[adam]

Got my Karma 1 week ago. It was a demo with 2300 miles. They put 6.13 and the battery ground strap before I got it.

I put about 400 miles on it and this morning with a full tank of gas (and battery) I turned the car on and was greeted with the check engine light and the gas indicator showing I had zero gas left.

I drove 2 miles to Starbucks and parked and turned the car off. When I got back in I turned it on and the gas gauge was now correct but the check engine light is still on. Drove it about 60 miles today on a combination of stealth and sport modes. No perceptible problems but the check engine light is still on.

I won't have time to bring it in any time soon and need to drive about 75 miles/day. Two questions:

1. Is there a way to get more information about the check engine light without bringing to the dealer?
2. Should I try to "reboot" the car to see if it's just a false positive? If so, how do I do that?

 

[Deep Ocean]

Reboot cable is under the hood, but I wouldn't pull it unless your dealer tells you to.

 

[Skibum]

According to my dealer...
1. Ignore all "check engine" lights for now.
2. To reboot the car: turn off the car, exit, lock the door and wait 3-4 minutes.

 

[dennis]

According to my dealer...
1. Ignore all "check engine" lights for now.
2. To reboot the car: turn off the car, exit, lock the door and wait 3-4 minutes.

That is the "soft reboot" procedure, which clears up most situations. If that does not work, you can try a "hard reboot", which powers off the electronics in the car:

1. Locate the plug shown below, under the hood on the passenger side.
2. Press on the locking tab and pull the connectors apart. Because the cables are tie-wrapped, you may not be able to fully separate them, but you need to move them a least one inch.
3. Wait at least one minute.
4. Put the connectors back together.
5. Lock and then unlock the car.

 

[SoCalGuy]

adam

curious - how/why did you get a demo car? was the dealer just selling it because he's geting a replacement?

 

[adam]

Check engine light problem resolved. I did a hard reboot (unplugging that cable above, thanks for the info!). After doing so, the check engine light did not come back on. However the trunk wouldn't open. I drove home anyway at which point the car warned me as I put on my turn signal that there was "bulb failure" in the turn signal. That went away after a few minutes and when I got home all was working (turn signal, trunk and no check engine light). For what it's worth, my dealer told me to ignore any check engine light unless it's flashing.

adam

curious - how/why did you get a demo car? was the dealer just selling it because he's geting a replacement?

I have 2 neighbors that ordered Fiskers 4 years ago. When the first one came in, I fell in love with it so called up his salesperson. The salesperson told me he had a new one I could buy which was silver wind EcoSport with black interior. When I went up to the dealership, he showed me the demo car he had which was EcoChic Silver Wind with glacier tri-tone interior. I loved the interior and he told me I could buy the demo if I wanted to.

It feels like the car is in high demand but I literally walked into the dealership and had the choice of 2 Fiskers. Maybe just in my area? I'm in south florida and this was the Fisker dealership in Palm Beach. The demo had 2000 miles on it and was used in the Top Gear review about to air. I bought it for $1000 off sticker.

 

[Karma 2012]

6.13 should have fixed the check engine light. However, I did see my checking engine light went on for less than a second this morning. Is it conceivable that they program it to turn off for now just to buy time to figure out the problem? I certainly hope that is not the case. How would you differentiate false positives from true positives?

 

[siliconkiwi]

My check engine light has been on for 10 days (since the day after I received my car), both my dealer and his service manager know about it and neither is worried. I'm on 6.13. "was supposed to be fixed..."

 

[doug]

Top Gear review about to air.

When does it air??

 

[Fabulist]

My check engine light has been on for 10 days (since the day after I received my car), both my dealer and his service manager know about it and neither is worried. I'm on 6.13. "was supposed to be fixed..."

Mine came on, and has been pretty much on continuously, since Monday. I had a "Parking System Error" message along with the awful grinding noise you hear when you try to move the car with that error. A hard reboot cleared that but the check engine light has been on since then and when the engine runs the "Gas Cap Open" warning is also on. None of these warnings appear to have any real impact on the car's performance, but they are annoying.

-- Fab.

 

[Sigurd]

Fab, I had that same error I think. Is it a clicking sound when you try to back up? That's what happened to mine when the tow truck driver tried to back it off the flatbed.

 

[Fabulist]

Fab, I had that same error I think. Is it a clicking sound when you try to back up? That's what happened to mine when the tow truck driver tried to back it off the flatbed.

I only get that when I get the "Parking System Error" message. It has only happened twice, and it is pretty scary when it happens. A hard reboot cleared it last time.

