Auto Repair Video Site

You may have seen one of these lights on your dash when you start your vehicle. May say check engine or service engine soon, or might simply be an icon in the shape of an engine.

Should stay on for couple of seconds, and then go out when you start your engine. But what happens if it stays on, or comes on while you are driving. Does it mean the car is about to break down? Not necessarily. Does it mean you have to pull out to road immediately and call for help? No, so what does it mean? It means your vehicle’s on board diagnostic computer has detected a problem somewhere in the engine management system. It’s a heads up your vehicle needs an attention. When the check engine light comes on, a trouble code would be set in a computer. So even if the light goes out or it comes on imminently, the computer will remember the problem.

Prior to 1996 each manufacture had its own method for retrieving codes, in its own list of what the code means. 1996 and later vehicles, are equipped with the second generation on board diagnostic system, were commonly known as OBD II.

These vehicles all use the same methods, for reading codes and the same code list.

In case you didn’t see the video in part 1 of this series… here it is again

This is part of a series of posts; you can read the rest of it by clicking on the links for the Table of Contents at the top of this post.

Tags: british car repair, car paint chip repair, do it yourself auto repairs, car repair manuals, haynes car repair manual, auto mechanic, auto glass repair sacramento

Tags

Mechanics Tools