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First time Ford owner

Hey guys, Ford Newbie here. Been reading up on this Ford NG and thought I'd pop in and say hello.

Never owned a Ford before but with a growing family, Wife, two children and two Basset Hounds we really needed a larger vehicle. Well we just bought a

1992 Ford Taurus GL wagon, 3.8 liter V6 from a private owner for $1800.00. It has 75,000 miles on it. I really like the car and so does the family.

Only problem I am having is the check engine light keeps coming on after about 10 minutes of running it. It will usually go off after about a half an hour of driving. I need to get the codes out to determine the problem. Is there any way to do this without getting a code reader? Everything seems to be running fine and we are very pleased with the size, performance and quality. Sorry if this sounds like a dumb question but I'm just so use to Chrysler products where keying the ignition on and off three times will give you the set of error codes. I don't have a clue how to proceed with this one.

John

95 Jeep Wrangler 92 Ford Taurus GL Wagon 94 Dodge Shadow (This POS is currently just taking up space in the driveway)

Thanks in advance for any insight you can give me.

Reply to
John
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John opined

Welcome to the club...

To get the codes read, check with local auto parts stores. Autozone, in most places other than California, will read out the codes for free,

Cant tell, could be a number of things, but the EGR system is subject to needing cleaning in these.

Go to google.com and select groups.. search this group for any other questions you may have.

Also

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Reply to
Backyard Mechanic

AutoZone will NOT read your codes because your car is OBD1. They only read OBD2. That's the bad news. The good news is you can get a flashing light code reader for less than $25.

For more help, see

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CJB

Reply to
CJB

"John" wrote

Got a little piece of wire?

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And of course, the ever-popular:
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Reply to
MasterBlaster

On the newer Fords, a cause for the light can ba a loose gasoline cap...make sure it's closed snugly (maybe the previous owner bought another cap that isn't the correct one for your model).

Reply to
danny

autozone wont read codes anymore thanks to the lawyers. someone sued them for telling them the wrong part to get.

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great site here. Skidflap

Reply to
skidflap

Tell you what... it just MAY HAPPEN, "Come the revolution...."

I F45678'g HATE lawyers.

skidflap opined in news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com:

Reply to
Backyard Mechanic

This is how I do it (with a junper wire, then looking at check engine light). I find it's best to read the codes when it's dark or getting dark though. Makes it easier to count.

Reply to
Childfree Scott

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