I went to go out yesterday and noticed the check engine light had come on. I asked my wife if she had noticed when it did this and she said she ran it low on gas without realising the other day and it came on.

It's running on 91 Octane and seems to run fine. I have checked all of the usual things and cannot notice a problem. Does the light need to be reset at a garage or could there be an underlying problem. The only thing i did notice is that if i leave it idling for a long time, say 5 mins, and then go to set off it doesnt feel as smooth.
Again any help is greatly appreciated

Rich

 

Get your codes read and get back to us with the codes.

 

Running on fumes can cause misfires.

Yes you either need to have a shop reset the check engine light or you can do it yourself by buying a OBD scanner or renting one.

 

Thanks for that. I'll get it booked in to get the check engine light reset. Is there anything i can do with regards the misfiring as that might be the problem

 

When you take it in, have them give you the codes before they reset the light (or tell you what they were before they reset them, you know what I mean;^)). Then come here and post the codes. They should give a clue to what the problem is. The check engine light (CEL) comes on because there are codes stored that are the result of some sort of issue.

 

keep gas in it. you shouldnt let it get that low ever, your fuel pump will get angry.

 

Save yourself some money and take it to an auto parts store to have the codes read. It's free there, vs. God knows how much at a mechanic.

 

X2, free is way better than not free. And as mentioned above, don't just get the codes reset, you need to find out what the problem is. If it's just a misfire due to low fuel, the light will most likely go off on it's own after you put some gas in and run it for while.

 

First, running that low on gas can burn up that $350 fuel pump, stay above a 1/4 or tell your wife to start rideing a bike again.
What year is the truck, how many miles on it, when was it last tuned including new plug wires and how is it driving today?

 

It's a 1998 with 135k miles on it. The light has still stayed on and the only problem i see is that when you driving there is sometimes what i can only say feels like a slight lack of power for a fraction of a second. But idling it sits fine, its not lumpy or sounding like it misfires