The word check seems somewhat antiquated these days. I mean, when was the last time you actually saw someone write one? That’s perhaps why the standard “check engine” warning light doesn’t carry the kind of impending doom weight it once did. “Check engine.” Yeah, I did, it’s still there.
They don’t call the little illuminated warnings on your dashboard idiot lights for nothing. You’d have to be an idiot to pay attention to them, amiright? ABS, tire pressure, zombie invasion, there’s just too many to keep track of these days. That’s why no one is going to call you out for driving around with your dash lit up like a Christmas tree all the time.
Okay, all joking aside, sometimes a check engine or other warning light is an indication of a less than imminent chance of failure. In those cases, it’s probably alright to let it slide for a while. Have you ever had a car with a warning light illuminated that made you think; meh, I’ll get to that one of these days?
Image: OrlandoAutomotive
Hooniverse Asks: Do You Drive Around With a Perennially Lit Warning Lamp?
57 responses to “Hooniverse Asks: Do You Drive Around With a Perennially Lit Warning Lamp?”
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On both my 900s, the SRS and warning triangle lights are perpetually lit from the driver’s airbag being disconnected while the battery was still hooked up. Only way to clear them is with a Tech II.
My 900 convertible also has the check engine/check gearbox lights lit a lot from an untraceable issue which I previously thought was the shift solenoids. -
The Ody’s CEL comes on regularly during the winter. The code is always the same, indicating an O2 sensor isn’t functioning correctly.
It always happens on winter blend gas. I run a couple of tanks of premium through it, and the code clears. Eventually, that ain’t gonna work, and I’m going to have to shell out for new sensors. Not looking forward to that.
Also, the airbag warning light comes on sometimes, and it’s usually when the driver has gotten out of the car, leaving it running, then gotten back in. Something to do with the seatbelt buckle sensor. It generally clears when the car is restarted, so I’ve learned to ignore it. -
My old K1500 has an EGR fault that will illuminate the check engine light after about an hour of driving.
For the first couple of months I owned my 9-7x, the TPMS light was on. First, it was because of a bad sensor. Then it was because I changed over to winter tires, and since I didn’t have the tire place install them, the computer wasn’t programmed to the new sensors. I took it in later and they took care of it.
Those are the only ones that I have ignored for any extended length of time. -
The 9-3 will occasionally light the check engine light. It might stay on for 10 key cycles, it might shut off after 2, never seems to be a real rhyme or reason, other than it often lights when the air conditioner switches on. We had it scanned a while ago, and that showed an evap code (which are usually tripped by the gas cap) so I really don’t care.
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Check around the gas tank. You might have a loose/rusted out hose clamp on the forward side. Found that out after getting evap codes on my 900, along with faint gas smells when the tank was low.
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Thanks – I’ll check it out this weekend when I swap out the snows for the summer rims/tires. I’ve never gotten a fuel smell, but that certainly could be an issue.
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Nope.
I have to deal with state inspections and any lights on the dash causes an automatic fail.-
Yep. You and I are in Texas, and it’s a problem here at inspection time. It’s funny, though – at night, when I pull up next to people at red lights, I’m always looking over at their instruments. I see a lot of car with the check engine light on.
I know I’m going to see it one of these days on my wife’s Sienna (146,000 miles), likely for the O2 sensors. The left bank (front) ones are easy to get to. The right (rear)? Not so much. And the spark plugs? Oy.-
I almost added that from the truck I can see other’s dashes lit up like a Christmas tree and wonder how they ever got past inspection.
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For the CEL, do a reset in the parking lot and hope that it doesn’t come back on during inspection. For everything else, pull the respective bulb.
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The test knows how many miles it’s been since a reset.
I reset the tune to stock mode and they came back saying it failed. I had to drive about 100 miles to get that cleared and pass the test. -
That’s… Interesting. I’m wondering how they’re reading distance since reset; I’m not aware of a way to pull that information, but then I’m not exactly super-expert with OBDII – I just plug in the dongle, run the app, and go.
It’s also interesting that they care about how long the light’s been off for. To my mind it seems as though they should only be able to focus on whether or not the light was on during the test, and whatever may have happened before that is inconsequential unless the car was brought in with the CEL already on.
