ANyone disabled the CEL? If so, how. My (new-to-me) 993 does not show a CEL on start-up.

 

Why should it show a CEL at start-up??? Are you saying.. none of the idiot lights are lighting up??

 

An unscrupulous dealer (or seller) can remove the bulb from the gauge so the light does not work, to mask potential SAI issues. The car will fail emissions testing if the CEL bulb is burned out or missing. I would get a code reader and check for error codes, or make sure that the readiness flags are all set and the car is not showing any problems.

The previous owner of my 97 993 paid a huge repair bill to a dealer/shop that didn't know the first thing about the car to try and correct an SAI fault. They pulled the bulb from the gauge and he had no idea the problem still existed, after paying close to $5k for a bunch of hoses and a new MAF.

 

So to be clear, If you pull the bulb the DME will detect its been removed?

 

It's part of the OBD2 system check ... if the bulb is burned out, or missing, it creates an error code.