Check Engine Light On?

[Gerry DC]

I would like to start discussions on helpful hints. If you know something that others may be interested in please let this be place to let us know. This may help some of you as it did me save money. If your "Check Engine" Light is on and you don't know why, you could take it to Chrysler Dealership and they would charge you $88.00 just to tell you why it is on. But if you won't to save money you could go to any Auto Zone or Advance Auto store and they can check it and give you a Print-Out of probable causes for free. You can then go through the list of 4 or so causes yourself and still come out cheaper. I hope this helps someone.

[Cruiser RN]

#1 reason why Check Engine Light comes on is because of a loose gas cap.Tighten it up and in 6 driving cycles it will turn off.......Mike

[PTSharon]

Thank you for the codes. I have a 2001 cruiser and may need these codes one day. I have printed them and will keep them in the golve box.

White Rabbit said:

Attached are the Diagnostic codes for the 2001 PT Cruiser, and I do not think they have changed. It is in PDF format, so if you open the file with Adobe Acrobat, you can save a copy to your computer and have everything you need to diagnose your error codes when you complete the "key dance".

[Retro]

Ok, I took it to AutoZone and the code is P0601. The only thing weird happening that I notice with the car is when I turn the steering wheel, it is making a kind of frictiony sound, like a really fat woman in pantyhose walking with her legs rubbing together. Would this trigger this code? I did tighten the gas cap one time it was doing this and it went away but then it came back. Anybod y have any suggestions?

[White Rabbit]

Retro,

The P0601 code tells you that your Power Control Module is fried, or at best not working properly. Do a search on Google for Diagnostic Code P0601 and you will find a wealth of information. Most likely this will require a visit to the dealer, or a darn good mechanic who knows Chrysler products.

[mity qwik]

i have heard a lot of sounds from cars in my life time ,,but this one had me laughing for a long time i had to wipe away tears to write this ,i hope my cruiser never makes that sound.
in all seriousness i hope you can get it fixed and wont cost much

[Retro]

mity qwik said:

i have heard a lot of sounds from cars in my life time ,,but this one had me laughing for a long time i had to wipe away tears to write this ,i hope my cruiser never makes that sound.
in all seriousness i hope you can get it fixed and wont cost much

ROFL! Well, it does sound like that! That is the best way I can describe it! Darn. I guess I have to take it in.

[Gary]

Gee Retro. You didn't mention the word "thingy" once in your post

[Retro]

That's because I am such a sophisticated car person now, Gary, hanging around all ya'll all these years!
Gary said:

Gee Retro. You didn't mention the word "thingy" once in your post

[Gerry DC]

Well, So far I changed #4 plug, bought new gas cap, bought new plug wires, put fuel injection cleaner in, but my check engine light "Remains." Any more ideas? It is running pretty good. New wires did make a noticable difference. my tip; If you have 80,000 miles get new wires and it will run better.

[Oldcoach]

Gerry, did you disconnect the battery to clear the code after your fixes?

Gerry DC said:

Well, So far I changed #4 plug, bought new gas cap, bought new plug wires, put fuel injection cleaner in, but my check engine light "Remains." Any more ideas? It is running pretty good. New wires did make a noticable difference. my tip; If you have 80,000 miles get new wires and it will run better.

[Retro]

How hard is it to do these thingys yourself? Is this something I could do? Well, scratch that, but something my husband could do?

Oldcoach said:

Gerry, did you disconnect the battery to clear the code after your fixes?

Gerry DC said:

Well, So far I changed #4 plug, bought new gas cap, bought new plug wires, put fuel injection cleaner in, but my check engine light "Remains." Any more ideas? It is running pretty good. New wires did make a noticable difference. my tip; If you have 80,000 miles get new wires and it will run better.

[Silver Eagle]

Last Summer we were flying down I 95 when the Eagle started missing a little ,then it started to get worse.We pulled over to the right lane and but then the Eagle was cutting off about that time, the check engine light came on and the engine shut down. We sat on the side of the interstate just in front of the last exit before getting on to the Baltimore tunnel ramp. It started up after sitting there for about 10 minutes but we thought it would be safer to have the pt taken to a Chrysler Dealer in Towson MD. It was a Mapp Sensor that went bad. We didn't have time to look for codes. The next morning around 10 am we were back on the road again. Since we had the sensor my gas mileage has really jumped up on a trip. We were getting in the low 20's, now we get around 30 or so higher.