I took my Dodge Dakota to Autozone to check out the engine light. The employee got the readout from the diagnostics and said I had a gas cap problem. I had this same problem two years ago. The dealer replaced the cap. So this time I bought a new cap from Autozone but the engine light is still on. Do I have to have something done to get the engine light off or do I still have a problem?
Autozone should be able to clear the light or you can do run your truck through a driving cycle and it will clear itself.
A driving cycle is a series of moves the computer must see before it deems the fault to be cleared.
It could be either case... By law your MIL must be capable of being extinguished using any OBDII scantool. Either Autozone didn't clear it for you or the problem still exists. Not knowing the year, engine and specific code(s) will yield you less than specific or helpful answers, but in general gas cap failure is common on newer Dakotas. I'm sure the Autozone employee tries to sell a gas cap on any OBDII evap leak failure code, so it was likely a coincidence that he was right the first time.
You could have a leak at the gas cap, purge solenoid, leak detection pump, fuel tank, canister, filler neck, or vapor pipes/hoses. A Chrysler DRBIII scantool has a function to run a quick evap monitor leak test and report pass/fail. If your MIL doesn't go out soon it would be wise to spend some proper diagnostic money with a capable and equipped tech.
I wouldn't use a one size fits most Stant-o-matic Autozone gas cap, either. Call a Dodge dealer and ask if any improvements have been made to your gas cap design (they will be able to tell by part# or supersession details) and get one if it has been redesigned.
Toyota MDT in MO
For an issue as noncritical as a small evap leak it depends on how much money you feel like spending on it. If you are rich and don't care about price then just take it to the dealer, but if there are no noticeable gas fumes or anything else objectionable I would just pull the cel bulb or hack the evap sensor to turn off the cel light.
The inspection stations just love people that do it that do things like that:grinyes: :grinno: :lol: .
If you do not want to fix it just leave it alone. :banghead:
boy, that's great advice. I'm sure the CEL is on for no reason at all. If you care about one or all of (a) the environment (b) your gas mileage (c) performance (d) engine longetivity, you don't drive around with a CEL on.
to the OP... you need the code read and cleared and whatever caused the code to come up fixed. Could be $5, could be $500.
CEL/MILs will reset if the problem is corrected, but often not for quite a few warmup cycles (like 20 IIRC.)
This could be as simple as clearing the code. If the code comes back then it's time to hunt things down. Whatever it is it's minor and to disable the MIL or leave it on means not to get notice of more serious issues should they occur without checking the codes frequently.
Yep go ahead and violate federal laws regarding emissions system tampering. OR read the codes and repair the problem.
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