CHECK engine hell

[Beastcub]

My check engine light is on. 94 Sidekick JLX. 4 door auto. Loaded. 229000 miles. Jumped the wire it say 12. No codes. Reached under the dash and moved that tiny switch. Did nothing. Removed the dome light fuse as I saw on YouTube. Still on. Battery was disconnected. Still on. What am I missing ? I wouldn't care but I live in California and I have to get it inspected.

[fixkick]

My check engine light is on. 94 Sidekick JLX. 4 door auto. Loaded. 229000 miles. ?Jumped the wire(DLC)? 2 to 6) it say 12. No codes.?? what does this mean? it says , youtube or the car blinks or not?
Reached under the dash and moved that tiny switch. Did nothing.
Removed the dome light fuse as I saw on YouTube.
Still on. Battery was disconnected. Still on. What am I missing ? I wouldn't care but I live in California and I have to get it inspected.
still on means CEL glows SOLID running?> or when>?
key on CEL on is must the running it goes out.
My guess is wrong DLC or pins on same jumped wrong.

old sidekicks
the CEL and ECU are not smart, the errors are only for catastrophic failures of sensors
code 12 does not mean all is well it only means no dead sensors.
it does not find out weak sensors.

watch out for lies on youtube and wrong years. (wrong years or wrong engines, and wrong cal/fed rules make for endless lies) see what I say first.
your car is 1994 not 1989/90 or 1996+
it is 92-95 generation and is sold for CALIF or FED versions. (or the pain of parts mixed on those 2) wrongly.

Jumped the wire it say 12.\
No codes. (I guess you meant the jumper is planted in the DLC and code 12 or any code is not flashing out as it must)
what does no codes mean,  please be clear on that.
Reached under the dash and moved that tiny switch. (ok that seen there for sure is a CALIF car, calif VIN and the sticker under the hood, says clear as day CALIFORNIA,
Did nothing.
Removed the dome light fuse as I saw on YouTube. (this doom fuse if blown means DTC errors can not stored in the ECU if DOME fuse is blown)
to reset the ECU key off, and pull dome fuse for 1 min and put fuse  back , ECT is reset. and for sure no stored DTC errors now.

Still on. Battery was disconnected. Still on. (what is still on, I do know know what you mean here0

What am I missing ? I wouldn't care but I live in California and I have to get it inspected.

well the cars is  in calif.
lets do this the correct way, for this car,  ok (some calif cars are hacked, to FED ECU or the reverse. on  cars this old YES repeat 3 times this fact) now.
the hood sticker is first.
open hood look up and under , see this example I made,  see calif. words this is proof car is CALIF , no hood sways OMG




next is ECU, must be calif, in most cases you can get a CODE 53 flash code if wrong ECU is installed in this CAR
the nag  switch on all cars these years can removed, ending this pain of stuck on CEL,  running,  does your car have stuck on CEL running? y/n?

your ECU is  dash - 58B00 1994, AT, calif. 4door. this is correct. 1995 is 70e00 up.
this is the correct ECU for CAL car only,  58B codes are only 92 to 94.  in many sub codes B00 up;
the offical list is here.
https://fixkick.com/ECU/EPC-ECU96-98/all...9-95NA.pdf

CEL actions calif
the FED cars have a NAG switch never does any CALIF car have one, zero /
here is my unified nag switch photos from my NAG page
your car is 16valve = MPI,  and the FED only car has it here, marked MPI 4door is there, RED BALL not lower TBI, best I know.
FED CARS ONLY !!!





Cell
rules 92-95
key on CEL  must glow. (if not lamp is bad or ECU is bad)
start engine CEL must go out , does it? not told
if stuck on and FED car remove the nag switch and trash it for eternity.  or slide switch one time (never over and back)    https://fixkick.com/CEL/miles1w.jpg
if car is CAL car there is NO SUCH SWITCH for sure.
if CEL is now still stuck on, you must now find the DLC, connector at battery front, it has rubber cap and 5 pins, and wire colors matter.
use the jumper to see code 12 to coded 53. this must work or ECU is bad or jumper set wrong.


jump DLC 2 to 4 (6pins)
https://fixkick.com/CEL/DLC/DiagJump.html
blue/yellow wire is a must. pin 2,  16valves common, if 4 pin plug same wire color see that inlink above.

if confuses post photo of hood sticker, and VIN both.
sadly the ecu Partnumber is on top out of site
and post photos of your NAG switch, or of dash and finger pointed to the NAG there. (approx)
old cars can be a mix of wrong parts and for sure we can sort all that out easy, me in 5min work hand /eyes one, it.

