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Car Question

julie_m

julie_m

EveryoneLovesACallyGirl
Joined
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If my check engine light came on this evening, does that mean, check it right now? Could I drive it a couple more days? I'm very busy and really don't need this. :angry:
 
julie_m said:
If my check engine light came on this evening, does that mean, check it right now? Could I drive it a couple more days? I'm very busy and really don't need this. :angry:
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Most of the time it is a faulty sensor. I had a similar problem, not to long ago. However, it could be a major problem. I would recommend getting it looked at as soon as possible.
 
my check engine light has been on in my Truck for over 2 years, lol.... mine is just a bad sensor so theres no reason to even fix it
 
You might be able to go to an auto parts store and have them run the codes on it. At least that way you'll know if it is something that needs immediate attention or not.
 
RocketSauce said:
my check engine light has been on in my Truck for over 2 years, lol.... mine is just a bad sensor so theres no reason to even fix it
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That's the thing, I hear these stories of "oh, I drove it like that for a week" or "for months" ... I just don't want it to blow up and have a worse problem.
 
I'd definitely go the diagnostic route at a local auto parts store asap...
 
I know...I just have to find a diagnostic that can work before 8 or after 6. Grrrr.

Or...if I could just wait a couple days...oh, the gamble!
 
julie_m said:
That's the thing, I hear these stories of "oh, I drove it like that for a week" or "for months" ... I just don't want it to blow up and have a worse problem.
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well yeah, i did have mine checked by a friend and he said it was just a sensor, so i left it alone. better to be safe though and get it checked (by someone you can trust)
 
Better to get it looked at but your Owners Manual may have some info as well. One of my cars manuals indicate that it the check engine light is flashing it needs immediate attention, if it's solid it should be looked at in a timely fashion.
 
LefTe said:
Better to get it looked at but your Owners Manual may have some info as well. One of my cars manuals indicate that it the check engine light is flashing it needs immediate attention, if it's solid it should be looked at in a timely fashion.
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What Lefte said,
-check owner's manual for clue.
-have it check with a hand held diagnostic unit, most dealership open at 7 A.M. and it won't take more than 5 minutes if you could have a service advisor to get a mechanic out of the shop and plug in the hand held in your car.
-usually the check engine light means go in the shop as soon as possible, but it could also be a reminder to have a scheduled service. Is your vehicle due for a major tune up? 30K, 60K , 90K ?

Either way, I would not wait too too long to have it checked out.
 
You can go to Auto Zone and they will scan the code for free.
As long as the engine is still running fine, I wouldnt be all that worried about it.
It might just be a sensor, but it could be any number of things and you wont know until you see what the code is.
One thing you might want to do is invest in an OBD-II scanner. That would allow you to read the codes yourself and clear them out, which comes in handy. Ive got an inexpensive one that I bought for $80.
Its nothing fancy, but it does the job. All you do is plug it into the OBD-II port and it displays the codes on the screen and then you look up the code in the book that it comes with and that tells you what the problem is.
At least that way you wouldnt need to drive to Auto Zone or pay some mechanics to do it every time the light comes on.
When you find out what the code is, let me know what it says and I will try to steer you in the right direction.
 
Ive had check engine lights come on and stay for a long time. I think someone else mentioned that the trouble is when it is flashing. Check the oil and fluids and you should be fine for a couple of days. The only reason I would fix them is if it had to pass smog. Then again, it cant hurt to run it by a Autozone or Pepboys and have them check it.
 
TheGasman said:
Ive had check engine lights come on and stay for a long time. I think someone else mentioned that the trouble is when it is flashing. Check the oil and fluids and you should be fine for a couple of days. The only reason I would fix them is if it had to pass smog. Then again, it cant hurt to run it by a Autozone or Pepboys and have them check it.
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On newer vehicles, once the light comes on, it typically stays on. Usually when it flashes, it does this because of a serious problem.
The only time Ive ever seen it flash was when the engine is misfiring. Ive had a coil fail on my F-150 a couple times and when the engine was missing really bad (such as when under heavy acceleration), the light would flash.
Like I said, as long as the engine is running good, have it checked at your earliest convenience. Be it the end of the week or this weekend or whatever.
It could just be a sensor, it could be an idle air control valve, it could be a PCV valve; it could be a pinhole in a vacuum line. It could be any number of things and reading the code will lead you in the right direction.
:confused2:
 
Bakemono said:
On newer vehicles, once the light comes on, it typically stays on. Usually when it flashes, it does this because of a serious problem.
The only time Ive ever seen it flash was when the engine is misfiring. Ive had a coil fail on my F-150 a couple times and when the engine was missing really bad (such as when under heavy acceleration), the light would flash.
Like I said, as long as the engine is running good, have it checked at your earliest convenience. Be it the end of the week or this weekend or whatever.
It could just be a sensor, it could be an idle air control valve, it could be a PCV valve; it could be a pinhole in a vacuum line. It could be any number of things and reading the code will lead you in the right direction.
:confused2:
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She would notice if it was misfiring. They dont come on for water pumps and things like that. So I think she should be fine.
 
