Does this have to be done manually or could you just hook up a machine to it and run a diagnostics check?

 

if you have a CEL you can use any generic OBDII scanner to pull your own codes. If there is no CEL then there is nothing to diagnose.

 

If I have CEL? What's that?

 

Check Engine Light. The little light in the cluster that comes on when you have a problem. It looks like a little engine picture.

 

oh man, i don't have that

 

Ok so there's no CEL so that measn that there's nothing to diagnose?
So how would you check the car to know what's wrong with it if something is wrong?

 

you just answered your own question.....

If there is no CEL there is nothing wrong. If you DO need to check a CEL to see what it means you use a generic OBDII scanner to pull the code. Matching the code up in the booklet will tell you what the problem is.

 

The CEL does not assess EVERY problem a car can have....What is your car doing where you suspect something is wrong ???

 

well, engine problems yes, transmission, suspension, braking (other than ABS) steering, etc no...but engine yes.

 

Well the thing is, I've never seen the CEL. Is this suppose to come on when you start the car and then come off after a little while?

I am askin' all of this because my car was not actin' normal and I was told to get a diagnostics check. But when I went to get the car checked, I was told that you have to check my car manually also the car has no check light. Or atleast I have never seen it.

 

what is your car doing to "not act normal"?? Let's start there and work through it this way!

 

On mornings the gas pedal is stiff. I was told on this forum that the throttle body needs cleaning. Haven't quite done that yet because I am still waitin' on the thing to clean it. However I bought something else to clean it. It's a carbereutor cleaner and I was told that that would work just fine. But the problem is still there.

Also, only unntil recently I noticed that when I am at a stop light and I pull off, the car pulls back. It does this on 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear. A couple Saturdays the car was givin' lots of trouble. When I stopped and proceeded to move forward, the car didn't want to go until it finally started to move a few seconds after. I thought that the car would have stalled. I didn't want to stop at any red lights because I was scared that it would just shut down.

I don't get that stall problem anymore but the car is still hesitant on 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear. Also, I used to be able to go 180kmh with my car but it doesn't do that anymore. When I'm in 4th, it would go up to 140 but as soon as I shift into 5th, it slows back down to 120!!!

Now Rod, I was gonna take out the throttle body to clean it and I was also gonna take out the magnet thing just behind the throttle body (what do call that?) to clean that as well. But I don't have the proper tools to do those things so that's why I didn't clean it. I sorta cleaned the throttle body by sprayin' the carbureutor cleaner on the throttle body and removing the excess with a toothbrush and a cloth but that didn't do much.

I also changed my spark plugs to the denso dual spark and the car rides a little better but those problems are still there.

 

So you see, to me the car is not acting normal. Because I used to be able to run civics and lancers and I used to be able to run almost any car that's at the top of the red light with me, but sometimes I can't and sometimes the car just doesn't seem as fast as it used to be.

 

that is truely odd. If you have problems with it slowing down in fifth gear that doesn't sound good. A sticking throttle cable or binding cable will not be picked up by he ecu....neither would a dirty TB unless it's HORRIBLE.

 

Well I don't know what the problem is, I'll have to carry it by the mechanic and he'll see what's really wrong but someone told me that the diagnostics check has to be done manually on my car and the mechanic is sayin' that that is rubbish. From what I have told you, what do you think?