** · #6 (**permalink**) 07-23-2007, 06:05 PM

Cycaza, I had a very similar issue with my car ! I too let the car sit for a couple of weeks ( maybe even 3 weeks ) without driving it and my engine light came on. I called my dealer's repair shop and they told me to drive the car for awhile so that the battery has a chance to recharge itself. The engine light comes on when the battery's charge drops a bit and needs to be driven/recharged. I tried it and it worked for me ! They also told me that if i had refueled and did not have the filler cap screwed on propperly, that the engine light could come on as a result. Something to do with an air pressure sensor of some sort.
Anyway, Hope this helps....

cycaza · #7 (**permalink**) 07-23-2007, 06:55 PM

Thanks all for your responses. I'll follow up and update the post once I have the issue resolved.

Cheers!!!

cycaza · #8 (**permalink**) 10-03-2007, 03:13 AM

Well I finally took it to the dealer to get my Cayman looked at.

It was a bad coil on a spark plug. (have no idea what that means). It was fixed under warranty.

Since it was sitting idle for a long while, I asked for them to change the oil as well. I am back enjoying my Cayman

C