Engine light came on after fuel fill up.

The engine light came on after we fill the car with fuel this afternoon. I have read on other forms that topping off your gas tank or leaving the fuel cap loose will cause the engine light to come on. Some owners took the car to there dealers for repair and some remove the ground lead on the battery which remove the engine light. We have put 50 miles on the car since I remove the ground cable and the lite has not come back on.

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Permalink Reply by mark vuko on April 14, 2008 at 8:22pm: I told my wife don't volunteer to jump anyone next winter. :); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by francois on April 14, 2008 at 5:48pm: make sure the gas cap is on all the way it should go off after some time; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by mark vuko on April 14, 2008 at 8:24pm: Thanks, happen to you?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by francois on April 17, 2008 at 9:30am: not on my smart but on my Saab and a jeep i had and the first time it ever came on
the dealer told me to check my gas cap and it was always the cap on to loose; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by mark vuko on April 24, 2008 at 3:12pm: Install the scangauge 2 inside my car Monday afternoon. Error code was PO451, I was able to turn off the engine light with the scangauge unit. They have a list of Smart car fault codes on:
http://www.fq101.co.uk/tsdatalist.asp
Error code PO451 is the Evaporative Emission Control System Pressure Sensor Range/Performance .
I did find a Smart car forum that had a problem listed, here is his thread:

Evaporative Emission Control System Pressure Sensor code 451

Super-filling, or 'venting' is the filling of the fuel tank completely full beyond when the pump "clicks" off. We can do this on the diesel without harm because of the lack of an evaporative canister filter, part of the emission control system found on gasoline powered cars.
If you try this Superfilling technique on a gas powered car what happens is certain lines that normally carry just fuel vapors can end up filling with raw gas, causing the evaporative canister filter to become saturated with fuel (against it's design).
In this gentleman case the canister dry out and the engine light did not come back on. In other cases the fuel tank had to be remove and the canister filter replace. Any comments??; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by mr bad example on June 14, 2008 at 9:57am: i always "super fill" my smart, as all other cars, to get a better "read" on gas milage, i go maybe 1/2 gallon over the click off, usually a little fuel in the filler neck. if there was a way to plug that sensor off totally, that would eliminate any problems. i first filled my car up at the end of january, long before this came to discussion level, i filled it the same as all my other cars, i have never had a problem in 5 months.

maybe i'm leading a charmed life?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by mr bad example on June 14, 2008 at 5:11pm: i really super-overfilled today, i clicked off, then proceeded to over-fill when a guy started asking questions about the car, a few seconds later there was gas on my fender and pavement! i immediately started driving, went 16 miles plus some time idling and chatting with old friends, no engine light came on, it was in the low 80's and the fuel is about 50F, so it'll expand a bit, i'll take another trip in a bit. but still no check engine light!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Scott Mankewitz on June 12, 2008 at 3:47pm: I had my smart in the shop for 2 days the first week I had it because of the check engine light after refueling. First time they said it was a mis-fire and reset the computer. The second time they said it was a bad sensor. It seems to be working fine now. The shop guy said I may have waited too long to refuel (Got down to zero bars) and that may have caused the light to come on.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by mark vuko on June 13, 2008 at 9:32pm: The dealership change my sensor also and the light has not come back on. The shop guys always put the blame on the car owners. It was not your fault it was the car.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mr Ed on July 2, 2008 at 2:06am: Interesting co-worker had the same issue.. stopped and filled up with Gas on came the engine light... He took it into the dealer and it ended up being a stuck air flow something or other on the engine... but this may or not have been caused by his driving seeing as he is in the breakin period and driving like Mario Andretti... the valve stuck in the open position; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by mr bad example on July 2, 2008 at 3:02am: god, what a work of art these smarts are, trannies lock, you put in a little extra gas it goes bonkers!
i've driven mine 5-1/2 months without a single mishap (knock on plastic!) my second to last fill up spilled all over the pavement! (a couple times the driver's door caught a few times on the front fender when opening, no harm done, happened today, might be the sun/heat it was 88F and sunny)

we have mysterious sensors all over (3rd eye in the climate control and the 2 that surround the courtesy light) i think the 3rd eye is climate control linked and the ones near the courtesy lamp are alarm sensors (until we get some damned smart technician in here, we're "Dancin' in the Dark!"); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by SmartGurl on December 17, 2008 at 3:48am: Hi Mark,

I know I am extremely late on this reply, but thought I would chime in with my personal experience... This actually happened a couple times with my Miata. Technicians mentioned that if I filled up, it was more than likely due to extra "pressure/ weight" lack of better words in the tank due to the full tank. Technician told me to be patient with a day or two, and if the light didn't go off I was then to bring it in. Sure enough :) It went away the next day.

Hope the problem has been resolved by now.

To you, yours and your smart,
SmartGurl; ▶ Reply to This