Check Engine light

A couple of weeks ago, while thrashing the old girl a bit on a dual carriageway with a small caravan on the back, the Check Engine light came on. Temp was normal, water full, no apparent causes. Switched the engine off asap and sat for 10 minutes, didn't come back on for the rest of the trip.
Laning today it did it again when being heavy with the right foot between lanes, stopped for lunch and it came on when the engine was first started but went our within 2 minutes and stayed off.
Thought it might be a bit low on oil but it is half way up the hatched area on the dipstick.
Any ideas as to the cause?

Invest in a code reader and see what codes you have. You can get them for a tenner for the twin cam engines as they run OB2. If it's a single cam I'm not so sure but Rhinoman on here is knowledgeable.

There is a reader for single cams or a method of checking codes with a paperclip in a socket and counting light flashes or similar.

My money would be on the car thinking that the catalytic converter isn't working as well as it should. So a Lambda sensor could be up the swanney or the cat could be pooped, but that's a guess from behind a querty keyboard!


Kirkynut

Thanks Kirkynut.

It is one of the first to be sold in the UK so is deffo single cam.
I will have to wait till it comes on and stays on I suppose but i really dont like the idea of causing flashes by sticking a paperclip in a socket lol.

Cheers

Leathery1 wrote: Thanks Kirkynut.
It is one of the first to be sold in the UK so is deffo single cam.
I will have to wait till it comes on and stays on I suppose but i really dont like the idea of causing flashes by sticking a paperclip in a socket lol.
Cheers

The paper clip method is quite safe, once upon a time there was a proper tool for it which consisted of a wire with two spade connectors - it was stupidly expensive! Early models are OBD1 using a protocol called SDL.