That said, it kinda sounds like the non-stock tune that you’re running is most of the issue with the problem solved by reverting to stock and giving the ECU a chance to re-learn.
My rule of thumb on stuff like this has been to run a full tank through the car after going back to stock and seeing where it sits; that’s usually further than it needs to go in order to get it back to normal (i.e., likely-to-pass) tune, but also gives enough time to get some idea as to how likely it is to pass before taking it in for the test.
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Yeah, I wonder about that, too, especially since you have to be able to prove your car passed inspection, to renew your registration.
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So why do O2 sensor fail so much? Can’t withstand the grime?
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I’ve seen them fail for a few reasons:
– Too much unburnt oil or gas in the exhaust
– Damage to the wiring (shorting out, open circuit, or, in O2 sensors with a heater, the heater not working)
– Damage to the sensor itself (road debris, etc.)
– Piss-poor manufacturing (like the Denso unit I purchased that split the case wide open like a hot dog in the microwave the first time it got up to temperature)
Generally they’re pretty reliable, though. What’s odd is that I’ve seen them fail for various reasons on different vehicles and no CEL gets thrown – but I’ve also seen them go out and trip the CEL, so it seems to be pretty much vehicle-by-vehicle.
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So glad I moved to a county that doesn’t require emission testing. Before it was lights out and the accompanying unnecessary repair costs.
The light has been on for several years in my 2002 Ram. The fuse box (or PDC) is prone to moisture induced failure. These buggers are hard to find and retail for somewhere around $500 bucks. When mine went, I found a NOS replacement from a dealership that was going out of business for about $200. Turns out from a model year or two later. Nearly plug and play, except the AC cooler fan circuit doesn’t match up causing it to throw a code. A more proactive person would rewire that component properly. Alff don’t care.
I drive a BMW.
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So it has been ever since BMW introduced driver information panels in the ’80s. These overhead displays announced to following drivers that your ultimate driving machine had deferred maintenance.
I don’t miss my recent three and a half years of Audi driving. A couple weeks into 2012 A6 leasing, a flat tire triggered a TPMS. 39 months later, the car was returned. During that period, there were a few trips home from the dealer that didn’t feature warning lights. That’s it. The A7 that replaced the A6 was exactly the same. The peace of mind of driving cars with robust electrical systems and emissions controls is real luxury as far as I’m concerned. Thank you Honda.-
The little triangle warning light has been on for most of my ownership. I have a leaky washer reservoir, so it’ll tell me the washer level is low. It tells me it’s getting close to maintenance and keeps the warning light on. It’s a little too much and runs the risk of making you ignore it and, potentially, something more serious.
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Ah, the low washer fluid light! Many a time did it trigger the flashing trouble lights in the middle of a corner taken at speed in my E30. Perhaps the warning signs that German cars wouldn’t always be the best were there even before reunification.
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Yes. Annoyingly, a conversion of all of the exterior lights on the VW to LEDs – despite using CANBUS bulbs – has caused the ‘Bulb Out’ light on the dash to be perpetually illuminated.
The real problem here is that I am entirely too lazy to swap incandescent bulbs back in until I find the offender(s), so I’m just living with it for the time being despite the warning light being annoying as hell at night.
That said, I will admit that I do somewhat enjoy the irony of the BCM turning on a light to tell me that it thinks there’s a light out somewhere. There’s something sort of Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy about it.
Yep, Trailblazer has CEL on about 2/3 of the time. Code is either fan speed or for the tiny crack in the fuel filler neck.
My wife’s Soul has a tire pressure warning light on because some of the sensors are bad. Hopefully we won’t vault over a curb.
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Yeah, and unless you can break down your own tires, you’re at the mercy of the dealer or tire store when you want to replace a sensor.
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We decided that the light was fine at least 2 sets of tires ago.
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A wife’s soul under pressure…I wouldn’t take that lightly, sir.
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If it’s much warmer than freezing then the Thunderbird will light the CEL for code P1443, inadequate/low/no flow detected in the evaporative emissions control. It’s been that way for 12 years.
Constantly illuminated? No. Just plain burnt out? Perhaps, but I’m okay with not checking.
This is also true of some of my dash warning lights.
I have a really bad history with idiot lights. Following Robert’s sensible logic, that might make me a genius.
