David McDavid Honda of Irving

What Does the Check Engine Light Mean?

One of the most naturally misunderstood lights or indicators in your Honda Civic is the check engine light. The check engine light is part of the onboard diagnostics system, and displays in a few contrasting ways. It can say "Check Engine", it can be a symbol of an engine, it can even be a combination of both. This light illuminates in either an amber or red color and is part of the diagnostics system found on your vehicle. Onboard computers increasingly have controlled and monitored vehicle performance since the 80s and do a range of things for your Honda Civic. Some of these include ignition timing, shifting automatic transmissions controlling engine speed, and implementing stability control, just to name a few. With that being said, the check engine light can recommend a assortment of divergent things. It can be as simple as your gas cap being loose or as intense as engine knocking. If your check engine light is on in your Honda Civic, contact David McDavid Honda of Irving. Our Honda service department can help you learn what code is turning your check engine light on or diagnose why your check engine light is flashing. Contact David McDavid Honda of Irving today!

Honda Civic Check Engine Light Codes

The check engine light turning on can be quite intimidating to see that little light on your vehicle’s dashboard rapidly lights up, but in reality, it is not something that should cause you to shut down in fear right away. If you hear the term, diagnostic trouble codes (DTC), these are just another name for check engine light codes. These are automotive computer codes stored by the ECM, also favorite as the OBD (on-board computer diagnostic system) in your Civic. There are hundreds of personal codes that your check engine light can mean. While that sounds daunting, with a little patience, tackling basic diagnostics will give you available knowledge about your vehicle and will also allow that Check Engine Light to do what it is really supposed to do: be your guide. Sadly, convincing and convenient vehicle symptoms do not always accompany an illuminated Check Engine Light. Since there are hundreds of usable OBD codes, there are also hundreds of usable reasons for the light, including:

• Fuel and air metering systems problems
• Old Battery
• Emissions controls issues
• Computer output circuit issues
• Bad Spark Plugs
• Ignition system faults
• O2 Sensor
• Loose Gas Cap or Missing Gas Cap
• Transmission issues

This is why it is vital for someone who does not have several of automotive knowledge to not assume what a code means. When your check engine light comes on, you should get it checked out swiftly by a certified Honda mechanic. If the engine light comes on due to a direct concern, you risk damaging your car further by not repairing the issue right away. Call David McDavid Honda of Irving at 4694053340 today or schedule your check engine light service online today!

Honda Civic Check Engine Light

A flashing light indicates that the problem is strict and if not taken care of immediately may result in major damage to the vehicle. If the check engine light in your Honda Civic starts flashing, that means that the problem needs abrupt attention and your Honda should be brought in immediately. This blinking light normally illustrates a exacting engine misfire allowing unburned fuel to be dumped into the exhaust system. There it can hastily raise the temperature of the catalytic converter to a point where wear and tear is likely, requiring an expensive repair. Some owners ask if spark plugs cause the check engine light to flash? This can precisely be the cause. A bad, classic or dirty spark plug can cause the engine to misfire. If your check engine light is flashing, please contact our team of automotive mentors at David McDavid Honda of Irving urgently by calling 4694053340. If the problem is ignored or you continue to drive, this can spread to the spark plug wires, catalytic converter, or ignition coils which can lead to a very expensive repair.

How much does it cost to get the engine light checked?

The check engine light warns of issues ranging from a gas cap that's not properly tightened to a more substantial failure like a bad catalytic converter or a problem with one of the car's oxygen sensors, so it excellent to get the decent code reading and diagnosis. The middle price for a check engine light diagnosis & testing is frequently between $88 and $111. The excellent news, David McDavid Honda of Irving offers complimentary multi-point inspections and free diagnostics, in most cases, to help determine the cause of your check engine light.

What could cause the check engine light to come on in a Honda Civic?