[Beastcub]

My check engine light is on. 94 Sidekick JLX. 4 door auto. Loaded. 229000 miles. Jumped the wire it say 12. No codes. Reached under the dash and moved that tiny switch. Did nothing. Removed the dome light fuse as I saw on YouTube. Still on. Battery was disconnected. Still on. What am I missing ? I wouldn't care but I live in California and I have to get it inspected.

The vehicle does not have California emissions. When I say on I mean the check engine light is still on while the vehicle is running. The car was from Washington state and owned by on older person so we doubt "wrong" parts were put on. When I used the jump wire the code ( check engine light ) flashed once , slight pause, then two more flashes equals 12. Meaning no other codes were stored in memory. I disconnected the battery and THE check engine light was still on after.

[fixkick]

My check engine light is on. 94 Sidekick JLX. 4 door auto. Loaded. 229000 miles. Jumped the wire it say 12. No codes. Reached under the dash and moved that tiny switch. Did nothing. Removed the dome light fuse as I saw on YouTube. Still on. Battery was disconnected. Still on. What am I missing ? I wouldn't care but I live in California and I have to get it inspected.

The vehicle does not have California emissions. When I say on I mean the check engine light is still on while the vehicle is running. The car was from Washington state and owned by on older person so we doubt "wrong" parts were put on. When I used the jump wire the code ( check engine light ) flashed once , slight pause, then two more flashes equals 12. Meaning no other codes were stored in memory. I disconnected the battery and THE check engine light was still on after.

ok it is a federal car i calif, nothing odd there,..
the lamp shows code 12,  so the ECU sees no errors at all.
I disconnected the battery and THE check engine light was still on after.

so the nag switch is in the wrong position, or speedo failure not  using rule trips at every 50k, 80k& 100k miles,,  due to gear failure in the speedo.. pull the plug.
it is just a timer this NAG to tell you to test the CAT for damage using leaded fuel back then
it is a useless feature now,  from them,  and simply unplugs from the back of the Speedo cluster.
my 91 was Fed and from Wa. WA DOT too and , the nag switch removed the second I got it, it does  need to be there.

also with any car like this that many miles the mileage gears  (nAG parts in the cluster ) can fail too. and the cure is remove the NAG switch, it just unplugs easy,
here is the nag socket on cluster. the speed gear box counts the miles and set the NEG ON ,and glow the CEL lamp independent of ECU errors !

see page 9, here and C1, c3 , c5./A5 NAG switch,  it runs off gears and if fails make CEL stick on. pull the plug  and now only ECU can wink  the CEL ,ever again.
https://fixkick.com/look/91-complete.pdf


https://fixkick.com/CEL/NAG-Lamp.html

[fixkick]

what can happen no this old is the gears say for 50k miles driven CAT NAG, strips out, and now stuck at 50k miles forever.
pull the plug. cured. It does not need to be there. that switch and plug

my old jeep 88 had clock timer (in a silly box by self) did the same thing, and failed too. (and not sold on earth) an now gone on all jeeps then,.

all 89 to 95 years FED have this plug on rear of speed. black, marked FED above.

[Beastcub]

Ok. I will try that. Ty ty ty ! I'm driving to Denver to pick up a windshield for my 84 Chrysler Laser and I'll pull the nag when I get back.

[fixkick]

Ok. I will try that. Ty ty ty ! I'm driving to Denver to pick up a windshield for my 84 Chrysler Laser and I'll pull the nag when I get back.

yes , the ECU can fail and still run, (limphome and backup mode)
if the CEL is dead (not actual CEL lamp) the ECU is in backup mode SUPER RARE that
in limphome mode super common any code over 12 is LIMP .
the ECu with bad caps may show bad DTC errors that abort 1/2 way presented, and is classic bad caps. there.
the nag switch is there to make all this more fun (NOT)

good luck with that windshield, those are never fun.