Entourage CEL

My wife got a CEL on her way home last night from work. She called me
immediately and asked if she should pull over. She had no performance
issues so I told her to drive home. When she did, I checked and the gas
cap, while on, was very loose. I tightened it and now we'll wait and see
if it resets (still on for now).

Two questions:

1. How many key cycles does it take to reset the CEL after a gas cap
"malfunction"?

2. Since she got gas on a Friday, and this happened on the following
Tuesday, would there be a good chance of this being something else? I'm
just assuming the gas cap since it WAS loose, but it seems as if a long
time passed before the car tossed a code.

Thanks,
Eric

 

Its not exactly "key cycles" but I think it more various run cycles. It
could take a week or more. Just ignore it and it will go away.

It doesn't throw the code right away. I filled up in new jersey (no self
service) and the code didn't appear until past Baltimore.

Tell your wife not to worry unless the CEL is blinking.

 

Partner's pretty much on the money here. It's not key cycles that are
necessary, but the completion of the evaporative self-test with good
results. The reason it took so long for the lamp to come on is that the
test had to run and fail twice in a row in order to turn on the lamp.
Now, it must run and pass three times in a row to turn the lamp out. And
then, the lamp will go out, but the code will continue to be retained for
quite some time.

Considering it's a pretty safe bet that the gas cap was the issue, I'd
say
that you can go ahead and pull the negative battery cable off for five
seconds if you desire. This will not only turn out the lamp but clear
the
code as well. The only drawback is that if the fuel cap wasn't the
cause,
that you've just erased any capability a shop would have had of
determining what actually occurred to set the lamp.

 

Thanks Partner and HT. I think I'll wait it out just in case.

 

As of this morning it did reset. Thanks again.

Eric