Service Engine Soon light

Nice one! I had parked on an incline, facing forward, put my parking break on, left for 2 hours, come back turn on the car, take off parking break, drive a couple of miles, boom the Service Engine Soon light comes on. Note: my phone charger was plugged in when I turned the car off, and then back on.

Tried turning car on , off, still came on. Hmmm. Ok lets review choices:

1) Worry that the car is asking me to service it at what Im guessing will be a dealership (I havent picked out a go-to mechanic yet). Meanwhile ... not knowing what can or cannot go wrong...drive it 50 miles home hoping engine doesn't seize.

2) Stay calm, realize that like the TPMS issue, theres probably a good logical explanation that I can research when Im home, or a workaround, or at least test out some possibilities before taking the car to a service mechanic.

So with my new-found optimism, I listened carefully to the CVT (continuously variable transmission, which is whats particular about the nissan rogue), try to keep an ear out for how its shifting and accelerating decelerating, meanwhile stay at a constant speed as much as possible with no sudden accelerations so i dont strain the engine too much. I pulled over, checked the engine oil level, coolant level, seemed OK, no caps inside the hood seemed loose. And I drove 50 miles home.

Research:

So seems like this light coming on is a common issue with some rogue owners. Usually its an indication that the fuel system is compromised, somehow. The most common concensus when the reason is that , is that the gas cap is not properly sealed. So thats something to check tomorrow. Secondly, the emissions valve is also a known issue often. I dont know where that is, but not to worry, i found and grabbed a copy of the Nissan Rogue Technicians Repair Manual. I might print and bind it into a book to keep in the car this week. Kind of excited.

So here's where i learn about ECU codes (error / diagnostic codes) that the car CPU provides. Anytime theres an indicator light, the car (any car produced after 1993 really) provides a series of codes on startup that tell you what it thinks is wrong with it. Now the ECU codes are available free of charge, all you hve to do is manipulate your ignition key in some weird way and listen to signals. ECU codes are 4 digits long. You might hear multiple ECU ccodes. That means theres multiple things wrong with the car. You can then look up what the ECU codes mean. From there you can continue your diagnosis.

The fun thing is that this is probably where any dealership technician will start. So , I looked up if theres any tool out there that has the code stored and you can just plug it into the car and start it up to get the reading. Turns out there is! Its called the OBD2 scanner. OBD2 refers to I guess a bus system or a connector interface available (but hidden) in every car. Its like a parallel port really. You just plug in your scanner into your car's OBD2 parallel port, let it do the reading, and you then look up the codes from your car's self-diagnostic test. Really that simple. Who knew!?

So i started shopping around on amazon for something cool to connect to the car and read the diagnostic codes. I found this sweet little thing here. I might order it tomorrow!

http://www.amazon.com/ElmScan-Compact-OBD-II-Diagnostic-Software/dp/B002PYBZJO/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1313734961&sr=8-3

So while thats in the mail, I am gonna take another look at the gas cap tomorrow and try to drive the car around a little bit after re-fixing it. I did fill up the car recently so hopefully thts the issue. If not, well let the adventures continue!