I'm sitting in the dealer's service area right now. I'd brought my 08 in for its state inspection and when I picked up the car the check engine light was on as well as, on the MFD, the red car with an exclamation point though it. I hadn't even taken the car out of the dealer's driveway, so they drove it back to look things over. Is there anything they could/would have done during an inspection that would have caused this? The timing is awfully coincidental. No problems at all on the drive up, and major warning lights right after. Why they didn't NOTICE the lights before giving the car to me I can't figure: the car hadn't even been turned off before I got in, so it must have already been there.
Hypothetically, static discharge while connecting/disconnecting the OBD reader? That would be about it, I'd think.. but more knowledgeable members will chime in (and they will ask for all of the error codes, so if you're able to get them now that would be most helpful).
Perhaps they left it in Inspection mode. Turn it off and then restart normally to see if the CEL goes off.
The technician came out and told me, with surprising frankness, that their equipment caused the problem (he described it as "a lost connection"). That's what he actually said: "our equipment did it."
