The engine light comes on after a short time, the car will drive to a safe spot, wait a short time then the light is off and away it goes,
It is not consistent, some times it will drive and the next day the engine light will not clear.
" Have tried a number of :expert shops"
When the check engine light turns on a diagnostic code is stored in the computer’s memory. Did any of your shops check for diagnostic codes? I presume they did, but didn’t tell you what they were. Suggest to ask one of these shops what the codes were, then you can post them here. Codes typically begin with the letter “P”, followed by 4 digits, like “P0301” . I presume you mean by “the car drives to a safe spot” that YOU drive the car to a safe spot, idle the engine while waiting, then the light turns off and you then proceed normally again.
There’s too many different causes for this problem to make any recommendations here until you post the diagnostic codes.
Are there any shops who can fix a 20 yr old jag?
Ask a shop if the can access the history codes.
Types of Codes**
When we refer to codes, there are two types that are of interest: current codes and history codes.
Current codes are codes that the internal monitoring system of the computer has deemed necessary for attention. History codes are codes that have had a fault that either has been repaired or is no longer considered as important to the overall vehicle condition by the computer.
But, the computer program still feels it is necessary to leave a trace for the technician to follow for any needed evaluations.
History codes are extremely helpful in diagnosing intermittent failures. These history codes become a “bread crumb trail” back to the source of a problem. I would advise not to just clear history codes unless you have written them down and checked them out thoroughl
Tester
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