How To Reset Your Check Engine Light with no special tools

If an auto repair store isn't near by and you've done your car repair you can reset your check engine light with this simple trick! No special tools required.

If you are repairing your car to pass emissions then you'll need to drive your car around for about 50 miles so the car's computer can give an accurate reading, otherwise, you'll be wasting your time and they'll tell you to come back after driving it around for an hour.

[orenestrada]

I have a 2000 toyota avalon.. and my engine light and VSC light was on.. when i tried to remove the negative battery cable and then reattach it .. all the lights are off now.. thank you. might have saved me thousands in cost since mechanics are so expensive these days .. cheers brother

[marmstrong]

This video should be very useful everyday for a VW owner!

[MrWilko]

Once you have fixed the problem, start the engine, and run it up to temperature. Let it cool, then repeat. The third time you do this, if there are no more faults, the light will go out.
I've done this with three different makes of vehicle. It works!

[michaelhendershot]

THIS MARINE SAYS THANK YOU AS I LAUGH AND REALIZE IT COULD BE THIS EASY TO SOLVE THIS LIGHT ISSUE WITHOUT SPENDING A 100 BUCKS ! SEMPER FI BROTHER ! MIKE. BEAUMONT, CALIFORNIA

[federicomuller]

The best way to reset the light is just removing the bulb, casually it is a focus, same as mine, I remember I had a dodge caravan with same light issue and I just stuck a black tape above and it was all, this light had me nervous and once I covered it with black tape, I finally forgot about it and the car never gave me any problem ever, late in 80's cars did not have a check engine light and we used to drive so happy, nowadays there is a light for any stupid thing that won't let us drive in peace

[pamfrasard]

It's installed by the manufacturer. It's called the
Money Light.

[upsidedown]

This method varies from manufacturer and by model,
Some cars that are make, model, year, engine, identical can have different sw versions which this would work on one and not the other,
If you got the tools to fix a vehicle buy a obd code reader for less then what a spanner costs
Also pending dtc's that make the eml come on do tend to self clear after the battery pull but alot of hard codes will not,
best to take both battery terminals off and discharge the electrical system as alot of capacitors within the ecm's that hold charge,
Can take up to 12 hours for them to totally discharge
This is common with vw group vehicles and other brands,
Also i noticed you kept tapping the negative terminal against the socket and battery terminal, your surging the electrical systems and they dont like that can cause all sorts of eeprom errors which can make electrical systems act pocessed, mess up displayed mileage,
Jam immobiliser systems,

[norgermish]

Drive your car around for 20 minutes or 50 miles? Dude no wonder your check engine light comes on LOL But thanks for the video it worked.

[mandilon]

Thank yuo for.the info. Very help full epecially about doing it for the smoke testing purpose

[reinafiguracion]

I took the battery out since I dont have a jumper cable to charge the battery of another car. However, when I put it back in, the check engine light appeared. I did what you said and it worked. Thanks! ☺

[precbsfender]

I've had a "on again off again" faulty engine light problem for years, whenever I'd take in for service, the damn engine light would go off, so I did the battery disconnect, it worked wonderful..

[rexanderson]

My check engine light came on. I opened the hood. There it was! The engine was still there!

[istonemind]

My hearty thanks, saving me $99 for checking plus two trips to a dealer. You are marvelous

[fefefilmprod]

I just let the light stay on. It reminds me that my car has an engine.

[rofran]

I just need a smog check! I’m going to try to do this myself. Thank you

[arashkhoshghadamnia]

in some cars, specially those 2014 onward, a non-volatile flash memory is used in the ECU to store the codes. it is similar to your usb flash drive. your usb flash drive doesn't lose the data on it when you pull it off the computer and cut the 5 volt on its pins, so is it with these flash memories in the ECUs these days. power cut and drainage no longer work they used to.

[GonzoTheRosarian]

Worked! On my Honda CRV 2007 model. I had the starter replaced and the light was on when I got my car back from the Mom&Pop garage that did the repair. No more light on!

[Jason-Jason]

pretty obvious but very valuable thank you so much for this video

[juandiaz]

It fixed the CE light on my car...Thanks!

[lowkeyIbes]

Good tip towards the end. I’ll try to take heed.