Alright so about a week and a half ago, the check-engine light comes on. Naturally I am freaked and unable to even diagnose the problem since I lack access to an OBD-II scanner.

I check the engine for anything obvious, there's no weird noise present. I check the liquids and find my radiator fluid is low, so I go ahead and refill that. It will be flushed soon, I have a tune-up scheduled for the next week. I thought the CEL might be a reminder that a certain fluid is low. Couple days later, the engine light's still on, so I figure I have a different problem. I couldn't find anything wrong.

Once while driving, the car behaved weirdly .. when I was on the highway, I would push on the gas and it would delay more than usual before the car pushes accordingly. Then when I let go, I heave forward almost as if the car's brakes were being applied, but this was more like the engine was braking itself. I come to the stoplight, and hell breaks loose .. the RPMs would bounce from idle to like 3500 RPM or something like that, and I get freaked out .. turn the car off, back on, and it stopped .. I was wondering wtf was happening. CEL was still on.

Then just yesterday, the CEL came off. Am I in the clear or is there something else that I missed? Why was the CEL thrown? Random cylinder misfire, perhaps? I don't even know the symptoms or the sound of a misfire. Maybe I'm just overanalyzing and the CEL was for the low coolant. Also .. Why did the RPMs bounce like that? I read about it here, but I wouldn't really know how to search for it.

 

Dirty IAC valve most likely. The CE light only comes on if there's a code thrown to the ECU. You need to get it scanned & find out what code it has stored.
CE light doesn't come on for any low fluids BTW.

 

daz sum freaky shit son!

 

If there was a problem, the CEL would stay on. For peace of mind though, you might want to pull the code. It could have been a loose gas cap.