hey guys i went to autozone yesterday to find out why my check engine light had been on. The guy plugged in the reader and it gave me four reasons- air fuel, and my o2 sensors. he earased it to see if the problem was still there, then the lights would come back on. when he unplugged it i tried starting my car and everything just turned off. all the lights in the gauges EVERYTHING. i thought it was a battery terminal so i wiggled it all around, still nothing. I had to tow my car back and still havnt found out whats wrong. Maybe the thing fried the ecu. anybody ever heard of that. Let me know what yall think asap cuz i gota drive out for thanksgiving.

 

Open your ECU and find out.

 

You should not have left the parking lot. So if they did fry your ecu then you wont have a case since you left the property.

 

There is not enough power in a OBD scanner to "fry" your ECU. It's run off like 2 AA batteries. Something must have happened when he "cleared" the codes. Did you at least get the guys name? Since it's a free service, you're probably **** out of luck.

Why were you clearing the code out anyways? Just because the lights not on doesn't mean the problem is fixed.

 

Your first mistake was taking it to Autozone. They do it for "free.'' does that light up any bulbs? My shop uses a scanner by MAC tools and the thing goes for like 6k. And he charges 35$ to check things out, and give you a real answer. Also autzone is too vague with their conclusions, as you noticed he told you a couple different things, maybe they were right or maybe they were wrong. But in the end its not worth your time, just take it somewhere reputable.

 

Most OBD code scanners are powered by the port, and wont turn on unless plugged in.

Seems odd.

 

Maybe your CELs is the problem on why it's not starting now.

 

The handheld scanners do a fine job of telling you what code the ECU is giving off. I always borrow it.....just leave m D/L and walk out to the car, plu it in and read what it tells me. I don't need a 6,000 machine to tell me the same thing, and I don't pay a cent. Autozone gets a from me. But they are a tool, you have to have the common sense to know how to use them.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Honissan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Your first mistake was taking it to Autozone. They do it for "free.'' does that light up any bulbs? My shop uses a scanner by MAC tools and the thing goes for like 6k. And he charges 35$ to check things out, and give you a real answer. Also autzone is too vague with their conclusions, as you noticed he told you a couple different things, maybe they were right or maybe they were wrong. But in the end its not worth your time, just take it somewhere reputable.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Okay.......

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by undertheradar &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The handheld scanners do a fine job of telling you what code the ECU is giving off. I always borrow it.....just leave m D/L and walk out to the car, plu it in and read what it tells me. I don't need a 6,000 machine to tell me the same thing, and I don't pay a cent. Autozone gets a from me. But they are a tool, you have to have the common sense to know how to use them.</TD></TR></TABLE>

THANK YOU!!! It is a tool and I am sorry but paying Honda or anyone else 49.99 or whatever they charge for a diagnostic is ridiculous when it can be done for free. I think the part where you messed up is letting them "clear" the codes. I dont know if that messed up for your ECU, but I think I would try to fix the codes before I just said oh what the hay and clear em.

 

what do you mean by CEL?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by turbo_b16_ex &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what do you mean by CEL?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Ummm...okay, that explains alot. CEL means Check Engine Light.

 

well all the reasons why the light was on was realted to fuel. he didint say anything about the computer having an electrical problem. i dont know if this will make a difference but i ran sea foam threw the car about 1 hour prior to this happening

 

hey were u watching when the az guy check the light did he turn off the car before he unpluged the tester
if he didnt that could explain something
that at the time he unplug the tester he could make a short in the plug

 

the car wasnt on when he did the test, the keys were turned to accessory mode. any no he didnt pull the keys all the way out, when he was finished i just tried to turn the car on

 

I would think that mnaybe the Seafoam had something to do with it more than the OBD scanner. Did you have the CEL before you Seafoamed? Did you follow the instructions?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by undertheradar &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> I always borrow it.....just leave m D/L and walk out to the car, plu it in and read what it tells me. </TD></TR></TABLE>

We did that with my fiends Cobra, and found out his CEL was just the evap valve not opening when the ECU told it too.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by undertheradar &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I would think that mnaybe the Seafoam had something to do with it more than the OBD scanner. Did you have the CEL before you Seafoamed? Did you follow the instructions?</TD></TR></TABLE>


I agree it does sound like the seafoam had somthing to do with it what are the odds it would happen just after u got ur car checked

 

i think this is the last reply i can make today since all the bull **** rules on here for newbies. the check engine light had been on for a long time, but never got around to it. probably for at least 3 months. WHen i ran sefoam threw the car, or coarse it smoked real bad, but after it was done the car started better and was running a little better. now if the seafoam had something to do with all the reasons why the cel was on i wont know till my car is fixed. I told the guy at autozone that i had just ran seafoam in it, so that is why he reset it to see if that was still a factor. btw what happened to your friends cobra? everything just turned off? i am going to try to borrow a friends ecu to see if that is what my problem is. keep me posted I will still be reading if i cant post anymore. maybe if yall have any questions u can pm me. thanks

 

It doesnt matter if he turned the car off before he unplugged obd tester. That wont hurt anything. Try looking at your fuses, one may have blown.

Did you lose all power when you tried to start it? I have tried to start my car before and when I turned the key the car acted like someone took the battery terminal off the battery, lost all power. I wiggled my terminal and it felt tight but when I put a little more preasure on it, it turned. I had to put a screw down between the battery post and terminal to hold it tight again, and i havent had any problems with it since. This has happened twice to me with seperate cars. Try taking the terminals loose, clean them and make sure they are making a good conection, and make sure they are tight.

 

""when he unplugged it i tried starting my car and everything just turned off. all the lights in the gauges EVERYTHING.""

Are you sure your ECU is plugged in?

 

First of wheter its a 6000 computer or a 30 dollar adapter plug on a pc...ECU codes are just blips of binary code that get coverted to a human readable code. I doubt the computer fried anything cause your not supplying power to the odb2 plug...just the computer. I would be more concerned about the last error codes that displayed befor your engine died

 

Your CEL has been on for at least three months, and then you Seafomed it without it being in porper working order?

You are going to have a lot more trouble in the future. Before you do anything else, get the Helms manual for your car and read it cover to cover. The owners manual would be a good read too.

 

Your ecu being fried would not shut all power to your car!!! Sounds like the main fuse to me!!

 

If the codes are simple to read then why would it give 2 codes for air fuel and then the O2 sensors. And on top of that, wouldn't it help if this "free" trip would tell you which o2 sensor? I still f***ing hate autozone, so I'm jut bitter. Sorry to step on any toes.

 

damn that sucks, sue them sons a bitches.