[torradan]

Not really disturbing, but enough to piss you off pretty good.

So a couple of weeks ago, was up north, and my CEL came on. Had no way to read the code, so I popped the battery cable off, put it back on, no more CEL since.

Last week I go home to visit a bit and get the car inspected. Told my mechanic (who I went to school with) about it, just to make sure nothing pops up during the OBD emissions test.

He tells me that NY puts some sort of timer into the ECUs to turn on right before inspection. Then he asks me if I've done the normal drive cycles/etc to make sure it doesn't automatically fail inspection because the system isn't ready. Then I'm driving around Niagara Falls, and a few garages have on their message boards "engine light on? time for inspection?".

WTF. I'm 100 miles north of Toronto in the middle of nowhere, and the last damned thing I want is some "friendly reminder" CEL popping up. I can read the window sticker telling me when its due. And if I don't remember, a cop will usually pull you over and give you a reminder if its not too far past due.

So I guess mid-August next year sometime, my CEL will turn on for no apparent reason.