flashing service engine soon light

[hama]

on the way home yesterday, i decided to floor the pedal a bit to see if its still got its kick, and after a min or 2 the "serivce engine soon" light started flashing, so i decided to pull over, i switched the engine off then on again, and checked the fuel cap as i just had it filled up, so thought it might be the cap, once the engine was on again, it stopped flashing and stayed lit up,

99 disco 2 with 91700 miles on it,

any ideas, i just had a service about 1250 miles ago, any way i can check what codes are being thrown,

p.s im in egypt and the landrover dealer here is totally useless, so any help would be good

HaMa

 

[roverX]

Correct me if I am wrong but the SEL turns on as a reminder for emissions and service check. Usually related to the number of miles on the vehicle. I don't think any codes are actually thrown or can be read hooking up an OBDII scanner. The emissions aspect of it usually relates to your O2 sensors. These sensors will not throw a code until they are almost or all the way gone. But you will notice a huge drop in your gas mileage when they do. In fact, you will notice the drop in gas mileage before they throw a code (usually).
If your CEL came on, then a code is actually thrown. Not sure where the little box is on a D2 (I have a D1) to turn off the SEL but I'm sure someone here will post it.

 

[Mark]

I have an Actron 9145 scanner and scanned for something to tell me about the 'red' SEL.

1. I found that I had no codes thrown.
2. The SEL light not turn off with any equipment we can get a hold of.
3. Two months ago, I physically removed the emissions box from the passenger side kick panel. I put it back in before I ran my scan tool on it. Since it would not clear, I wrote Actron and they said that there are some codes that cannot be cleared - by law -and this is one of them (paraphrased).
I left the SEL in the Rover and will wait until I take the Rover in for the 90K maintenance service. In the meantime I am ignoring the red light.

Ignore the SEL and I bet it will shut itself off after a period of time or miles. I know that is what happened for my Chevy Corsica years ago. The Montana and Cavalier both had CEL's occur within days of each other. The scanner found a EvapEmiss malfunction on the Cavalier - need to replace and the Montana had two EGR's stuck open - need replaced.

If you can and I know that we Rover owners have money(!) get a good scanner that can read real-time information - I think it is good insurance.

 

[roverX]

Mark, are you referring to your D1? The SEL will not throw any codes to be read by a scanner. Just push a paperclip through the whole in the little black box to short it out and it will reset.

 

[Mark]

Right.

I was trying to see what this really was about. Exactly what was a service engine and what was a check engine. Yeah I thought about the paperclip and I have left it out for two months.
I figured since this was a timer, maybe the emissions box held the time, like in a capacitor, and I tried to drain it (like shorting the wires?)
WHen I re-installed the emissions box, the light remained. There is no code, but I was not sure if it could clear. Just an experiment. I was not sure from reading this forum and others that the shorting will RESET the emissions box. Does it? or Does it just fry and render useless?

Months ago, I had some stuttering on the Hiway. Advance Auto said it was No. 7 spark plug. I finally figured out that I did not have my wire firmly pressed on the plug, but as a safe measure I swathed the spark plug wire in dielectric silicone and a smidgen on the end caps. Never came back.

My point in all this -- get a scanner that can at the least read everything in real-time. The Actron 9145 is available at Amazon.com for $185.00 until May or June 30th. Regular price at Advance Auto was around $300.00. Cheap.

http://www.amazon.com/Actron-CP9180..._1?ie=UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1291757908&sr=8-1

 

[roverX]

Even cheaper

Go to www.ambientweather.com and get the car chip for 99 bucks. Comes with software, stores up to 99 hours of data - exact times and so forth. It can even shut off the CEL. Use it one time and it pays for itself. As long as you fix what set off the code, it will shut off the light. It will even track braking, acceleration, and a couple of other things.