Sungura wrote:2:30am "Check Engine" light comes on....
Amy - don't sweat the little things. In my experience most check engine light warnings are caused by minor anomalies with fuel and O2 sensors. Things to do with emissions and fuel injection etc. Usually nothing critical enough to cancel a caving trip. Of course, your vehicle may be different. But if there's nothing obvious wrong (sounds, smells, performance, handling etc), there's probably nothing too serious to worry about from a practical driving standpoint.
Years ago I drove my old vehicle from Connecticut to upstate NY to pick up a caving buddy for a road trip. The light came on, and I was concerned enough to pay a local mechanic $10 to tell me what was wrong. Turns out it was only a minor sensor issue, and he told me not to worry too much. So we continued on to Carlsbad NM (and back). Every once in a while it came back on periodically. So eventually I bought an OBDII code reader, and cleared it each time it came on. The vehicle survived just fine for another 6 years and 80k miles until I traded it in. So don't worry.
Just noticed this post, and can't resist throwing in a dig:
Bill Putnam wrote:First, ask the person lecturing you how many feet of rope they climbed in caves last year...
Next, ask the person about his or her deepest cave trip, and the length of the longest drop in the cave...
Finally, ask the person how many different states and countries he or she has caved in...
What a load of BS! Well OK, maybe not quite. You
might get great advice from a person who travels miles on rope in really deep caves around the world. Or combinations of these. Or you might get crap advice, because somebody is too busy doing their own thing to have the skills and patience to teach others. Or maybe the only thing they can teach is the one way they've always done something. Some of the best big name pit bouncers are great teachers and givers of advice, and others aren't. It doesn't mean they shouldn't be respected, just that everybody has their different interests and strengths and weaknesses.
And since this is the rant topic - here's my one. THESE DAMN SPAMMERS ARE PISSING ME OFF!! Right now the time I'm spending cleaning up after them is eating into time I could be using for other things. Like ranting about stuff.