Warning! Warning! What The Check Engine Light Means For Drivers

August 9, 2010

If the check engine light pops on in your car is it time to panic?

• The yellow light on your dashboard has many meanings that range from serious problems like extreme engine trouble to simple issues like a loose gas cap.

• Most of the time drivers won’t have to immediately stop their car or call a tow truck if the light turns on, – but ignoring the warning isn’t a good idea and

could lead to serious damage to your engine.

Get It Checked

• A simple solution for drivers with a check engine light is to take their car into a local tire retailer and have an ASE Certified technician take a look at it. Most tire retailers are fully equipped to quickly diagnose the problem and fix it.

Onboard Diagnostics

• The check engine light is part of a car's onboard diagnostics (OBD) system. In the last couple of decades the OBD has gained

more and more ‘responsibility’ so to speak. It now controls and

monitors a vehicle’s performance by regulating engine speed, fuel mixture and ignition timing.

An Improvement

• In 1996 the government made it so OBD had another important function – monitoring automotive emissions. – The computer almost acts as a

continual state emissions test, checking things like if gasoline vapors are leaking out of the car or if the car is releasing carbon monoxide.

An Improvement Cont.

• If a problem surfaces with any component that the OBD monitors then the system turns on the check engine light. – Behind the scenes, problems are given specific codes

that are then stored in the device’s memory. – This is where a tire retailer’s ASE Certified technicians

come in. Most tire retailers have electronic scan tools that can run diagnostics on the OBD system and can easily determine what the problem is and of course solve it.

Setting It Off

• The diagnostic can reveal failure of the oxygen sensor in your car’s exhaust (a common malfunction); a faulty spark plug, plug wire, coil pack, cap; low oil or coolant; a loose gas cap and those are just some of the things that can set off a check engine light.

•

Memorize

• One way to limit unneeded scans at the tire retailer is to go through your car owner’s manual and familiarize yourself with the various lights on the dashboard. The manual is also a good place to find out what the check engine light covers for individual models.

Check Everything

• Another thing car owners can do before a diagnostic is to tighten the gas cap. This often solves the problem, but in many models it will take more than one trip for the light to shut off.

• One thing to note is that if the check engine light is red or flashes repeatedly that is a case where you should stop the car immediately

It’s Not the End

• The check engine light alone doesn’t mean your car is falling apart, but it does mean something needs fixing.

• A lot of times it’s something small, but the sooner it gets to a tire retailer the better.

• A tire store’s scan can pin-point the problem cheaply and get your car on the road to recovery.

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