2012 Chevrolet Equinox Check Engine Light

2012 Chevrolet Equinox Check Engine Light

If the check engine light in your 2012 Chevrolet Equinox starts glaring, that means that the problem needs hasty attention and your Chevrolet should be brought in abruptly. A glaring light indicates that the problem is important and if not taken care of abruptly may result in major damage to the car. This glaring light usually suggests a scrupulous engine misfire allowing unused fuel to be dumped into the exhaust system. There it can abruptly raise the temperature of the catalytic converter to a point where damage is likely, requiring an expensive repair. Some owners ask if spark plugs cause the check engine light to flash? This can exactly be the cause. A bad, classic or dirty spark plug can cause the engine to misfire. If your check engine light is glaring, please contact our company of automotive experts at Bill Estes Chevy Indianapolis today by calling 3176435230. 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 excessively expensive repair.

What could cause the check engine light to come on in a 2012 Chevrolet Equinox?

When your check engine light comes on, this could be as clear 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 damage to your engine and come with a gargantuan repair bill. Depending on your make and model, the check engine light will illuminate or blink. A steady glow normally means something fewer hazardous but a flashing check engine light implies that your vehicle’s engine is in hazardous trouble and service is needed immediately. If your check engine light is flashing in your 2012 Chevrolet Equinox, we highly recommend not to drive the vehicle and schedule Chevrolet service today. Below is a list of the most natural reasons your check engine light can come on:

• Your catalytic converter is damaging or going damaging. The catalytic converter is a part of your 2012 Chevrolet Equinox’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 generally caused by neglected maintenance, which is why Bill Estes Chevy Indianapolis offers a complimentary multi-point inspection with every Chevrolet service. If you have an issue with your catalytic converter and don't get it repaired, your 2012 Chevrolet Equinox 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 alternative problems from overheating.
• Your 2012 Chevrolet Equinox has a vacuum leak. Every Chevrolet Equinox has a vacuum system that performs a wide variety of functions. The vacuum system also helps lower damaging 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 impressive heat or extreme chilly.
• The battery is poor or dead. The battery in your 2012 Chevrolet Equinox is every impressive. 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 really require maintenance. The price of a new one depends on the type of Chevrolet you drive, but check our contemporary service coupons and specials.
• Your mass airflow sensor (known as MAF) needs to be replaced. The mass airflow sensor in your Chevrolet Equinox is what determines how much fuel is fundamental to run your engine efficiently by measuring the payment of air entering the engine. As a part of the engine management system, the mass airflow sensor helps adjust to genuine changes, like altitude. If your Chevrolet Equinox is having trouble starting, idling rough or has a abrupt change in the position of the throttle pedal, this could be a sign of a damaging mass airflow sensor.
• Your O2 Sensor (Oxygen Sensor) needs to be replaced. The Oxygen sensor, known as the O2 sensor, measures the payment of oxygen in your exhaust system. If there is excess oxygen in your exhaust system, fuel burns faster and your vehicle will be less impressive 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 wear and tear to your catalytic converter and your 2012 Chevrolet Equinox'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 damaging O2 sensor can also cause a car to fail an emissions test.
• Issues with any aftermarket items. An aftermarket alarm, exhaust or alternative item can wreak havoc on your 2012 Chevrolet Equinox if it’s not installed well. These aftermarket parts and accessories can discard the battery, trigger the check engine light, or even prevent the vehicle from starting. If these issues sound daily, bring your Equinox to Chevrolet and have our team of 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 estimate a little bit more but could save you money from having to get poor work and wear and tear caused by poor installation work corrected.
• New Spark Plugs or Plug Wires are fundamental for your 2012 Chevrolet Equinox. 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 damaging or departed, 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 wear and tear to ignition coils and O2 sensors, primary to more lavish repairs.
• One of the most daily and several cause is that your 2012 Chevrolet Equinox gas cap is loose, damaged or missing. The gas cap for your 2012 Chevrolet Equinox 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 damaging fuel cap? If your gas cap is departed 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 lavish. If your check engine light turns on hastily after you put gas in your 2012 Chevrolet Equinox, first thing you should check is to make hopeful the cap isn’t loose — or that it's still on your car’s roof or at the fuel pump.

2012 Chevrolet Equinox Check Engine Light Flashing

Although there are many ability causes of an illuminated Check Engine Light, we know from years of providing Check Engine Light Diagnosis Service that there are innumerable natural causes comprising something as straightforward as a loose gas cap. Back-up natural reasons for a Check Engine Light are faulty head gasket, dirty mass airflow sensor, a malfunction with the fuel injection system, faulty emissions control part, 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 Chevrolet Certified Technicians and the certified service protocol to isolate the root problem and repair it as needed to restore factory specifications. When this happens, the Check Engine Light turns off, and you can leave the service center knowing that your Chevrolet issue was fixed.

