Altima SE-R MIL (help with this indicator?)

[Esteban Mayer]

Hi, I am quite new to this organization. I purchased a 2005 Altima SE-R with 22K miles on it. The car looks and feels like new. I really like how it drives and its performance. I was really bummed out when I was driving it for the third day and the "Service engine soon" or MIL came on. I read about it and how it is possibly nothing big or to worry to much about, i retightened the fuel cap, i refueled the car completely, and i have done several driving trips. this happened on Friday night and it is Sunday now. Should I wait it out a couple of days more, to see if it goes off? If it does not go off, what is the worst case scenario regarding the MIL?

[white6spd]

Get in your SE-R and drive yourself to a Advance Auto Parts or a Auto Zone and have them plug in a code reader to your OBDII port under your dash, they will know were it goes, for free they will tell you what the code is. Go home and go on the Internet and find out what the code means, or call your local dealer and ask them what the code means, the kid at the auto parts store might even know what it is, It might be somthing real stupid that you can fix yourself. Is the car stock?????

[Esteban Mayer]

Yes, the car is completely stock, I even tried this instructions on how to fix it, but without results.If you want to make sure that it is the gas cap issue, you can do the OBD check yourself - if you come up with the 0442 code, it's just the gas cap.

To take a reading without using an OBD II reader, you can do this...

1. Put the car into "on" without the engine started (aka, hit the ignition button twice without having your foot on the brake)

2. Wait 3 seconds for the car to do a systems check (you know this is done when all the lights except your service engine light go off)

3. Do 5 full accelerator press and releases in 5 seconds (floor your car 5 times in 5 seconds)

4. Wait 7 seconds.

5. Floor the accelerator again, and hold it there for 10 seconds (approx). Your service engine light will turn off.

6. When the light turns off, take your foot off the pedal, and get ready to count.

At this point, the service engine light will start blinking. It will give you a 4 digit code - the first number will flash slowly, followed by a slight pause, the next three numbers will flash quickly, all with a pause in the middle. 10 flashes means a number "0." So if your car blinked 10 times, then 4, then 4, then 2 (edited from 4) again, you would have a code of "0442," which is your gas cap thing. Other codes can be determined by looking at a OBD II code reference sheet, which can be found by googleing it, or probably somewhere in the forums...

I guess I will have to use the OBD II reader huh?