the check engine light stays on ,on my 2000 dodge stratus. what would cause that . it still runs good?

Answer 1

the main reason the check engine light comes on is the oxyegen sensor it is easy to replace it will run fine for a long time yet but you will need to replace it sooner or later or the car will start to run sluggish

Answer 2

I am not a mechanic but my husband is, and he is probably going to strangle me for answering a mechanical question, but this is what happened to me. My husband recently bought me a Mitsubishi Spyder. Everthing was fine until the check engine light came on. We had it in the shop several times, and the Mitsubishi dealership could not figure out what was making the check engine light come on. My husband put vehicle on his scanner at work and came up with a code that indicated that the map sensor was bad. We could not get this point across to the dealership, until about the thrid or fourth time we took the car in. They finally agreed with us that the map senseor was bad, and they replaced it. So far, the check engine light has not come back on. Now that I have gotten a bit off the subject, let me tell you my experience with a Dodge Stratus I used to have. The air-conditioning went out twice on the vehicle. Both times it was covered under warranty. When the air-conditioning went out the third time (in 3 years), and it was going to cost about $700 to fix it, we said "screw it'. Once the car had about 80,000 miles on it, it developed a massive oil leak, and soon developed a blown head gasket. At that point, I gave the car back to my ex-husband and said "good luck." I don't know how many miles your car has on it, but a mechanic once told me that the Dodge Stratus is kind of a "disposable car," meaning once they get about 80,000 miles on them, it's time to get rid of them. I don't know how true this is, but it certainly seemed to hold true with the one that I had. Good luck with your car.
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Answer 3

It could be many things. Anytime the computer sees something that goes out of its parameter, is sets the light. A code can be retreived using a scan tool. It might be a emmisions reminder
light that goes on automatically every so many key cycles to let you know that you emmision system should be checked. It can be turned off with a scan tool.

Answer 4

Is your gas cap tightly closed? If not, it could set off the light. Of course, it won;t go out now just by fixing it. You need to have a dealer reset the code and the light will go out.

Answer 5

Sometimes these come on when it is time to change your oil, a bad o2 sensor, loose gas cap, can cause this. Look in the back of your manual and it will tell you how to reset it.

Answer 6

It's an emissions thing required by the EPA -- NOT necessarily a mechanical problem you will ever notice. Your next smog check will probably flunk you until you get a mechanic to fix it. It's the emissions too rich or too lean.

Answer 7

take it to a local parts store, I.E. Autozone or Advance. They have a tester that will tell you exactly what this issue is causing the light to come on, and can give you instructions on repairing it yourself..

Answer 8

If you don't have the test equipment to read the computer codes, then get it into the repair shop to find out the problem.

Answer 9

could be O-2 sensor whos know untill you take it to your local repair shop look in your yellow pages

Answer 10

check Gas cap, o2 sensor, and the fuse