First car I owned was a ’77 242. I knew all about Volvo, nothing about mechanics. Checked the oil before I left for a Christmas run to Germany by lifting it up, concurring with myself that it looked wet, and getting back in the car. No drying off it or anything. It later turned out that it mostly was oil vapor, not really liquid, when smoke pilled out of the car after 800km, in the middle of Sweden. Guys at a random shop looked at me with their “Are you stupid or are you testing us”-eyes, and I went on to buy thick 20W50 tractor oil. The cable to the oil lamp was broken.
On the same car, a year later, the “check brakes” light came on. My savvy neighbour did check them, found them ok, and after a lot of people I kept ferrying around asked about the light, the neighbour removed the light bulb. That’s a potential Darwin Award right there.
Many years later, my wife had a ’96 Corolla. Weeks after the biannual tech inspection, where brake pipes were renewed, the red brake light came on. I didn’t really spend much time thinking about it, and assumed it was about the hand brake. Neither did I truly embrace the “yellow means get to a shop, red means stop”-mantra either. One night, coming home from an evening with friends, she lost her brakes. It turned out that a caliper bleeder had been partially open, incredibly slowly leaking brake fluid.
So, yes, idiot lights.
My 1990 Civic would show the CEL in humid conditions (South Florida) but the light would go away if the car was restarted when warm. My mechanic told me it was an O2 sensor and not to worry about it. I lived with it for 150,000 miles without any apparent bad results.
When stopped for a longer period during warm months, my first car (’95 Roadmaster) would start it’s auxiliary electric cooling fan, and whenever the fan came on, so did the CEL. When it turned off, so did the CEL. Checking and replacing the thermostat did nothing, nor did the coolant temp sensor have any effect.
I have this thing that looks like a flat tire that’s always lit up. Not sure what that’s about.
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TPMS. Check tyre pressures, including the spare. Drove me nuts on one of my parents’ cars until the penny dropped that the spare also had a sensor. Sure enough, the unused-from-the-factory spare had run a bit low.
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Sorry, I was being a little bit facetious. I removed the TPMS sensors from my wheels when I changed them out.
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No worries. I’m on a work schedule that has me stuck between two time zones: GMT and Hong Kong. The lack-of-sleep cycle has made my perception of detail not exactly as fine-tuned as it might be normally.
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Whoah, that’s a pretty crazy set up!
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Yeah. Right now I’m lucky if I can remember which day of the week it is at any given moment. So looking forward to this job being over.
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My wife’s 2003 Town and Country minivan has a little red circle light on the dash permanently on. It has something to do with the security system. Manual and forum searching has been fruitless and shops we’ve taken it to can’t figure it out. We actually did cut a tiny square of black electrical tape to hide it.
2000 ford explorer, v6, automatic, eddie bauer edition. ABS light (although has an intermittent connection, smack it to make it go away), OD off light blinking (transmission codes: gear mismatch in 2 and 5), check engine light on (codes: lean in banks 1 and 2, exhaust leak (large or small), exhaust leak gas cap). It still drives fine.
My SRS warning on the Audi was on when I got it (handy haggling tool), I reset it immediately with VAGCOM, and enabled drive-away locking while I was at it.
It was fine for seven years, then I gave a friend a lift around Christmas and the warning returned when he slid the front left seat back.
I drive a Volvo, are you kidding? That’s how you tell the stupid thing is running!
The 195,000 mile work beater / dog car Neon has had the check engine light on for the last 50,000 miles.
It’s an evap leak.
I don’t care.
My Boxster has “Top Open”, “BRAKE!”, and “Fasten Safety Belt” are always on.
The top’s microswitch failed, so I zip tied it closed. The brake wear sensors are unplugged, because they would come on every time I took the car for a bath. Apparently I prefer permanently on versus intermittent. I’m not sure why the belts switch isn’t working.
A couple of years ago I decided that I just HAD to have a tachometer in my 2007 Focus hatchback, so I put in a used ST cluster. It was great to see the rpms, but along with that, I was stuck with traction control and braking system “idiot” lights lit up. The brake system light was telling me “you idiot, your next warning will be the brake pedal to the floor and nothing happening”! On top of that, I had the wrong kilometers on the odometer. So, I ended up putting in yet another SE cluster with close to the actual kilometers and no need for electrical tape cover-ups.
