check engine light??

[swingline]

Hi, this is my first post. I am currently looking for a 850 wagon and have seen a couple. Still waiting to find the right one. I saw one recently that had the check engine light on. I asked the owner why it wasn't reset he claimed that it was on because it was the car's was of telling him it was time to change the oil. He said he had done it and it was nothing to worry about.

I have a truck that does this same thing and on my truck there is a trick with the ignition and a button somewhere. It seemed to me that there should be a similar trick on the 850 but the owner claimed it had to be taken to a dealer to reset with a special tool.

The owner also claimed that there were no error codes on this particular car. I was kind of wondering if he had a reader plugged in to know there were no codes why not reset the light? He claimed to have alot of knowledge about these cars so if there is a button to reset the light I find it hard to believe that he didn't know about it.

Now I want to give the owner of this car the benefit of the doubt here but am I missing something? Is there a second light that I could have mistaken for the check engine light that would tell the owner to change the oil?

[Ozark Lee]

There are two lights - the Check Engine Light and the Service Light. If the light said Service then the owner is correct. From 1996 and on it takes a special reset to to get it to turn off. A regular OBD-II code reader won't do it.

If the Check Engine Light is on it does indicate a problem and it should have stored powertrain codes.

...Lee

[swingline]

ok, it was probably the service light then. I don't remember exactly but when i look at the next one I'll know what to look for better. thanks.