A small amber symbol glows on the dashboard one morning, the car seems to drive normally, and within a week the light has become part of the furniture. Justin, who manages Car Care Clinic at The Square in Sunninghill, counts the engine warning light among the dashboard lights that should never be left to sit.
“In your advanced stages of vehicles these days you’ll get warnings such as your engine light, that’s an important one,” he said.
What the engine warning light is telling you
The engine warning light, usually an amber outline of an engine, comes on when the car’s computer records a fault in the engine or its emissions system. The cause can be as minor as a loose fuel cap or as serious as a failing sensor or a misfire, and the only way to know which is to read the fault code the car has stored. A flashing engine light is more urgent than a steady one; it generally points to a severe misfire, which can overheat and damage the catalytic converter, and the car should be driven gently to a workshop or not at all.
As a broad rule, red warning lights mean stop safely as soon as possible, and amber lights mean have the car checked soon. The red lights worth knowing by sight are oil pressure, engine temperature, battery or charging, and brakes, because driving on with any of them lit can turn a repair into an engine or a set of brakes. Amber lights include the engine light, ABS, tyre pressure on cars that have sensors, and the service reminder.
Red or amber: reading the dashboard
Warnings that switch themselves off are the easiest of all to forget. “Even your small electronics, like a flashing light and it goes away,” he said, listing it among the maintenance items motorists most often ignore. A light that switches itself off has usually left a stored code behind, which a diagnostic scan can still read.
Owner’s manuals list every symbol a particular model uses, with what each one means, and the page is worth a few minutes before it is needed. “Any light on your vehicle, if you’re unsure regarding it, rather have it checked out,” he said.
Car Care Clinic’s diagnostic services include reading and resolving engine light fault codes, clearing error codes and resetting service indicators, and a computer diagnostics scan forms part of its major service. The Sunninghill branch is at Sunninghill Square, on the corner of Leeukop Street and Naivasha Road, on 011 202 5244 or sunninghill@carcareclinic.co.za.
