When my check engine lightcomes on, I’m torn between utter panic and just wanting to ignore it and hope it goes away. How about you? How does it make you feel just thinking about it? It’s understandable of course, because that same check engine light could be coming on for anything, from serious damage to your transmission all the way down to just a loose gas cap.
“A loose gas cap?” you say. “There’s a trouble code for that, seriously?” That’s a really good question. There’s a very common misconception that the trouble codes stored in your engine computer when your check engine light comes on will specifically identify a problem. It’s really more like pointing to the symptoms of a problem. Take your temperature, for instance. Say it’s 101 degrees. Your heat sensor, the thermometer, tells you your temperature is out of the normal range, but what it doesn’t tell you is why you have a fever. Is it the flu or a sinus infection?
You need more information, more tests. For any given trouble code, there can be a number of causes. So, your trained technician here at Elite Auto Repair in Tempe takes the trouble code as a starting point and begins a diagnostic process to determine the cause of the problem. And for some problems, it takes longer than others. When your engine management system logs a problem and illuminates the check engine light, the service technician plugs in a scanner, downloads the trouble codes and goes to work tracing the cause of the problem. That’s when our training, equipment, databases and skill get put to work diagnosing the problem and fixing it.
It’s also important to note if your check engine light is flashing, it means the problem could lead to serious damage, and you should bring your car into our service center as soon as possible to get the problem solved. If it’s on but not flashing, you have some time to get in at your convenience. If you need to have your vehicle looked because the check engine light has come on, or you’d just like to have a free safety inspection before the check engine light comes on, give us a call today:
This awesome story is brought to us by PopularMechanics.com. You heard right…LASER HEADLIGHTS! Who wouldn’t want that?! But, how do they work, and what does this mean in actual use? At the 2014 International Consumer Electronics Show, Audi announced that laser-based lights will make it into production cars. And Audi’s 2014 R18 race car, which will compete at the 24 Hours of LeMans, will use six laser diodes in addition to its banks of LED lights. How do you turn a laser beam into something resembling a headlight?
Today’s cars are making life easier in so many ways. They remind you to perform regular maintenance with warning lights. They park themselves and automatically stop if something comes in front of them, like another vehicle or the neighbor’s new dog. They have rear cameras, heated seats, and mondo speakers that allow you to listen to Drake as loud as you’d like. Oh, and they even cancel out sound, so you won’t hear road noise.
