auto repair

The check engine light can be one of the most mystifying diagnostic alerts on your vehicle, especially if you’re fairly new to DIY maintenance. The fact is, even people who are quite experienced with home auto repair wind up perplexed by it, because often there is very little noticeable change in the vehicle’s behavior, but other times it comes on and your car won’t start. That’s due in part to the wide range of issues that light can represent, as well as the different ways individual ECMs wind up handling issues that cause the light to turn on. While you might not notice a change to your vehicle’s ride at first, often there is ongoing damage due to the underlying issue that tripped the light, so it’s not a good idea to ignore it. Over time, even a check engine light that seems benign can lead to excess wear on engine parts, increased emissions, or drastically reduced gas mileage, and that’s assuming it doesn’t eventually prevent the vehicle from starting. (more…)