That's right,

I taught my friend to drive stick with my car however she stalled it badly at least 6-7 times. Instead of the usual stall where the car would simply stop and die right away, she got it to stall in a weird fashion. The car would literally shake and go Ka thunk Kathunk Kathunk (ouch!) 3 to 5 times before stopping and this is while the car was in 1st gear.

I thought this wouldn't matter much but after a 10-15mins session I noticed my "Check Engine" light came on. Now I'm worried because I'll have to take my car to the dealership for the first time since I got my car. It only has 18, 500 kms on it. I drove it back home afterwards and it drove like usual. There were no symptoms of anything broken. Anyone know the reason why the check engine light is on now?

 

Same thing happened to me (minus weird stalling), but after me driving again for about an hour or so the light just went away, never came back. This was about maybe 9 months ago, and no problems.

 

just get a odb2 scan tool for like $75 and find out for yourself what the code is. or you could always just rent it from autozone or some place like that.

 

It will probably go away after a few cold starts. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

 

You could probably just reset the ECU to clear the CEL if a few cold starts don't make it go away. It probably just has some emissions code stored.

 

Alright, I'm gonna check it out as I'm leaving for work today. Thanks all!

 

Alright, the CEL check engine light is still on so I'll probaly reset the ecu when I get back home today.

Would the car be able to handle a couple more sessions of these crazy engine stalls since my friend's in the process of learning to drive manual ? Is it bad for the transmission? I'm thinking of renting a manual car so she can learn on that instead of mine hehe.

 

I personally wouldnt suggest learning on an RA to be honest. It is VERY torque-sensitive, the sound of the car STOCK doesnt sound that gentle as well. People learning are often subjective to the sound of the car, so if it revs 2-3000 rpm the car is decently loud from a stock POV.

Do yourself a favour and rent out a car, if you love your RA plenty then I dont think you should let your friend learn on it.

ps: this is just from what I've heard dont take this fact for granted. Stalling ISNT a bad thing IF it is in first gear-second gear, anything above that you should be going at a decent speed and if it stalls at a higher speed then you might be looking at some damage. Nonetheless you shouldnt be able to stall the car in 3rd+ gear unless you got some problems... note Im not sure about this, but thats from what I've been told

Hope this helps

 

Right, you got a good point there.

Anyways, after having the annoying CEL light on the dash for almost a complete day, it finally disappeared on a startup. I was going to reset my ECU this evening but the problem went away so everything's back to normal now.

 

i tought my gf on my RA before and she did the same thing. All you have to do is disconnect the battery for a minute. I got really angry at her and she hasnt driven the car since hahaha. But its a normal thing.

 

It's normal for a manual transmission car to stall like that, and when it does it causes a misfire in a cylinder, which is probably what your SES light was. The code is still stored in the ECU and should stay there until you remove it. Go to autozone and see what it was, they will tell you for free.

 

there is notting wrong with your car, cel doesnt mean your car is broke and u cant drive it. the computer probably did detect a misfire wwhile it stalled out and it stores in its memory. after few cycles of running the car, it will go away if notting is wrong. if it does come back on in a week, take it to the dealer. its under warranty.

 

Haha, in fact it was my gf that I was teaching as well. She stalled it like no other person could ever stall before. That's why I was afraid but the next day, I taught her how to find the friction point with the clutch and she didn't stall the car anymore. Hooray for that!

 

Thanks all for the great replies. I feel less paranoid about it now.

 

I don't have to teach my GF how to drive manual. She already knows.

Her M/T vehicle has 70hp, so she's used to feeling for when the engine wants to stall.