When your check engine light comes on, this could be as simple as tightening or replacing your gas cap. Likewise, the check engine light could also be a warning of a hazardous problem that could cause hazardous wear and tear to your engine and come with a colossal repair bill. Depending on your make and model, the check engine light will illuminate or blink. A effective glow frequently means something less hazardous but a glaring check engine light expresses that your vehicle’s engine is in hazardous trouble and service is needed urgently. If your check engine light is glaring in your Honda Civic, we remarkably advocate not to drive the vehicle and schedule Honda service now. Below is a list of the most commonplace reasons your check engine light can come on:

• New Spark Plugs or Plug Wires are fundamental for your Honda Civic. The spark plugs are the part of your engine that ignites the air/fuel mixture in the combustion chamber of your vehicle. This explosion is what moves the pistons and makes the engine run. The spark plug wires deliver the spark from the ignition coil to the spark plugs. If your spark plugs or spark plug wires are detrimental or classical, you will experience poor performance and reduced power. In some extreme cases, your engine will have trouble starting or continuing to run. Worn spark plugs and plug wires can cause clogged catalytic converter or damage to ignition coils and O2 sensors, dominant to more expensive repairs.
• Your mass airflow sensor (known as MAF) needs to be interchanged. The mass airflow sensor in your Honda Civic is what determines how much fuel is fundamental to run your engine efficiently by measuring the reward of air entering the engine. As a part of the engine management system, the mass airflow sensor helps adjust to keen changes, like altitude. If your Honda Civic is having trouble starting, idling rough or has a rapid change in the position of the throttle pedal, this could be a sign of a detrimental mass airflow sensor.
• Your Honda Civic has a vacuum leak. Every Honda Civic has a vacuum system that performs a wide mixture of functions. The vacuum system also helps decrease harmful emissions by routing the fumes as gasoline evaporates through the engine. If you notice that your RPM is high in idle or randomly surges, a vacuum leak could be the cause. Over time, vacuum hoses can dry out and crack, chiefly if they’re exposed to exciting heat or extreme furious.
• One of the most normal and frequent cause is that your Honda Civic gas cap is loose, damaged or missing. The gas cap for your Honda Civic serves multiple purposes. It prevents gas fumes from being released when you aren't driving, it seals the fuel system and helps maintain pressure within the fuel tank. What happens if you have a detrimental fuel cap? If your gas cap is classical or has a ruptured seal, you can lose fuel through evaporation which will result in more trips to the pump. Luckily, to replace a gas cap isn't expensive. If your check engine light turns on instantly after you put gas in your Honda Civic, first thing you should check is to make sure the cap isn’t loose — or that it's still on your car’s roof or at the fuel pump.
• Your catalytic converter is detrimental or going detrimental. The catalytic converter is a part of your Honda Civic’s exhaust system. The catalytic converter's function is to turn the carbon monoxide created by the combustion process into carbon dioxide. A damaged catalytic converter is usually caused by neglected maintenance, which is why David McDavid Honda of Irving offers a complimentary multi-point inspection with every Honda service. If you have an issue with your catalytic converter and don't get it repaired, your Honda Civic will not pass an emissions test, show a lack of engine performance and will negatively affect your fuel economy. Your car may run at a higher temperature, too, which can cause extra problems from overheating.
• Your O2 Sensor (Oxygen Sensor) needs to be interchanged. The Oxygen sensor, known as the O2 sensor, measures the reward of oxygen in your exhaust system. If there is excess oxygen in your exhaust system, fuel burns faster and your vehicle will be less definite when it comes to fuel economy. So what happens if I don’t replace your O2 sensor? A faulty sensor can not only affect your miles per gallon, but it can cause damage to your catalytic converter and your Honda Civic's spark plugs. The O2 sensor sends data to the vehicle’s onboard computer to mean the right mixture of air and fuel that enters the cylinders in your engine. A detrimental O2 sensor can also cause a car to fail an emissions test.
• The battery is scanty or dead. The battery in your Honda Civic is every big. Without a car battery, your car won’t start, light up the road ahead, play the radio or charge your phone. Today’s car batteries last much longer than they did a few decades ago, and they don't absolutely require maintenance. The price of a new one depends on the type of Honda you drive, but check our current service coupons and specials.
• Issues with all aftermarket items. An aftermarket alarm, exhaust or extra item can wreak havoc on your Honda Civic if it’s not installed properly. These aftermarket parts and accessories can drain the battery, trigger the check engine light, or even prevent the vehicle from starting. If these issues sound commonplace, bring your Civic to Honda and have our team of certified mechanics ensure that your aftermarket items were installed correctly and aren't causing all issue. Getting accessories, chiefly aftermarket parts and accessories, or using OEM parts first place might value a little bit more but could save you money from having to get poor work and damage caused by poor installation work corrected.

