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Is it safe to drive your Jeep Wrangler with the check engine light on?

If the check engine light is flashing, this means that there is a serious issue and it is suggested to service your Jeep Wrangler instantly. This question is not very simple 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 secure to drive. This is typically indicated by a steady 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 serious problem. Call the experts at Larry H. Miller Colorado Jeep by dialing 7207039553 so you can describe the issues. Or reduce your speed and bring your Jeep to our certified mechanics as soon as conceivable.

Jeep Wrangler Check Engine Light

If the check engine light in your Jeep Wrangler starts flashing, that means that the problem needs attention swiftly and your Jeep should be brought in expeditiously. A flashing light reveals that the problem is very serious and if not taken care of swiftly may result in considerable and significant damage to the vehicle. This blinking light frequently reveals a severe engine misfire allowing unburned fuel to be dumped into the exhaust system. There it can instantly raise the temperature of the catalytic converter to a point where damage is likely, requiring an costly and huge repair. Some owners ask if spark plugs cause the check engine light to flash? This can explicitly be the cause. A broken, old or dirty spark plug can cause the engine to misfire. If your check engine light is consistently flashing, please contact our team of automotive experts at Larry H. Miller Colorado Jeep swiftly by calling 7207039553. If the problem is totally 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 costly repair.

What could cause the check engine light to come on in a Jeep Wrangler?

When your check engine light comes on, this could be as simple as tightening or replacing your gas cap. Still, the check engine light could still be a warning of a serious problem that could cause serious damage to your engine and come with a hefty and costly repair bill. Depending on your make and model, the check engine light will illuminate or blink. A steady and continuous glow typically means something less serious but a flashing check engine light reveals that your vehicle’s engine is in significant trouble and useful service is necessary instantly. If your check engine light is flashing in your Jeep Wrangler, we immensely endorse not to drive the car and schedule Jeep service today. Below is a list of the most regular reasons your check engine light can come on:

  • Your O2 Sensor (Oxygen Sensor) needs to be replaced. The Oxygen sensor, known as the O2 sensor, measures the amount of oxygen in your exhaust system. If there is excess oxygen in your exhaust system, fuel burns more promptly and your car will be less efficient when it comes to fuel economy. So what occurs if I don’t change your O2 sensor? A broken sensor can not only affect your miles per gallon, but it can cause meaningful damage to your catalytic converter and your Jeep Wrangler's spark plugs. The O2 sensor sends data to the vehicle’s onboard computer to determine the definitely right combination of air and fuel that enters the cylinders in your engine. A broken O2 sensor can still cause a vehicle to fail an emissions test.
  • New Spark Plugs or Plug Wires are needed for your Jeep Wrangler. The spark plugs are the part of your engine that ignites the air/fuel combination in the combustion chamber of your car. This explosion is what moves the pistons and makes the engine run smooth. The spark plug wires deliver the spark from the ignition coil to the spark plugs. If your spark plugs or spark plug wires are bad or old, you will experience a conspicuous poor performance and decreased 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, leading to more costly repairs.
  • Issues with any aftermarket items. An aftermarket alarm, exhaust or other item can wreak extreme havoc on your Jeep Wrangler if it’s not installed properly. These aftermarket parts and accessories can drain the battery, trigger the check engine light, or even impede the car from starting. If these issues sound familiar, bring your Wrangler to Jeep and have our team of accomplished certified mechanics ensure that your aftermarket items were installed correctly and aren't causing any issue. Getting accessories, especially aftermarket parts and accessories, or using OEM parts first place might cost a little bit more but could support you save considerably from having to get poor work and damage caused by poor installation work corrected.
  • Your Jeep Wrangler has a vacuum leak. Each Jeep Wrangler has a vacuum system that performs a wide variety of functions. The vacuum system still helps lower unhealthy 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, especially if they’re exposed to intense heat or extreme cold.
  • Your mass airflow sensor (known as MAF) needs to be replaced. The mass airflow sensor in your Jeep Wrangler is what determines how much fuel is needed to run your engine efficiently by measuring the amount of air entering the engine. As a part of the engine management system, the mass airflow sensor helps adjust to certain changes, like altitude. If your Jeep Wrangler is having trouble starting, idling rough or has a sudden speedy replace in the position of the throttle pedal, this could be a critical sign of a broken mass airflow sensor.
  • The battery is low or dead. The battery in your Jeep Wrangler is each essential. Without a vehicle battery, your vehicle won’t start, light up the road ahead, play the radio or charge your phone. Today’s vehicle 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 Jeep you drive, but check our current service coupons and specials.
  • One of the most typical and frequent cause is that your Jeep Wrangler gas cap is loose, broken or missing. The gas cap for your Jeep Wrangler serves numerous purposes. It prevents unpredictable gas fumes from being released when you aren't driving, it seals the fuel system and helps control pressure within the fuel tank. What occurs if you have a broken fuel cap? If your gas cap is old or has a ruptured seal, you can lose fuel through evaporation which will result in more trips to the pump and be more pricey. Luckily, to change a gas cap isn't costly. If your check engine light turns on promptly after you put gas in your Jeep Wrangler, 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 bad or going bad. The catalytic converter is a part of your Jeep Wrangler’s exhaust system. The catalytic converter's function is to turn the carbon monoxide created by the combustion process into carbon dioxide. A broken catalytic converter is frequently caused by constantly neglected maintenance, which is why Larry H. Miller Colorado Jeep offers a complimentary multi-point examination with each Jeep service. If you have an issue with your catalytic converter and don't get it repaired, your Jeep Wrangler will not pass an emissions test, show a lack of engine performance and will negatively affect your fuel economy. Your vehicle may run at a higher temperature, too, which can cause other delicate problems from overheating.

