I've been driving my 91 sedan a bit, and today on the top of this hill the car suddenly stalled. I turned it back on, idled really low and stalled again. CEL came on, temperature went up to the red line.
I did an oil change 3 days ago, if that matters.
It came on before after ~ 20 min of driving, but never overheated or anything.

1. How do I check CEL's in this car?
2. Any ideas of what to check/replace?

 

Under the carpet on the passenger side on the ecu in the center there is a little red led that blinks count the blinks and the in the faq section it lists all of the codes.

 

Check your CEL by counting the number of blinks from the red light on your ECU. Your ECU is underneath the carpet in the passenger's footwell.

Is the car smoking or anything? Does your fan come on when it's at operating temp? It could be that you accidentally disconnected your fan switch from teh plug on the back of the block when doing your oil change.

Why don't you pull the CEL code and report back.

 

Will do.

Fan does come on, I can hear it.

The CEL goes away after I turn the car off though, will the code still be saved in the memory? I drive the car until it really warms up and then the CEL comes on

So I just take out the kick panel, the ECU light should be blinking already? I've been searching and there's something about jumping a connection or something? Thanks for the help guys

 

Thats for obd1 obd0 you just count the blinks on the ecu

 

1 blink, it's a red light right? Its a short blink.

CEL's off everytime I turn off the car, should I run it till it comes on, then check the ECU?

So 1 short blink is oxygen content from what I've searched?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqZT7HlyKrs

There's a video about the CEL

 

yup thats your o2 sensor

 

thats wierd, ive never ever had my check engine light come on for anything in my hatch. normally i wouldnt drive the car if the check engine light was on. and like the other guys said replace your o2 sensor and unplug the ecu for 15 minutes and the code should go away and hopefully the check engine light as well.

 

thats crazy wierd...i never heard of a code 1 stalling the engine and causing it to overheat..when i was throwin a code for o2, it still drove fine...

 

When my car still had the d series in it, it did similar things. The o2 sensor was making the motor go lean there for the combustion temps were way high and making the motor overheat.

 

well i noticed coolant dripping out yesterday, looks like its coming from the water pump area. so that explains my overheating problem - the water pump is leaking.

the oxygen sensor code has been there ever since i bought the car, its not a problem

 

Don't unplug your ecu to clear the cel. Thats the wrong way as the ecu needs the battery for the memory of your powertrain data.

Instead to clear the ecu trouble code memory, remove the ecu memory power fuse for at least 10 seconds. The correct fuse to remove is the HAZARD fuse at the main fuse box and the BACK UP fuse (7.5 A) in the under-hood fuse/relay box.

gl with your water pump install and dont forget the timing belt when you do it.

 

what time does your car start overheating if it starts overheating at a stop sign it is you radiator fan. if your car overheats while high speed driving it is your water pump or your cooling system is not bleed.

 

It was overheating because of low coolant in the radiator.

There was low coolant because it was dripping out fast.

It was dripping out fast because something went wrong with my water pump.

Now I gotta replace the water pump, maybe the timing belt but I doubt it. Car cost me $500 to start with