Nobody wants to see the check engine light up on the dashboard, but it’s really important that you don’t ignore it or pretend it isn’t there if yours does happen to light up. Allman’s Automotive has some information that can help you to keep your cool and to assess what’s going on with your car’s engine if you see this scary light.
You’re Overdue for an Oil Change
It’s easy to put off oil changes. They don’t seem that urgent for most car owners and life gets busy. It’s understandable. The problem is that if you forget too often or go way too long in between oil changes, that causes damage to your car’s engine. Eventually, you are going to see the check engine light because your car has to have clean engine oil, and plenty of it, in order to keep the engine as healthy as possible.
The Engine Is Misfiring
There are other things that can cause engine damage, though, besides skipping oil changes. Sometimes those other contributing factors cause something called a misfire. You hear misfires as engine knocks, and a few engine knocks aren’t so scary. But over time, engine knocks create more and more damage. Correcting the underlying issue corrects the misfiring and can help to prevent long-term engine damage.
You’ve Got Trouble with the Transmission
You might wonder what on earth the transmission has to do with the check engine light. But there are a few things to understand about this. For starters, the engine sends a lot of power to the transmission in order to move the car. And if the transmission is having trouble, that means that the engine is creating power that isn’t going anywhere.
There’s Something Small and Fixable Going On
The ideal answer, of course, is that there’s something really tiny that could create big engine problems later. Examples of this can include things like your gas cap being partially unsealed or using the wrong octane level of gas. Those are fixable issues that aren’t likely to mean that your car’s engine is failing right now in a big way. This is the big reason it’s so important to not freak out whenever the check engine light comes on, because it might just be one of these small issues.
Allman’s Automotive in Groveland, MA is here for you for all of your car’s repair needs, but especially in the case of diagnosing your car’s check engine light. We’ll accurately assess what’s happening and let you know what your car’s engine needs.