Not long after I bought my 2006 MINI in 2010, the passenger airbag warning lights (there are two) came on. I did some research online and found out that it was a common problem that may or may not mean that there was anything wrong with the SRS. The alternative explanation was that it was a bad sensor in the seat cushion which required replacement of most of the seat at a cost of about $1,200. Since I wasn’t interested in testing to see if the airbags worked or not (by crashing into something), those lights stayed on for the next five years until BMW finally issued a recall and fixed the problem.
On my 1994 Taurus wagon the Door Ajar light is on about half the time because the latch on the drivers door is so worn that it doesn’t really ever close completely unless I tighten up the strike plate with the allen wrench I keep handy in the center console.
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I can confirm that the same behaviour was also seen on a 1990 Taurus wagon, and that the cure was similar. This would have been c.2003 or so.
My Renault has a burnt light indicator that is constantly lit anytime the headlights are on. There’s some weird short that prevents the drivers front parking lamp from illuminating when the switch is turned on yet allows it to work when the blinker or hazard lights are activated. It really doesn’t bother me all that much. The warning buzzer that goes with it on the other hand…
So glad you asked. Today it’s the TCS, ABS, SRS, and Check Radiator Fluid lights. And the interior fan didn’t want to be controlled – ON full tilt. Hazard lights were happy to put in a random appearance. Radiator’s a bit spurious. SRS is courtesy (if not the rest) of bonehead mechanics. Surprised that Check Engine didn’t pop up to wave hello. This is going to get corrected with extreme prejudice soon, very soon.
My VW Jetta TDi (MK6), one of those mired in the EPA scandal which has rendered it mine until I pay it off or they buy it back, has über sensitive tire pressure sensors.
Once, while on a work trip 400 miles from home, I decided to trade my wheels & almost-worn-out (GAWDAWFUL) OEM tires + $200 for some MK6 GLI wheels with minor curbrash & new(ish) neverheardofthembeforebrand tires from a guy I found on Craigslist. One (or two) of the wheels are slightly bent. Found that out on the 6-hour ride home. Ever since, I’ve had the slowest imaginable leak in one of my tires. It takes 3 weeks for it to drop from 40 psi to 20psi.
So I’m rollin with a TPS sensor light roughly 85% of the time, on a very reliable car with less than 70k miles. It sure does look a helluva lot better on the larger rims though.
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Fellow scandalous MK6 Jetta TDi owner here. One question: I’m not quite following where you say that, “the EPA scandal… has rendered it mine until I pay it off or they buy it back”.
Forgive my possible ignorance, but I would have assumed that the car became your responsibility once you chose to undertake payments on it – much the same as mine did – regardless of EPA or other actions towards VW.-
Oh, it is on me to make the payments I agreed to make. Because of the (significant) drop in our cars’ value immediately following the scandal, there’s no way I’d choose to sell it in the next two years (roughly when it’ll be paid-off). I’m not upside down on it or anything… Just very frustrated with the $4-5k in value (20-25%) my car lost over the course of like 6 months (beginning with the announcement of the scandal). That doesn’t even take into account how long it’d take to find a buyer.
My vehicle needs changed dramatically in 2015 after the scandal broke (no longer driving all up and down the east coast for work), and now I need something with more rear legroom… But I’m stuck with the Jetta till the scandal is sorted out (partially by choice because selling it would take forever and I’d get significantly less than what the car would be worth had the cheating scandal never happened).
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Once out in my boat, the check engine light was lit, and it would not start.
I turned around an checked, and the engine was still attached to the stern of my boat.
Not really much more to do.
(One of the two-battery setup was dead, could not tell by checking the engine)
The CEL on the Mazda3 has been on for a while. Last time I pulled the codes it was vague and the Internet couldn’t tell me what to do, so I left it alone. Occasionally it’ll be hard to start and run rough but it doesn’t last long.
The 318ti has a dimly lit SRS light. It takes a special tool to read it or reset it, so I ignore it.
The Door Ajar light is on in the SHO.
I assume that’s my fault from messing around with the door, and should probably fix it, but until then I just ignore it.
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You can ignore it until it says “Door a JarJar”. Then it’ll be time to ditch it.
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