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95 thunderbird check engine light, is it safe to drive?

I have a 1995 t-bird that is close to 150K. I just had major repairs done to it, that hasn't needed before. Before that, I had always kept it serviced every 30-60K. The problem was the head gasket and water was in the oil. This was repaired and the car sat at home in front of the house after repairs for about 4 weeks. Now when drive it and the check engine light comes on each time I turn on the engine. Is the car driveable in the mean time, let's say, for about 1/2 hour of 40 mph?

Reply to
red95tbird
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If you tell us why the check engine light is on then we could perhaps make an educated guess as to the car's driveability.

Reply to
« Paul »

without a proper scan being performed in order to retreive the trouble code being stored in your first generation OBD, it is impossible to tell exactly what is triggering your "check engine" light to come on. try this:

  1. unhook either one of the cables from the battery.
  2. step on your brake pedal and hold for approx.1 minute,
  3. wait 10 minutes (drink a cold beer)
4.hook your battery cable back up

this procedure will re-set your OBD back to factory defaults and your light should go out. drive the car, if the light comes back on, you should have it scanned by a competent tech. to see why. REMEMBER THIS: warning lamps or MIL's on your car are color-coded. anything major will trigger a RED light, other small things will trigger a YELLOW or ORANGE light or message. driving your vehicle with the "check engine" lamp on will not do any immediate damage. drive your car and relax-----let me know if this helps. and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Reply to
plainoldmechanic

Hi, I just wanted to thank you for your advice. It made me feel safer about driving my car around until I could get it to a tech. Well, just before I brought it in to check it out, or do as you said, and unhook either one of the cdables from the battery, the check engine light went off. It hasn't come back on and I haven't had any issues for the last

4-5 days with the car. Should I still take it in to get it checked, or is the car ok as it is? Will it cost me anything if I go to a mechanic, tell them this story, and have them take a look and do some sort of diagnostic? I'm wondering if this is a foreshadowing of problems to come, or am I just being paranoid.

Thanks!

pla> without a proper scan being performed in order to retreive the trouble

Reply to
red95tbird

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