check engine light when getting fuel?

I am looking at a couple 996's now. The owner of one of them has told me about a check engine light that will occasionally come on when filling the car up with fuel when the cars running. I cant say that sounds like its normal, but I could see it as some type of porsche warning to turn the car off. Can anyone confirm this CEL when the car is running and your putting fuel into the tank? Thanks

In my bmw.....if the gas cap is left loose, then the check engine light will come on as well. It takes about 100 miles or so for it to come off....sometimes takes a few days. Not sure if this is the case on our cars. Anyone else?? J

This wouldn't surprise me. As others have said, a loose gas cap while driving causes CEL on most cars now, even Toyotas. Why would you fill it with the engine running?

Yes that is correct, you will pull a fault to the fuel tank vapor purge system because it thinks it has a leak in the fuel evaporative system. It is a soft fault that will clear the CEL after several start stop cycles with the fuel system properly sealed. The light will go off, but the fault will be stored. The only thing more moronic than fueling a car while it is running would be to be talking on a cell phone, and smoking a cigarette while fueling. No excuses, turn off your car and roll down the windows if it is too hot while you fuel your car.

Thanks for the confirmation. I had a feeling it was a somewhat of an "idiot light."

Mythbusters covered the cellphone fueling myth - and busted it! Using a cell phone while fueling does not cause the gas or gas vapors to explode.

Somebody skipped a few episodes of Mythbusters! The cell phone thing is an urban legend. Also, you can drop a lit cigarette into a bucket of gasoline and it won't ignite. There isn't enough heat energy to ignite the liquid. The "plastic gas can static on a plastic bed liner" while filling is legit concern. (Not trying to stir the pot, I just can't stand urban legends...the cell phone thing is so far gone that you even see stickers on the pumps at some stations) In the Mythbusters episode they tried every way possible to ignite gas and/or fumes with a cell phone and it just wouldn't work.

Maybe we can get Mythbusters to look at the myth of the grenading M96 engine, or the M96 RMS, or which oil you should use in a 996!

LOL. People filling up gas while their cars are running. Sigh.

The issue of smoking or talking on the phone is that if you are doing that, you are not concentrating on the task at hand, which is filling the car with gas. This means that the probability of the gas nozzle popping out of the tank filler or overflowing if the auto-cut-off malfunctions, and spilling fuel on the ground is much higher. Not to mention forgetting to put the tank cap back on, closing the fuel filler door, or driving off with the hose still in the tank. All of these things happen much more frequently by folks that are distracted by their phone, etc. than you would think.

Ok, I'll buy that argument. Most of the people focusing on the problem of cell phones and smoking while filling are talking of the igniting of fumes and/or fluid. I agree with the cell phone distraction thing, although I think it's more of a problem on the road than standing next to the car.