On my Thursday afternoon commute, the silly and indeterminate "Check Engine" light came on in the Subaru. The car is over 5 years old now, 89,000 miles, but seems still so solid and reliable that I was quite surprised to see the light appear. My checks of fluids, listening, looking , peeking, and poking of the engine revealed nothing out of the ordinary. The next morning's commute was completely uneventful, yet I dutifully called the repair shop to make an appointment for Monday.

While chatting with a friend on AIM, he noted that there's often a gimmick or trick to resetting the check engine light. During lunch, a google search provided several results which suggested that a loose gas cap was often the cause on Subarus. Hrmmmm.

After work, I removed the not-so-loose, but not-so-tight-either gas cap, reseated it and cranked it down hard. Stop and start the engine, voila! No more check engine light.

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