The 5-second rule for my check engine light actually worked

I drive a 2015 Honda Civic and that orange engine light kept popping up every few weeks. I spent months overthinking it, googling symptoms, worrying about transmission problems. Then my neighbor in apartment 3B told me to just tighten the gas cap and wait 5 seconds before restarting. Has anyone else's car been that simple or am I just lucky?

2 comments

2 Comments

cameron_webb26d ago

Real talk though, this is just life teaching us that 90% of our problems are loose gas caps and we spend all our energy looking for blown transmissions.

hugo_hayes26d ago

Hold up though. A loose gas cap throwing a check engine light is one thing but that symptom usually clears on its own after a few drive cycles anyway, not by waiting exactly 5 seconds. That specific timing sounds like a superstition more than a real fix. If it keeps coming back every few weeks, there might be a small evap leak somewhere else, not just the cap. I'd buy a cheap code reader and see what code pops up next time to be sure it's actually that simple.