Well, there are plenty of things that the car might need or be in want of, but for $200, I think you got a helluva steal. Sure it ain't stolen? (joking)
For starters, we need to figure out what's causing the CEL (Check Engine Light) to come on. Could be something fiendishly simple, like a bad O2 sensor, or it could be something devilishly hard to track down... but it's usually the pretty simple stuff if the car's still running.
Go to the passenger side of your car. Sit in the seat, and see where your feet hit the floor, where it turns upward at an angle? Under the carpet there (you'll have to peel the carpet back about 8" or so) lives your Engine Control Unit (ECU). It has a little "window" in the middle of it, with an LED in the window. You turn on your key (or leave the car running when the CEL is on), and the LED will flash at you. It's the car's way of letting you know what area is having issues.
The flashes are repeated, and it can throw more than one code at a time, so you have to take your time, count the flashes, count them again when they repeat, and make sure you've got them all.
For instance, "Flash...Flash...Flash...Flash... - pause - Flash...Flash...Flash...Flash... - pause -" is a "Code 4" (4 pulses, then repeated). If you get something like "Flash... - pause - Flash...Flash...Flash...Flash...Flash...Flash...Flash... - pause - Flash... - pause - Flash...Flash...Flash...Flash...Flash...Flash...Flash... - pause" then you're getting a Code 1 and a Code 7.
Let us know what the ECU says, and we can start steering you the right direction to fixing the problem.
And congrats on the purchase. Sounds sweet.
Mike
