Today I was driving and the check engine light went on and then a message said emissions system service required. I have a 2006 V8 Vantage with 11K miles. Any suggestions what it could be? Closest authorized dealer is 3 hours away.
Appreciate any help in rectifying situation without going to the dealer.
Thank you!!!
Bradley

 

Common thing here, You shouldn't worry about it. Search because there's a lot of information about it in this forum.

 

Probably either the cats or the O2 sensors. You can get a scanner and plug into the OBD port to read the code and clear it. Emissions codes are very common on this car and the cats and O2 sensors are prone to early failure.

 

My emissions fault was caused by a bad fuel cap.

 

02 Sensor on mine. Not a biggie

 

You could also try and do the battery reset(search on forum how to do)
Or....just wait and it usually corrects itself if the fault isn't triggered again.
To clear message from dash press "read" button on center console and it will disappear although the engine icon will remain lit.

 

Same with me. (had it a few times)

Check to see if your gas cap is tighten correctly.
Then (if everything is ok) takes a few starts for the message to disappear.

 

IIRC, There was a service bulletin for the gas cap. Has your car had the service? You should be able to tell by looking at the cap itself. If the plastic threaded part is white, then your car has been serviced. If not, you should be able to get it replaced for free.

 

So here's my pet peeve. The "Check Engine Light" has almost nothing to do with the engine--its 100% related to Emissions. I had a lady friend panic, stopped her car and had it towed, because she was concerned she would damage the engine. If a sparkplug missfires, or an injector temporarily malfunctions, or as discussed above the gas cap was not fully tightened--the CEL will come on. So you have two options, (1) read out the code find out what happened then reset the light, or (2) drive the car for 3-4 start/warm-up cycles and if the event does not happen again, the light will automatically reset. Bottom line is that the CEL never relates to a major engine problem and often is only a temporary hicup.

 

Thanks - that was my older car.
Cap was replaced, but error messages appeared because I got careless a few times and didn't close the gas cap all the way, therefore triggering the Emissions Error (I blame it on all the pretty girls that would come up and ask me what kind of car that was while filling up at the gas station )

 

had this happen a few times now and they all seem to go away after a restart or two. and not to mention a time or two theyve gone away instantly when i retighten the fuel cap

 

Buy an OBD2 reader and just erase it. That's what I did specially because I don't have a dealer close by.

 

Unproper tighten gas cap is a common problem for all vehicle. See attached article:

http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home...d=family-autos

 

Thank you so much for your responses. We hooked up a OBD2 and corrected the problem. The car is running great!!!
Thanks again!
Bradley

 

My light came on due to "lazy" O2 sensors. I plan on buying new ones from Jcwhitney.com. You will need two sensors.