so im drivin home last night and out of nowhere the service engine soon light comes on. the car was driving perfectly normal just like any other day.. what could be the reason for the light to come on .... i have almost 42,000 miles on my 03 ES... any ideas??

thanks

 

Before other people start flaming you, there is NO WAY anyone can tell you what could possibly be wrong. There are thousands of codes. Is it doing anything funny? Any modifications? Take it to autozone. They scan CEL's for free. Then come tell us what they said and then maybe we could help better.

 

alright sooo im off to autozone right affter i get outta work thanks

 

Asking this question is like asking a doctor why you farted, it could be nothing or it could be cancer, they won't know until they do some tests.

 

so when i got to autozone to get it scanned are they just gonna give me the code or are they gonna tell me what it means as well... sorry for sounding dumb i never had to deal with this

 

They should be able to tell you what the code means.

 

Is'nt this mileage dependent. every time your car is serviced you are to reset something. I had a Honda and I serviced it myself and new nothing about this option . So it told me I needed servicing and I was like huh . Then I was told after a certain amount of miles a message is displayed.

 

The light is not mileage dependant. Your thinking about the maintenance light on some hondas which come on after a certain mileage. That light doesn't mean anything is only programmed to come on after a certain number of miles so you can bring it in to the dealer for scheduled maintenance and they can rape you on the charges. The OP has a Service Engine Soon light which is completely Different. A service engine soon light only comes on when the ECU throws a code. I dont know any mitsubishi that has a maintenance light.

 

ten bucks it's either P0420 or P0340...

 

I had one code pulled from AutoZone (actually the wife had it done), and they give her a print out! Code #s and stuff...

 

almost...........it was showing code p0421.
catalyst efficiency low-bank 1. whats that all about. it says that it could be caused by 1 of 4 things.
1. catalytic converter failure
2.) engine misfire (which i think i would notice)
3.) large vacuum leak
4.) engine oil leakage into exhaust-valve guide seals, piston rings

**** i did notice that there is a hole in the piping coming down from the headers. maybe that could be it???
i dont wanna have to go to the mechanic and he just charges me for a new engine or something u kno....

 

There was a recall on the exhaust manifold so it's probably that.

 

how did u know there was a recall on that ... and is it for the 2003 es?

 

erm, I actually really did mean P0421...cause I was thinking the catalytic converter problem.

And yes, it is a recall and it's valid for cars under 80k miles or something like that. Unfortunately, that doesn't cover a car like mine with 110k miles :P

 

so should i just call up mitsubishi and they should fix it......is it all free cuz i dont really have any money for all that and it sounds expensive