It is Monday morning and you are already late for work. You hop in the car, "slightly" speed down the road to the freeway and...get in line for rush hour traffic. While you're mumbling to yourself, you hear a ding and look at your dash. Great, the check engine light has come on. Just great!
The check engine light is the one glowing part of the dashboard that can make grown men weep like babies. This is due to the historical meaning of the light. When the check engine light first started appearing on the dashboard of cars, it was a harbinger of doom. When it lit up, it usually meant there was something severely wrong with the car and it was going to cost a bundle to get it fixed. Fortunately, this is not always the case any longer.
Modern cars have become fairly complex. With complexity has come a certain dumbing down of weekend mechanics. Put another way, most of us don't work on our cars anymore besides the odd washing and perhaps oil change. There check engine light has thus evolved into a sort of idiot light. When it goes on now, it can mean the car has a major problem or it can just be minor. I was driving around in my Mini Cooper recently and notice the light on. After creating a load of new curse words, I dropped by the mechanic. The problem? The gas cap was not on tight. It cost me a few bucks for the diagnosis and most of my pride to get it fixed, but that was all!
The modern check engine light works in a unique way. It doesn't refer to any specific part of the car. It will not tell you the right front brake caliper is shot because you drive like a maniac on that one windy road by your home. Nope. All it does is notice there is a problem with the diagnostic circuit for the front right brake or suspension area. When you take it in, the mechanic will read the error code on the computer and then take a look at that area of the car to see if there is a problem.
How do you know if the check engine light means you have a loose gas cap versus an engine that is about to explode? Well, you don't really. Still, you don't have to worry. The check engine light isn't really the indicator of major problems anymore. Instead, most modern cars have a fail safe system of some sort. This system monitors the car for major problems. If the system determines your engine is going to blow because you haven't added oil in seven years, it will activate and do something that is pretty ingenious - it will turn off the car! Yes, you actually lose your right to drive the car!
The check engine light is something you must head if it goes on. When it inevitably does, check your dials and brakes to make sure everything seems to be working. If everything looks okay, you can drive it to the mechanic. If something is obviously wrong, pull over and call for a tow truck. Don't let a small repair become a big one because you continued to drive the car.
Dirk Gibson is with DCJAutoParts.com - your online home for high performance auto parts and accessories online
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dirk_Gibson
By Dirk Gibson
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