That little light can mean a lot of things. How do you know if it’s a serious problem or just a small issue?

If your car doesn’t sound like there is a monkey swinging a hammer under your hood and your vehicle is not billowing smoke, you’re probably not in immediate danger. The check engine light, or malfunction indication light, as it’s known to the auto elite, is designed to keep the driver informed of any number of sensor failures or engine irregularities.

As automotive environmental standards became stricter throughout the 1980s, onboard engine monitoring became more and more complex. Today, a variety of sensors feed your vehicle’s computer information on everything from ambient air temperature to the amount of oxygen in the car’s exhaust gasses.

The vehicle’s onboard computer, or engine control unit (ECU), then makes adjustments to ensure that the engine is running as efficiently, and cleanly, as possible in the given conditions. When one of those sensors fail, or gets a strange reading, you get the dreaded amber light of doom. So what do you do?

First, save the cold sweats for your yearly review with the boss.

Second, go ahead and get it checked out. A technician will use a code reader – plugging it into your car’s data port – that will display a numerical code that can be referenced to diagnose your car’s problem. Most times the cross-referenced descriptions are less than helpful to a DIYer. You may get “fuel supply system” as the cause of your troubles. Unfortunately, the fuel supply system on most vehicles is made up of a slew of parts, and choosing to replace each and every one until you hit the trouble spot would be costly. Luckily, an experienced technician can decipher your car’s woes.

Occasionally, there may be a simple solution to your check engine light dilemma, and these are things you can check yourself. Failing to tighten your gas cap all the way, not fully seating your engine oil dipstick or a loose oil fill cap can all cause the check engine light to flash. If you check all of the above and you’re still stuck with a little extra amber on your dash, pay a visit to your mechanic.

If you haven’t noticed any huge drop in performance when the light comes on, you can probably get away with putting off your check up for awhile. Don’t take too long though, as the light may indicate the beginnings of a much more serious problem.

Even if that’s not the case, not addressing the issue will inevitably lead to you bumming a ride from coworkers. Pull that piece of electrical tape off of the light, and get it taken care of.



Five Signs There Is No Serious Problem
1.Your car seems to be behaving normally
2.No strange noises
3.No smoke
4.No strange smell
5.You’re getting the same gas mileage


Five Signs There Could Be A Serious Problem
1.A consistent rattle, knock or other unusual noise
2.Smoke
3.A severe loss of power
4.A serious decline in gas mileage
5.The vehicle does not start





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Thanks for the info, I have seen the light on my dash board, and its permanently on.

Likei:
Thanks for the info, I have seen the light on my dash board, and its permanently on.

If your check engine light is illuminated it means there is a problem with your power train. You need to run a scan, if you are in lagos and you need to run a scan and fix the problem based on the scan result call multi autolab on 08165520837 or 08156087872. Bbpin is 7BE1C522

mayor2013:


If your check engine light is illuminated it means there is a problem with your power train. You need to run a scan, if you are in lagos and you need to run a scan and fix the problem based on the scan result call multi autolab on 08165520837 or 08156087872. Bbpin is 7BE1C522

I am in umuahia, and I need to run a scan and fix the problem. Any ideas on where it can be done?

How much does the scan cost?

Make sure you have your car scanned if the check engine light is permanently on.

I want to thank you for this piece of information. I saw this light and the other one on tyre as seen on the linked thread to this one. I quickly called a mechanic who said it is due for service. I heeded to his advice and service the car but the light is still showing but the tyre pressure one is gone. Mind you I drove the car up to 25km after seen the orange or yellow light this morning. I have not experienced the 2nd 5 signs listed. What is the way out

Batam:
I want to thank you for this piece of information. I saw this light and the other one on tyre as seen on the linked thread to this one. I quickly called a mechanic who said it is due for service. I heeded to his advice and service the car but the light is still showing but the tyre pressure one is gone. Mind you I drove the car up to 25km after seen the orange or yellow light this morning. I have not experienced the 2nd 5 signs listed. What is the way out

You need to have your car scanned with a diagnostics kit. For the light to still be on even after having it serviced means there are other issues too. See a mechanic/technician with a diagnostics kit to have it scanned but if you have a friend with a kit then use that at least that will keep from spending more money. Please try and make sure your fuel cap is properly closed because sometimes, it can be simple as having it closed tightly.

i had my car scanned,and the computer guy said d problem is the indomie inside the exhaust and also sensors 1 &4 of my tyres.That i needed to change the indomie and tyre sensors.I decided to visit one of the road side Kazeems' who read the tyre pressure and shouted it was overinflated,ever since he deflated it to the pressure prescribed by tyre manufacturer,that signal of tyre has disappeared from the dashboard,leaving me with checkengine only.Hmmmmmm,so the computer guy failed after checking it.Hmm ,do i need to change d indomie since he failed initially with d evaluation.Pls suggestion needed.Tnks

Monlo:
i had my car scanned,and the computer guy said d problem is the indomie inside the exhaust and also sensors 1 &4 of my tyres.That i needed to change the indomie and tyre sensors.I decided to visit one of the road side Kazeems' who read the tyre pressure and shouted it was overinflated,ever since he deflated it to the pressure prescribed by tyre manufacturer,that signal of tyre has disappeared from the dashboard,leaving me with checkengine only.Hmmmmmm,so the computer guy failed after checking it.Hmm ,do i need to change d indomie since he failed initially with d evaluation.Pls suggestion needed.Tnks

Scan DTC result are not to be taken literary as the definite diagnosis result as some further test still need to be done to isolate the issue.
That the scan DTC shows a faulty catalyst doesn't means you take the result hook and sinker,a lot of variables is still involved ,eg faulty downstream o2 sensor ,exhaust leak etc.
So further test need to be done to isolate the issue or else you will buy a catalyst worth 70k and the catalyst code will still persist.
If you in Lagos ,and you need a professional diagnostics service ,call autologic @08061166316

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