Inside the Check Engine Light

The Devil Inside the Check Engine Light By Frank Bellucci

You know that funny little red light that comes on that says "Check Engine". We've all been there, minding our own business driving down the road and "pop" it comes on without any regard to our schedule and our busy lives. I don’t know about you, but I’ve noticed over the years that it has a reckless indifference to how stressed I am on a given day.

Long ago, I used to think the Check Engine Light meant something like the engine was about to explode or something. Panicking, I’d call my service advisor and report that somebody needs to “check my engine” because the car said so and it was after all a “red light”. I’d beg for an emergency landing strip and to clear all traffic from my airspace so I could immediately descend into the shop for an emergency car version of cardiac arrest surgery. I’d expected them to have fire extinguishers and ambulances at the ready to help.

Later my grandfather (picture the aging 80 year old Italian guy in the Godfather) told me that the light was actually only put there by crafty carmakers that just wanted to make sure you took your car in so they can make money on some kind of service.

Well, today I can tell you the reality may be a bit less extreme than either of these scenarios. The problem identified by the Check Engine Light may be quite uneventful and not nearly so death defying. But it can also mean something serious and should be checked out as soon as you can. It may save you some big bucks. Your trusty mechanic should be able to hook your car up to his shop computer and tell you what the car is griping about. Your car has an on board diagnostics module which discovers and records problems it sees from potentially hundreds of points in the car.

I guess in the old days, before car computers, the car would just brake down and you’d have to tow it in for service. The Check Engine Light and the accompanying computer sensors actually try to prevent such an occurrence by observing and informing you of an anomalous condition it sees.

So Grandpa wasn’t exactly right. It wasn’t the carmakers trying to make sure you visit the service shop more often. It was actually designed to keep you on the road and give you some reaction time between a potential problem (or actual one) and a more costly problem or breakdown.

So hopefully that helps give a little background to your Check Engine Light condition you might have and why it’s happening! Thanks for reading!