check engine light?

Question

What type of things can go wrong when your check engine light turns on? I have a camry 97 and the check engine light has been on for about 6 months or longer and I have not wanted to get it checked because every place around charges like 100$ or more just to run a diagnostic test. My car has been running fine ever since the light has turned on. Whats wrong with my car?

Answer 1

Jilly.........The check engine light is an indication from your cars ECU telling you that some sensor has gone out of range.

It could be a temp sensor, an ignition sensor, a position sensor or any of 100 different types of sensors that are found on modern cars. But, yes , more often than any other sensor, the O2 , or Oxygen sensors, go bad first. They measure the temperature of your exhaust , to keep your air fuel ratio optimal. If they tell you that your rear o2 sensors are bad, its up to you , they really arent that important, if its a front O2, replace it as soon as you can. $100 worth of prevention, may be worth $10,000 five years from now.

Answer 2

Hi, Jilly, I am an auto technician. I wanted to give you some real advice here. I read through these other answers, and I had to at least try and clarify things for you. Some of these answers have both good and bad information. We'll start from scratch to avoid confusion. First off, there are many many issues that could turn the light on. It usually is an emissions related problem, but not always. The car's PCM (powertrain control module, aka ECU- electric control module) monitors all of the functions of the engine, transmission, and emissions systems. There are several sensors that feed the PCM with information about how the vehicle is operating. If any of these sensors fail, or if the PCM determines the information is incorrect, depending on the type of problem, the PCM will "hide" certain symptoms by substituting a good value for a missing reading. That's why in a lot of cases, the vehicle still runs fine. The light will remain on until the problem is repaired. During the time the light is on, the computer will also stop testing certain components, because it relies on the information from the failed sensor. That being said, the longer you wait to fix the initial problem, the more the likelihood of finding more "surprise" issues after the first repair. The next issue is having your codes read by a parts store... A lot of places will do this for free, but keep in mind THIS IS NOT A DIAGNOSIS! I also work in a parts store part time, and the job of the parts store is to... sell parts. Take any information they give you with a grain of salt. This is a lot of information to get at one time, but I honestly hope I helped out a little. My best advice is to find a REPUTABLE repair shop that specializes in diagnosis and drivability repairs. These shops may charge a little more, but you are much more likely to get the proper repairs, done right the FIRST time, and that is always important. If you have any more questions, you can email me and I'll try to help you out. Good luck.

Answer 3

Nothing to do with fluids. Flashing means you are misfiring and that's something that may be serious. A scan of the code at this point will just tell you what cylinder is misfiring and I bet there's more than one. Did you put lower grade gas? That and the heat could cause this. It could also be a bad fuel filter, bad spark plugs or bad injectors. Happens a lot as the weather starts to get hot out. I would go have the car checked out because there are many possible causes and it could get costly replacing parts that may not fix the problem. You might get lucky but it's best to have it taken care of and stop driving if it continues as misfiring can damage the engine easily.

Answer 4

I am by no means a car mechanic but I had that problem a few years ago with my '98 Eclipse. My car was running fine, no problems. I didn't want to go have it checked for the same reason as you. I checked around on the internet and found that one of the possible reasons for the Check Engine light to come on and stay on was that my gas cap wasn't screwed on tight enough. "What the hell" I figured. I removed the gas cap then screwed it back on tighter than it had been and sure enough, the light went off. I make sure to screw the cap tight every time I fill up the tank and I have never had the Check Engine light come back on.

Answer 5

If you have an Autozone around your area they will pull the codes for free. Most times when the Check engine light comes on it's related to the emission systems of the car. This can range from a clogged fuel filter to a bad O2 sensor down to bad spark plugs. Locate an autozone in your area or contact your auto parts stores and see if they will pull the trouble codes for free. This will at least give you an idea as to why the light is on and the guys at the auto parts store can give you some idea as to how much it will cost to repair.

Answer 6

One of two things,

1). There is a problem with your O2 sensor, usually 9 times out of 10, or\

2). The check engine light comes on only to make you take it to a dealer so they can overcharge you to turn it off.

Answer 7

There are tooooooo many things to list as possible problems. Evidently it's nothing very serious for it to have been on so long but it is also possible that your failure to have it checked out will lead to increased repair cost as opposed to if you'd taken it in when the light came on. BTW...some auto parts stores will check the codes for free, but NEVER take their advice on parts replacement without further diagnosis>

Answer 8

Buy a Haynes repair manual for your Camry, inside it will tell you the computer codes for your car and how to retrieve them ( usually you can retrieve computer codes by cycling your ignition a certain number of times). You can get a manual at most auto parts stores for $20 or less.

Answer 9

Go to a mass parts like Auto Zone or Advanced parts store and they will read the code for you for free then you can decide what to do to get it fixed

Answer 10

It's probably just the oxygen sensor on that car. Keep driving, it won't hurt it. That's why it's a yellow light and not red.

If you must get it checked, take it to autozone and they will scan it for free.