[rwarn17588]

My wife has never driven a manual transmission in her life. She's learning to drive one now with my 2000 5-speed Insight. It has just 26,000 miles, and it's had all the recalls performed. She has a new job that requires 60-mile commute, so I thought I'd let her drive the 60 miles-per-gallon Insight, while I'd drive her 38 miles-per-gallon Scion xA in my 5-mile commute.

Anyway, she's getting there in terms of using the clutch, gas and shifter properly, but it's slow going. She's killed the engine a few times in first gear, and each time the "check engine" light has come on twice. The light shuts itself off after a few start-ups and shut-offs.

(On the bright side, she's been averaging 63 miles per gallon in the short time she's been driving it.)

I figure the "check engine" occurs because the gas got a bit flooded with the engine when she killed it during a bad shift in first gear. I'm not terribly concerned, but I'm just checking ... should I be worried by the "check engine" light business? And any other tips for a manual-transmission rookie?

 

[Philosophy]

Hi there,

Actually the Insight has a tendency to have the Check Engine Light come on when the gas cap is not screwed all the way in. That'd be the first thing I would check... I killed mine a few times when I first got it and that would happen, then I got gas // tightened the cap more and it hasn't happened since.

-Phil