Check Engine Light Service Jeep Wrangler

What do you do when you’re driving along in your Jeep Wrangler and suddenly, a yellow light illuminates on your dash and says "Check Engine". If you’re like most Jeep owners, your heart sinks exceptionally because you may have exactly 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, calm 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 suggested that you get your Jeep Wrangler checked promptly. Ignoring that warning could end up causing considerable, huge damage to costly engine components.

When your Jeep Wrangler's ECM (electronic control module), which is the vehicle's onboard computer, finds a problem in the electronic control system that it can’t correct, a computer turns on your check engine light. This amber or yellow light is ordinarily 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 can rapidly identify 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 Jeep auto repair mechanics at Larry H. Miller Colorado Jeep. There are likewise a number of relatively inexpensive code readers that are designed for do-it-yourselfers, should you select that route too. While this code will tell you the issue that is detected, a true diagnosis still requires an experienced professional to determine the absolutely correct issue and repair it.

Jeep Wrangler Check Engine Light Codes

The check engine light turning on can be quite intimidating, particularly to see that little light on your vehicle’s dashboard suddenly illuminate, 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, likewise known as the OBD (on-board computer diagnostic system) in your Wrangler. There are hundreds of different codes that your check engine light can accurately represent. While that sounds daunting, with a little patience, tackling basic diagnostics will give you useful knowledge about your car and will likewise allow that important Check Engine Light to do what it is really supposed to do: be your guide. Sadly, apparent and useful car symptoms do not regularly accompany an illuminated Check Engine Light. Since there are hundreds of conceivable OBD codes, there are likewise hundreds of conceivable reasons for the light, including:

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

This is why it is vital for someone who does not have a lot of predominant automotive knowledge to not assume what a code means. When your check engine light comes on, you should get it checked out immediately by a proficient certified Jeep mechanic. Call Larry H. Miller Colorado Jeep at 7207039553 today or schedule your check engine light service online today! If the engine light comes on due to a serious concern, you risk damaging your vehicle further by not repairing the issue right away.

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 perfectly tightened to a more serious failure like a bad catalytic converter or a problem with one of the car's oxygen sensors, so it good to get the correct code reading and diagnosis. The average cost for a check engine light diagnosis & testing is typically between $88 and $111. The good news, Larry H. Miller Colorado Jeep offers totally free multi-point inspections and free diagnostics, in most cases, to help determine the cause of your check engine light.

What Does the Check Engine Light Mean?

One of the most normally misunderstood lights or indicators in your Jeep Wrangler is the check engine light. The check engine light is part of the essential onboard diagnostics system, and displays in an assortment of different 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 car. Onboard computers increasingly have controlled and monitored car performance since the 80s and do an assortment of things for your Jeep Wrangler. Some of these essential duties include shifting automatic transmissions controlling engine speed, ignition timing, and implementing security control, just to name a few. With that being said, the check engine light can mean an assortment of different things. It can be as simple as your gas cap being loose or as hazardous as engine knocking. If your check engine light is on in your Jeep Wrangler, contact Larry H. Miller Colorado Jeep. Contact Larry H. Miller Colorado Jeep today! Our Jeep service department can support you find out what code is turning your check engine light on or diagnose why your check engine light is flashing.

Jeep Wrangler Check Engine Light Flashing

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

Every Jeep Wrangler was designed with a high-technology performance monitoring system with a computer, and a series of sensors positioned strategically throughout the car on its crucial systems. The speedy sensors are continually detecting conditions while sending essential data to the electronic control unit. If the electronic control unit detects that the data is out of factory specifications, the Check Engine Light illuminates telling you that there is a problem. Nonetheless, unfortunately that is the limitation of the Check Engine Light – it won’t tell you what explicitly is wrong nor what to do about it. That’s where we come in; Larry H. Miller Colorado Jeep provides a Check Engine Light Diagnosis Service that isolates the core problem and gives you a recommendation on what to do next from a Remarkably Certified Service professional.

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

It could be anything from a bad sensor to plug wires needing to be replaced. If you check engine light is flashing, we propose that you pull over and contact Larry H. Miller Colorado Jeep to assist determine if your car is safe to drive in or if we propose a tow truck. The safest bet is to decipher the code and then plan your strategy accordingly. Since each check engine code has its own level of severity, it is typically difficult to predict how numerous miles you can be safe in driving with the warning light on.

Will the check engine light reset itself?

The check engine light on your Jeep Wrangler will usually shut itself off if the issue or code that caused it to turn on is fixed. For instance, if the cause of your check engine light coming on was a loose gas cap, if it's tightened, the light will swiftly turn itself off. Still, if your catalytic converter is working correctly, and you did a lot 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 Jeep Wrangler 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 Larry H. Miller Colorado Jeep so the light and code can be double-checked and reset.