Anyone ever had their check engine light come on when you've let the fuel level get really low?

symptoms: started car, no bars on fuel guage; when let off gas after starting, idle dipped very low, like it was going to stall. Similar behaviour when driving slowly - when let off gas, idle dips very low then comes back up.

Drove home OK (~20 miles), but check engine light still comes on and the idle dip is still there if I let the car sit for a while, then start it back up.

Is this a real problem that is something else, or just a "hangover" from letting the gas get down to the dregs?

 

Is the gas cap on tight?

 

yeah, first thing I did was look in the owners manual to see exactly the light was supposed to mean and saw the stuff about the gas cap. That's why I wondered if it might be somehow related to driving with a very low fuel level.

If this had happened with a fuel level that was not so low, I would just take it in to have it looked at. If it is some temporary condition due to the low fuel level, I don't want to go thru the trouble of taking the car in and having them tell me nothing is wrong.

 

Fill her up and reset your ECU. It's actually a common occurrence in other cars I have owned. After driving it around for a few days it goes away. But I just reset the ECU.

 

was hoping it would go away without the reset - manual says if the problem has gone away, you need to go three "trips" before the light will go away. Not sure what the definition of a trip is but if that doesn't work, I'll reset ECU. If it doesn't go away at this point, I'll assume something is broke and take it in for service.