Check Engine Light

[Sicy Stang]

Hey guys! It's been a while.

I was wondering if anyone could name some possible scenarios for the check engine light to come on on a 98 V-6. It came on on the freeway all of a sudden tonite. I dont notice any difference in the way the car is operating, dont smell anything weird, and dont see anything 'odd' under the hood. I guess I'm going to have to go get it checked out but just thought I'd check in here first.

[Sicy Stang]

Wow this place is pretty dead

I'll be taking my car in on Friday to get checked out.

[84LX89GT]

sorry sicy i don't browse as often as i used to, even though it seems like i'm the one making all the posts now and no one else is here. It's good to know there's at least one other person who peruses this message board
Anyway, there are a ton of reasons for a check engine light to come on with out any symptoms especially for an OBD-II car like yours ('96+ mustangs).
First before you bring it in, check and make sure your gas cap is tight - having it loose will cause an evaporative emissions code and send the check engine light.
OBD-II is an emissions based fault sender and the Processor (powertrain control module) will attempt to adapt to make it run right, so even with a fairly decent fault your car will run alright, which masks some of the problems it may have.
My best guesses are that the DPFE sensor could be bad (Delta Pressure Feedback exhaust sensor), there is an evaporative emissions fault, or maybe there is a vacuum leak causing Oxygen sensor or lean codes to be sent.
Those are the most common things i saw working as a technician at a ford dealership, but it's hard to guess without knowing the codes or what the PCM is seeing.
Best of luck, i hope this helped somewhat

[Sicy Stang]

Hey! Thanks for the reply.

Well, I've got a bad O2 sensor, 'arched' spark plug wires that are leaking electricity, cylinder 2 & 3 misfires need a tune up and need new plugs as well. $475.00 Wahhhhhhhhhhhhh and no I dont know how to do these things myself, wish I did.

I cant really complain though because I've had the car for 2 years and not one single thing has gone wrong. Plus I dont think any of these things have ever been changed on this car before, they also said it all looked like original parts.

[84LX89GT]

Yeah that's expensive, but it could have been alot worse. At least it's not a blown head gasket or something critically wrong.

Yeah, plugs and wires are a maintainence item anyway so you would have needed to do them later anyway, just think of it as you getting your money's worth out of what you had (drove until they failed).

How many miles are on your car?
I'm a professional mechanic so luckily auto repair costs ALOT less for me. I worked at a Ford dealership for 4.5 years and i was able to rebuild my rear axle for $60, fix a transmission internal hydraulic leak causing a missing 3rd gear for $6, FREE oil changes and quite a few other things. Having good parts just laying around helps (get excess in packages from ford warranty). I work on BMW's now so i don't get that luxury anymore but it's still nice having tons of tools i can bring home to work on my car.

I'm glad to hear things worked out ok and that it wasn't terminal