Not re Linnetts (I've had good- but expensive- service there too), but that damn check engine light seems to be a common problem. My sister had it on her ancient Honda civic and noone could find it. It would come and go, mostly go, and nothing else went wrong, so she just kept using the car. She doesn't drive very far , so it wasn't a major risk. I kept telling her to go to the dealer for a "real" check, but she didn't. Finally something else went obviously wrong and she was convinced that it was time for a new car. She's delighted with her Hyundai Elantra. Whoever figures out a mechanism for diagnosing the check engine light correctly is going to make a fortune.

Maybe it's just me, but I found them to be expensive and not very courteous. A friend had lots of problems when they tried to get him to do repairs that the next mechanic said were completely unnecessary.

I won't share here my negative experiences with Linnett's, but thought I'd contribute to that engine light conversation. My tire pressure light was on for months, despite repeated checks of the tires and attempts to turn it off. Turns out my car (a Toyota Matrix) has a special way to reset that light that other Toyotas don't have. Only one guy at the dealership could figure this out (and he didn't charge me). So anyway, it's possible that the people checking your engine just don't know how to reset the light properly (although that sounds unlikely with Honda Civics)...just a suggestion.

Sorry, I just saw this -- the new mechanic says it's the catalytic converter. It's not cleaning the emissions released by my car to the EPA standard, anymore, so that triggers the light. Same as you, it comes on after a day or two of it being reset. Joy. Any other $800 repairs this POS car can throw at me?

(It could be that this was always my problem with the check engine light, and that breakdown was unrelated... I don't know.)

This is not related to Linette's, but since so many people seem to be having "check engine" light problems, I'll mention this: Many AutoZones will read CEL codes for free. Obviously they won't fix whatever problem you have for free, but they can at least tell you what codes your computer is throwing. And I should note that driving around with your check engine light on is NOT a good idea. Yes, they can come on for something as simple as your gas cap not being closed correctly, but they can also come on for very serious problems. If your emissions system is screwed up, for example, you could be spewing massive amounts of crap into the environment. Or, from a safety perspective, there could be something wrong with your transmission, any one of the approximately one billion sensors in your car, etc etc etc. PLEASE try not to wait to have the problem diagnosed.

Also, for anyone who's interested in how these things work: check engine lights do not come on for one-time problems. The computer has to sense the same problem a certain number of times (usually during a certain number of starts of the engine) to throw a CEL. So generally speaking, if your check engine light is on, you have a consistent problem. And the check engine light will not do anything special if there is more than one problem: i.e., if your light is already on and you haven't gotten around to having it checked out, but the computer senses a second problem, the light's not going to blink, or pop up a sign that says, "hey car owner, you have multiple problems." It's just going to stay on. This is another reason why having CELs checked out as soon as possible is a very good idea. You may have multiple problems and not realize it.

Finally, for those intrepid car owners who don't mind jumping a few wires, I should note that on some cars, you can read CEL codes yourself. On certain Civics and Integras, for example, you can jump a couple of ECU wires, which will make the check engine light blink in "code." You can read that code to find out what's turning the light on. See this link for more info specific to Civics and Integras. Other manufacturers probably do this as well; I just happen to be a Honda person, so that's where the majority of my specific knowledge is.