We just bought a 2001 aurora with 120,000 miles V-8 Fri. for our teen son. We bought it from a dealer with no warranty. My husband thought it looked like it did not have oil so all he had at home was 10W so he put a little of that in the car. I drove approx. 1/2 mile down the road and the check engine light came on. Came back home and husband took the car to the oil changing place and they said it was full with fresh new oil, husband had them drain it and refill with 5W, that is what it says it recommends. The check engine light is still on. Do we have to take it to a dealer to find out why, is there some codes we don''t know about to fix ourselves? I am worried that we just paid $6,000 for a car and the engine light is on the second day. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

The check engine light</span> or MIL (malfunction indicator lamp) is part of the OBDII (On Board Diagnostics System 2). It is mainly used to check the operation of emissions controls equipment within the vehicle. Many states in the US require the car to pass an OBDII yearly inspection (i.e. no error codes). There are a lot of sensors in your car that could be making that light come on in the dash. Your best bet (if you are a little handy with cars) is to go to Walmart (or an auto parts store) and buy an OBDII reader. They start around $50. They come with a manual that will help you decipher the error codes the car is producing. The reader can also clear the codes out of the car''s memory after you make the repair. If it was a fluke (misfire of cylinder X) due to bad gas, as an example, the problem may just go away after you clear the code. If the code keeps coming back, that malfunction needs to be looked at by a mechanic. It should not have anything to do with oil levels in the engine.

mr944s2

take the olds to an auto parts store that has a free obd reader and get the car checked. then do what is suggested. simple and done. the oil level is not your problem .

I agree with ilikecars. There are several auto parts stores who offer a free diagnostic check. Find one, get the check and make sure they give you the code or codes that came up. This way you can research them yourself before allowing them to give you there old scare tactics and then over charge you for something that could be as simple as a loose gas cap..