Every 2012 Chevrolet Equinox was designed with a high-technology performance monitoring system with a computer, and a series of sensors positioned strategically throughout the vehicle on its necessary systems. The sensors are continually detecting conditions while sending data to the electronic control squad. If the electronic control squad detects that the data is out of factory specifications, the Check Engine Light illuminates 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; Bill Estes Chevy Indianapolis provides a Check Engine Light Diagnosis Service that isolates the core problem and gives you a recommendation on what to do next from a Greatly Qualified Service professional.

What Does the Check Engine Light Mean?

One of the most ordinarily misunderstood lights or indicators in your 2012 Chevrolet Equinox is the check engine light. The check engine light is part of the onboard diagnostics system, and displays in a few divergent 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 fluctuate of things for your 2012 Chevrolet Equinox. Some of these include ignition timing, controlling engine speed, shifting automatic transmissions and implementing stability control, just to name several. With that being said, the check engine light can mean a assortment of other things. It can be as straightforward as your gas cap being loose or as risky as engine knocking. If your check engine light is on in your 2012 Chevrolet Equinox, contact Bill Estes Chevy Indianapolis. Our Chevrolet service department can aid you select what code is turning your check engine light on or analyze why your check engine light is twinkling. Contact Bill Estes Chevy Indianapolis today!

Is it safe to drive your 2012 Chevrolet Equinox with the check engine light on?

This question is not very pure 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 naturally indicated by a satisfactory 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 powerful problem. If the check engine light is flashing, this means that there is a powerful issue and it is recommended to service your Chevrolet Equinox hastily. Call the experts at Bill Estes Chevy Indianapolis by dialing 3176435230 so you can describe the issues. Or reduce your speed and bring your 2012 Chevrolet to our certified mechanics as soon as applicable.

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

Since each check engine code has its own level of severity, it is rigid to predict how copious miles you can travel to work with the warning light on. It could be anything from a harmful sensor to plug wires needing to be replaced. The safest bet is to decipher the code and then plan your strategy accordingly. If you check engine light is glaring, we advise that you pull over and contact Bill Estes Chevy Indianapolis to help find out if your vehicle is protected to travel to work in or if we advise a tow truck.

Will the check engine light reset itself?

The check engine light on your 2012 Chevrolet Equinox will usually shut itself off if the issue or code that caused it to turn on is serviced. 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 accurate, 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 2012 Chevrolet Equinox light will go off after about 20-40 miles. If you drive over that deposit and the light is still on, you will need to bring it in to Bill Estes Chevy Indianapolis so the light and code can be double-checked and reset.

Check Engine Light Service 2012 Chevrolet Equinox

What do you do when you’re driving along in your Chevrolet Equinox and abruptly, a yellow light lights up on your dash and says "Check Engine". If you’re like most Chevrolet owners, your heart sinks a small because you have small 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 2012 Chevrolet Equinox checked as soon as feasible. Ignoring that warning could end up causing primary damage to expensive engine components.

When your 2012 Chevrolet Equinox's ECM (electronic control module), which is the vehicle's onboard computer, finds a problem in the computerized control system that it can’t honorable, a computer turns on your check engine light. This amber or yellow light is usually 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 electrical scan tool that is used by our Chevrolet auto repair mechanics at Bill Estes Chevy Indianapolis. There are also a number of relatively low-cost code readers that are designed for do-it-yourselfers, should you elect for that route too. While this code will tell you the issue that is detected, a true diagnosis still requires an experienced professional to express the issue and repair it.

2012 Chevrolet Equinox Check Engine Light Codes

The check engine light turning on can be quite intimidating to see that little light on your vehicle’s dashboard hastily illuminates, 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 noted as the OBD (on-board computer diagnostic system) in your Equinox. There are hundreds of contrasting codes that your check engine light can represent. While that sounds daunting, with a little patience, tackling essential diagnostics will give you enthusiastic knowledge about your vehicle and will also allow that Check Engine Light to do what it is really supposed to do: be your guide. Unfortunately, distinguishable and convenient vehicle symptoms do not always accompany an illuminated Check Engine Light. Since there are hundreds of conceivable OBD codes, there are also hundreds of conceivable reasons for the light, including:

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

This is why it is hard for someone who does not have a lot of automotive knowledge to not assume what a code means. When your check engine light comes on, you should get it checked out quickly by a certified Chevrolet mechanic. If the engine light comes on due to a hazardous concern, you risk damaging your automobile further by not repairing the issue right away. Call Bill Estes Chevy Indianapolis at 3176435230 now or schedule your check engine light service online today!

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 subsequently tightened to a more scrupulous failure like a bad catalytic converter or a problem with one of the car's oxygen sensors, so it good to get the suitable code reading and diagnosis. The average value for a check engine light diagnosis & testing is constantly between $88 and $111. The good news, Bill Estes Chevy Indianapolis offers complimentary multi-point inspections and free diagnostics, in most cases, to help mean the cause of your check engine light.