I had my o2 sensor replaced under warranty, and the Honda Advisor said they had to drive my S2000 ~20miles "at a constant speed on the freeway" with the new sensor in place for the CEL to go off. Is that right?

I would think they would just reset the ECU real quick (just pull the battery for a few minutes?).

I'm thinking someone just wanted to go for a joyride...

 

i don't think they can reset the CEL by disconnecting the batter, but they can do it with an OBD2 code scanner, which every dealer should have.

never heard about driving it to clear the CEL

 

There is something about passing inspection after the CEL goes off only after a certain amount of drive cycles. I'm not sure of the numbers, but I believe this helps to stop people from just clearing the CEL quickly then getting the car inspected right away before it comes back.

 

You definitely got scammed my friend. They took your car for a nice ride of 9k redline lol.
No one at the dealership who works on flat rate would waste their time to reset your light. They probably took it to get some food for the advisors and you had to swallow this story.
Usually, you put the part in erase the DTC and park it outside.
Good luck.

 

Something is not right with this one. Even if they did have to drive the car to verify the o2 sensor is working fine, who is to say after a reset that it would possibly throw a CEL in 20 miles.

 

This is the correct way to re-set the light for emissions reasons. It's not a scam! As m R g S r said, the light should go off after a certain amount of drive cycles. If it doesn't then there could be an issue with your cat, and you should take it back to have them address it under warranty. They could have easily reset the ECU with the tool, or by disconnecting the battery (yes it reset's the CEL) but they did it the right way. If it's function properly, the light will go out on it's own. If the dealer was trying to pull something on you they would have just re-set the light and given you back the car.