If you’ve already made necessary repairs to your vehicle and your check engine light has not reset, you can try to do so yourself. However, if you didn’t complete the repairs or fix the right components, manually resetting the check engine light can fail, or worse, lead to expensive engine repairs. Additionally, if you clear a check engine light before a state-required emissions inspection, your vehicle may fail the inspection.

It may be time to take your vehicle to an ASE Certified repair shop or a trusted mechanic to prevent further damage or voiding your warranty. However, there are three easy tricks to turn your check engine light off manually:

1. Go for a drive. Most vehicles reset their check engine light cycle every 50-100 miles.
2. Turn it off and on. Put the key in the ignition and turn your vehicle on for two seconds, then turn it off for two seconds. Repeat two to four times.
3. Disconnect the battery. You can try to force the vehicle to reset by disconnecting the battery, which will reset most of the error codes, warning lights, radio, and anti-theft settings.