Check engine warning

[weonlylivetodie]

So this eneving i made the stupid mistake of driving through a HUGE puddle, kinda fast in my '96 legacy outback and shortly after i realized that the "CHECK ENGINE" light was on...the car seemed to be running fine, a slight lag when accelerating....which could have been my imagination....since i was two hours out of town i had no choice but to drive home....the light stayed on the whole drive but i had no problems. Im wondering if there is something really wrong or just a sensor because of the water.....i don't know much about cars, so im kinda worried....i don't want the thing to explode one day...i have an oil change scheduled on tues june 7th at the dealership....do you think that i can wait till then to get the problem resolved... any thoughts or information would be helpful
Thanks

[Tokio]

just get the code read at your local auto store, its usually free

[Reason]

just get the code read at your local auto store, its usually free

This is true, hit up Auto Zone and have them read it. Nothing better than something free.

[2deadlegs]

I'm guessing knock sensor. Everytime it would rain or I would drive thru a puddle it would come on. When the engine dried it would shut the CEL off. From what I was told it had to do with the casing of the sensor and that it was prone to cracking. Subaru made newer ones better to avoid this problem.

I hope this helps but please keep us informed as to what you find out.

[Pwise2326]

yeah be careful with big puddles, unless you've gone through your engine bay and elsewhere with electrical tape to really seal off the electrical connections, many of them can be partially exposed and fry when bathed in the elements. I'm having my own problems after going through a foot of water the other day, I cruised through it no problems, the engine's running fine, but when the RPM's get up there (around 4k, sometimes more, sometimes less) or just as I'm reengaging the clutch I hear this awfully loud buzz. I'm hoping its just the heat cover above the exhaust, but then again I've been having lots of problems with my clutch so I'm hoping something didn't get messed up in there (don't know how a puddle would do that, but still). Long story short: beware of foot deep puddles.