Hey guys, the other morning when starting the engine after the car spent the night in the driveway the engine icon stayed lit.... Everything seemed to work fine (no gas or exhaust smell) so I drove to work as usual and left the car to a Chrysler dealer close to where I work. Their diagnostics machine showed the infamous P0442 "medium evaporative system leak" code which could be caused by things as simple as a leaky gas cap. They told me that they reset the code and if it came back bring the car and they will do a proper pressure test (cost = $200) and then tell me what needs to be replaced. So far they could not find anything alarming... It's a 2003 SX with 76,000 km on the clock.

Anyways, as I started the engine from the service area the light came up again! So I did some research on the 'net and someone suggested to disconnect the battery for a few minutes in order to clear the computer codes and start everything fresh. Which I did.

Guess what: the code never came back since, the engine has never run better! Idle used to be a little rough when cold, not anymore, acceleration is smoother with less "valve noise" and after doing a few thousand kilometers the gas mileage is also better!

So, before doing anything costly when a warning light comes up just reset your computer system by disconnecting the battery for a few minutes. If it's a real fault the condition will come back, else it could have been something reported inappropriately, or a computer fluke!

 

ya most of the time P0442 is supposedly a leaky gas cap. in mycase though i reset the computer several times and the code came back a few days later. In my case, I had a cracked hose, so thats what was causing the evap leak. As far as checking the codes on your car, try the "On-off-On-off-On"(don't turn your car on just turn the key to the ON position)trick and it will display your codes and save you some money from the stealership. then ask on here how to fix the code, there is a good chance that at least one person has had the same problem and can help you out. Always glad to hear someone got their problem fixed!

o ya when i had that code my car would idle just a lil rough and it has also felt better since they replaced the cracked hose

 

I bet that code comes back in a few days, steponit.

 

We shall see, it's a possibility, and if it comes back there might be a real problem.

In my son's car (not a Dodge though) the air bag warning kept coming up, and the problem was... with the alternator! Since the voltage was dropping a bit lower than normal the SRS system considered it as a fault!