Check Engine Light troubles

[Riddiculous]

This would be my first post on this site and rightly so considering I've only owned a Mazda for 3 days now. The car is a 2005 Mazda3 SP23.

I was driving the car down the highway and passed a rather reckless truck driver who didn't like to hold his lane or speed very well... Anyways, in trying to watch him, my lack of experience with the car's gear ratios and noise caused me to hit the rev limiter for some time longer than I would have liked. Not to say I held it there, but about a mile or 2 up the road the check engine light came on.

There was an AutoZone in the next town so I pulled in there to see if they could get a read on exactly what was going. Trouble is, their machine gave a Link Read Error or something to that effect and so now I am kind of stumped on where to go next with this.

 

[hiacre]

Find someone else who can get the code.

 

[Riddiculous]

finally found someone who could get a code to read, not sure what the issue was with the error but they got it right away. Just a low coolant warning so far as I can tell. I just kinda posted in a panic worried I might have gotten myself into a more serious issue. Wasn't sure exactly on how long it would take for the car to recognize that I did in fact add to it as the check engine light remains on. It hasn't had time to cool off yet though so I'll go check it again in a few hours after everything has cooled off. It has been turned on and off about 5 times now since the coolant was added.

 

[rstewart]

Are you getting the code P0126 or P0128? The print out should say: 1.) Check Coolant Level, 2.) Thermostat Defective, and 3.) ECT sensor defective.

I would try changing the thermostat first. I have read a lot of people fixing the problem with a thermostat change. I would pay for the factory part for the thermostat. I have read of some problems with the Autozone Duralast breaking after a few months. The 04 models and early 05 models may need a ECM reflash to clear the code but hopefully the thermostat will take care of it.

 

[Riddiculous]

I just had the car rescanned today after resetting everything by removing the battery cable for 5 mins and the light coming back on. The first time it was scanned, i got P0126. This time however I did get P0128. So I'm going to look into replacing the thermostat and see where it all goes from there.