Check engine light still on
Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: Mar 2021
Posts: 7
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From: Monrovia, CA
E350 coupe
Check engine light still on
Hello I have a 2013 e350 coupe the check engine light came on and I went to autozone to use the code reader. It came up with a bad purge valve canister. So I swapped out the part and the check engine light is still on. Do I have to take it some where to have the code cleared? I have to smog next week so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you
Super Member
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 954
Likes: 245
E550 Coupe 2wd (2016)
And learn from my failed smog check that once the code is cleared and all seems well, the code is still hiding in there for a while and will fail smog. My smog guy said you need to put about 200 miles on it to clear that hidden code. I say hidden because none of my tools could see it, including Autel and Xentry, but the smog machine could.
I think 200 miles is just a rule of thumb and likely takes less, but who knows. Maybe it's drive cycles, maybe time, maybe miles. Not sure anyone knows, or if it varies from car to car. Super annoying...
It took four tries to get mine to pass, and I had to get creative to do it. It wasn't as simple as driving 200 with mine, because for me electronic cars will not simply pass. A personal curse of mine. They don't actually have a physical issue, they have an electronic issue that cannot be fixed.
I think 200 miles is just a rule of thumb and likely takes less, but who knows. Maybe it's drive cycles, maybe time, maybe miles. Not sure anyone knows, or if it varies from car to car. Super annoying...
It took four tries to get mine to pass, and I had to get creative to do it. It wasn't as simple as driving 200 with mine, because for me electronic cars will not simply pass. A personal curse of mine. They don't actually have a physical issue, they have an electronic issue that cannot be fixed.