-- Fab.

 

[kabalah70]

I am beginning to worry about the knowledge level of the techs and support personnel at some dealerships. I wonder if they really know what they are doing and are causing permanent damage to some of your cars. I mean if a dash does not boot up properly and your parking brake is engaged and they drive it not paying attention, bam, permanent damage. For those experiencing glitches that happen all the time, that just doesn't seem like a software issue, especially when then software fixed it on everyone else's car. That;s why we really need Fisker to have the software version displayed for the owner on boot up. I am assuming that glitched errors like a 'Check Engine' light are being looked at by people on the Diagnostics screen to see if an actual fault is being detected. If so, is it showing anything there or only the dash?

 

[Karma 2012]

Fab, I had that same error I think. Is it a clicking sound when you try to back up? That's what happened to mine when the tow truck driver tried to back it off the flatbed.

Sigurd, I get a lot of clicking sounds most of the time when I reverse with or without the 'parking break malfunction'. It almost sounded like tire rubbing, but it's not. I have no idea what causes that.

 

[adam]

I am assuming that glitched errors like a 'Check Engine' light are being looked at by people on the Diagnostics screen to see if an actual fault is being detected. If so, is it showing anything there or only the dash?

When my check engine light was on, nothing showed in the Diagnostics screen. I assumed that's because the Diagnostics screen doesn't do anything yet but maybe it's because I had no real fault. When I rebooted the car, the check engine light went away and hasn't come back.

 

[Michael]

Today I never use my parking brake on my car, only put the car in P.. Is it the same with the karma? you have a P and a seperat parking brake when you park it in hills

 

[dennis]

When my check engine light was on, nothing showed in the Diagnostics screen. I assumed that's because the Diagnostics screen doesn't do anything yet but maybe it's because I had no real fault. When I rebooted the car, the check engine light went away and hasn't come back.

I have seen the Diag screen report an error for the key fob leaving the car. The botton to select the Diag screen is highlighted in Orange, and an error message is presented on the screen.

The erroneous Check Engine and TPMS warnings don't show anything on the Diag screen.

 

[Nimisys]

Right now the Diag screen doesn't decode the check engine light. it will show tire pressure errors, key fob issues, low windsheild washer fluid, light out conditions.

The Bad news is the CEL can be on for something as simple as an evap valve sticking or bad as an engine misifre. Blame SAE and OBDII, becuase thats the limiting factor on a simple Check Engine Light for all faults

The good news is that simple OBDII code readers can communicate with the ECM and display fault codes, however if it is a module other than the ECM asking for the CEL ot be turned on, all you get is a code saying which module is asking for it to be on, and no further info.

 

[ct-fiskerbuzz]

Right now the Diag screen doesn't decode the check engine light. ...

This wording implies that in the future, it will. Yes? YAY. That stupid OBD-II requirement has been bugging me for more than ten years now.

The Bad news is the CEL can be on for something as simple as an evap valve sticking or bad as an engine misifre. Blame SAE and OBDII, becuase thats the limiting factor on a simple Check Engine Light for all faults

Back in the 1980s, people used to tell a story about Brian Kernighan's car having, rather than a series of gauges, a single large red question mark on the dashboard. ("The experienced driver," says Kernighan, "will usually know what's wrong." This was a complaint about the old Unix "ed" editor's single "?" diagnostic error. Actually the "ed" editor had two diagnostics; the other was "?TMP". )

Then OBD-II came along and actually mandated the Giant Red Question Mark, in the form of the "check engine" light. Sigh.

 

[kabalah70]

I bought a OBD-II scanner today. Pulled three codes off my car witht the check engine light that occurred when I entered Sport mode and demanded power immediately from the accelerator pedal. According to SAE J2012 standards for DTC (Diagnostic Trouble Codes) P=Powetrain, C=Chassis, B=Body, U=Network Communications, followed by a 4-digit number. Furthermore, P16xx=Powetrain Computer & Aux Outputs. That being said my three codes were:

P1674
P1619
U019B

For the general specs:
www.hugginsnet.com/ptcruiser/techdocs/DTCs.pdf

Since the rest of the code is manufacturer specific good luck getting the rest of the info. I have not reset the code, I plan on having the dealer do that along with other things I want fixed. If I get the check engine light and I am ever told to do a reboot or anything of that nature I am going to demand the Fisker ODB-II codes, so that I can interpret the situation before blindly rebooting the car, when there may actually be a fault.