I don't know what year your car is Julie, but did you get gas before the light came on? If you did, make sure your gas cap is on tight. One of our guys had that happen and we took it up to the shop and that's the first thing he checked. You will still need to get the light reset. You can do that by disconnecting the battery. Of course, if that's not what it was, then it will come back on. You'll also clear out other information that will need to be relearned.
 
Since Smallville mentioned disconnecting the battery, I remembered the newer model vehicles will need to reset the check engine light each time the battery either been disconnected or jump started (dead battery, or replacement ).
In the old days when we take a trip, we had always disconnect the battery cables on the vehicles, but you should not have done that with the newer vehicles.
 
I think she would be much better off to find out what the code is, so that she knows whats going on, instead of just guessing.
You are right that you can disconnect the battery cables, let the vehicle sit for at least 20 minutes and it will "forget" the codes. If she did just forget to tighten the gas cap that would be a way to fix it, but just keep in mind that it will take the CPU a while to relearn all of its settings and she would have to reprogram all of the presets into the radio.
It is a way to fix it, but IMO its a real halfass way to do it.
 
I agree Bake; I will take mine in to get it checked (or have our mechanic here hook up the diagnostic) but my personal truck's check engine light comes on every 300-500 miles for no reason. It's been on and off for over two years now! My mechanic checks and resets it every time I take it in for an oil change.

Just wanted to throw another option out there. And you would go through the same thing if you had to replace the battery anyway.
 
Smallville said:
I agree Bake; I will take mine in to get it checked (or have our mechanic here hook up the diagnostic) but my personal truck's check engine light comes on every 300-500 miles for no reason. It's been on and off for over two years now! My mechanic checks and resets it every time I take it in for an oil change.
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Sounds like its time for a new mechanic. CELs dont come on for no reason.

And you would go through the same thing if you had to replace the battery anyway.
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True, but by just disconnecting the battery you dont really know what the problem is, so you are just guessing.
With how expensive auto parts can be, Id prefer to not just guess.
Keep in mind though, my father was a mechanic and Im a mechanic; so I was taught and believe in doing things the right way instead of the half-ass way.
Its always annoyed me when people expect their vehicle to work flawlessly, day in and day out, yet they dont want to spend the time/money to fix/maintain it properly.
Not say thats you, but you know what I mean...
 
Diagnostics came back. Here's what they want to charge me with. (I took the car back and told them I'd think about it.)

-remove and replace spark plug wire set
-"........................" spark plugs
-"........................" distributor cap
-platinum plug
-lifetime wires
-dist cap
-rotor
=424.00
Required

-fuel injection intake hose, labor
=156.42
Required

-fuel system service labor
-fuel system cleaner
-cleaner
=94.99
Recommended

I personally think most of this is bullsh*t. Line of the day:
Julie: Which of these things NEEDS to be done, right now?
Mechanic: It would be unprofessional for me to sit here and tell you that.
 
So basically they told you that a tune up is in order, their prices seem a little out of order. At least to me $424 to change plugs, wires, cap and rotor seems like highway robbery.
 
I was quoted over $500 to have sparkplugs changed on my F-150. If the car is a V6, those things can be a pain to change sparkplugs on and I can see why they are chargin you $400. If its a 4-banger, then Id agree that is a highway robbery.
Id like to know exactly what the car is doing that requires all that service, especially the part about needing the fuel injection intake hose replaced.
It sounds like maybe it had a vacuum line to the intake that had a pinhole in it, causing the engine to draw in more air that it should and run lean (this happened to my F-150 last summer), but its difficult to say for sure without knowing exactly what the codes were and I cant really say whether the service they quoted you for is BS.
 
I can tell you the car is running fantastic (for an 10+yr old car) and the mileage is just fine. I still fill up my 10 gallon tank once every two weeks (and I drive 40 miles a day. Though my head is tired...I can't think of the math for MPG right now.)

EDIT: 40 MPG. Took me a minute, but I got there. (That really shouldn't have been hard, now that I think about it!)
 
What year is the F150 Bake, I know they had big time problems getting the plugs out in the 2004 model.
 
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