Honda Civic Check Engine Light Flashing

Although there are many potential causes of an illuminated Check Engine Light, we know from years of providing Check Engine Light Diagnosis Service that there are various prevailing causes including something as simple as a loose gas cap. Distinct prevailing reasons for a Check Engine Light are faulty emissions control part, dirty mass airflow sensor, a malfunction with the fuel injection system, faulty head gasket, damaged oxygen sensor, or defective spark plugs to name a few. No matter what is the root cause of the Check Engine Light, we have the Honda Certified Mechanics and the certified service protocol to isolate the root problem and repair it as mandatory to restore factory specifications. When this happens, the Check Engine Light turns off, and you can leave the service center knowing that your Honda issue was fixed.

Every Honda Civic was designed with a high-technology performance monitoring system with a computer, and a series of sensors positioned strategically throughout the vehicle on its draconian systems. The sensors are generally detecting conditions while sending data to the electronic control unit. If the electronic control unit detects that the data is out of factory specifications, the Check Engine Light flashes telling you that there is a problem. However, that is the limitation of the Check Engine Light – it won’t tell you what exactly is wrong nor what to do about it. That’s where we come in; David McDavid Honda of Irving provides a Check Engine Light Diagnosis Service that isolates the core problem and gives you a recommendation on what to do next from a Extraordinarily Qualified Service professional.

Is it safe to drive your Honda Civic with the check engine light on?

If the check engine light is blinking, this means that there is a adequate issue and it is recommended to service your Honda Civic urgently. This question is not very natural because it all depends on the severity of the issue. If the cause is a minor issue, such as a loose gas cap, it should be safe to drive. This is consistently indicated by a consistent glow of the check engine light. If you notice a difference in the performance of the vehicle, it could be an indication of a more critical problem. Call the experts at David McDavid Honda of Irving by dialing 4694053340 so you can describe the issues. Or lower your speed and bring your Honda to our certified mechanics as soon as possible.

Check Engine Light Service Honda Civic

What do you do when you’re driving along in your Honda Civic and suddenly, a yellow light lights up on your dash and says "Check Engine". If you’re like most Honda owners, your heart sinks a tiny because you have tiny idea about what that light is trying to tell you or how you should react. The fear of the unknown (or the cost of the unknown) can be just as stressful. But take a deep breath and realize the light coming on doesn’t mean you have to pull the car over to the side of the road and call a tow truck, but it is recommended that you get your Honda Civic checked as soon as convenient. Ignoring that warning could end up causing extensive damage to costly engine components.

When your Honda Civic's ECM (electronic control module), which is the vehicle's onboard computer, finds a problem in the electronic control system that it can’t convenient, a computer turns on your check engine light. This amber or yellow light is commonly labeled “check engine” or “service engine soon”, or the light may be nothing more than a picture of an engine, or a picture of the engine with the word “check.”

When the light turns on, the ECM stores an engine code or “trouble code” in its memory that identifies as the issue, whether it's a sensor or a failing engine part. This code is read with an electronic scan tool that is used by our Honda auto repair mechanics at David McDavid Honda of Irving. There are also a number of relatively inexpensive code readers that are designed for do-it-yourselfers, should you pick that route too. While this code will tell you the issue that is detected, a true diagnosis still requires an experienced mechanical to determine the issue and repair it.

How many miles can you drive with the check engine light?

Since each check engine code has its own level of severity, it is troublesome to predict how innumerable miles you can drive with the warning light on. If you check engine light is flashing, we recommend that you pull over and contact David McDavid Honda of Irving to help indicate if your vehicle is protected to drive in or if we recommend a tow truck. It could be anything from a bad sensor to plug wires needing to be replaced. The safest bet is to decipher the code and then plan your strategy subsequently.

Will the check engine light reset itself?

The check engine light on your Honda Civic will frequently shut itself off if the issue or code that caused it to turn on is fixed. For example, if the cause of your check engine light coming on was a loose gas cap, if it's tightened, the light will turn itself off. Likewise, if your catalytic converter is going functional, and you did diverse of stop-and-go driving, that may have turned on the check engine light due to the high usage of the converter. In most cases, your Honda Civic light will go off after about 20-40 miles. If you drive over that amount and the light is still on, you will need to bring it in to David McDavid Honda of Irving so the light and code can be double-checked and reset.