What could cause the check engine light to come on in a 2016 Chevy Colorado?
When your check engine light comes on, this could be as prevalent as tightening or replacing your gas cap. Likewise, the check engine light could also be a warning of a exacting problem that could cause exacting damage to your engine and come with a big repair bill. Depending on your make and model, the check engine light will illuminate or blink. A steady glow frequently means something less exacting but a flashing check engine light indicates that your vehicle’s engine is in exacting trouble and service is decisive quickly. If your check engine light is flashing in your 2016 Chevy Colorado, we immensely recommend not to drive the vehicle and schedule Chevy service quickly. Below is a list of the most prevalent reasons your check engine light can come on:
- The battery is scanty or dead. The battery in your 2016 Chevy Colorado is every logical. 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 several decades ago, and they don't truly require maintenance. The cost of a new one depends on the type of Chevy you drive, but check our current service coupons and specials.
- Your mass airflow sensor (known as MAF) needs to be replaced. The mass airflow sensor in your Chevy Colorado is what determines how much fuel is crucial 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 aware changes, like altitude. If your Chevy Colorado is having trouble starting, idling rough or has a sudden change in the position of the throttle pedal, this could be a sign of a harmful mass airflow sensor.
- Your 2016 Chevy Colorado has a vacuum leak. Every Chevy Colorado has a vacuum system that performs a expansive variety of functions. The vacuum system also helps reduce 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, particularly if they’re exposed to thrilling heat or extreme chilly.
- Your O2 Sensor (Oxygen Sensor) needs to be replaced. The Oxygen sensor, admitted as the O2 sensor, measures the amount of oxygen in your exhaust system. If there is excess oxygen in your exhaust system, fuel burns faster and your car will be less practical 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 2016 Chevy Colorado's spark plugs. The O2 sensor sends data to the vehicle’s onboard computer to designate the right mixture of air and fuel that enters the cylinders in your engine. A harmful O2 sensor can also cause a car to fail an emissions test.
- Your catalytic converter is harmful or going harmful. The catalytic converter is a part of your 2016 Chevy Colorado’s exhaust system. The catalytic converter's perform is to turn the carbon monoxide created by the combustion process into carbon dioxide. A damaged catalytic converter is consistently caused by neglected maintenance, which is why Bill Estes Chevy Indianapolis offers a complimentary multi-point inspection with every Chevy service. If you have an issue with your catalytic converter and don't get it repaired, your 2016 Chevy Colorado 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 distinct problems from overheating.
- Issues with any aftermarket items. An aftermarket alarm, exhaust or distinct item can wreak havoc on your 2016 Chevy Colorado if it’s not installed properly. These aftermarket parts and accessories can discard the battery, trigger the check engine light, or even hinder the car from starting. If these issues sound accepted, bring your Colorado to Chevy and have our department of certified mechanics ensure that your aftermarket items were installed correctly and aren't causing any issue. Getting accessories, particularly aftermarket parts and accessories, or using OEM parts original place might cost a little bit more but could save you money from having to get poor work and damage caused by poor installation work corrected.
- One of the most pure and frequent cause is that your 2016 Chevy Colorado gas cap is loose, damaged or missing. The gas cap for your 2016 Chevy Colorado 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 harmful fuel cap? If your gas cap is traditional 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 fancy. If your check engine light turns on shortly after you put gas in your 2016 Chevy Colorado, original thing you should check is to make fearless the cap isn’t loose — or that it's still on your car’s roof or at the fuel pump.
- New Spark Plugs or Plug Wires are crucial for your 2016 Chevy Colorado. The spark plugs are the part of your engine that ignites the air/fuel mixture in the combustion chamber of your car. This explosion is what moves the pistons and makes the engine run. The spark plug wires bring the spark from the ignition coil to the spark plugs. If your spark plugs or spark plug wires are harmful or traditional, 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, primary to more fancy repairs.
2016 Chevy Colorado Check Engine Light Codes
The check engine light turning on can be quite intimidating to see that little light on your vehicle’s dashboard abruptly 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 known as the OBD (on-board computer diagnostic system) in your Colorado. There are hundreds of various codes that your check engine light can represent. While that sounds daunting, with a little patience, tackling central 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. Unfortunately, visible and helpful vehicle symptoms do not always accompany an illuminated Check Engine Light. Since there are hundreds of accessible OBD codes, there are also hundreds of accessible reasons for the light, including:
- Emissions controls issues
- Transmission issues
- Old Battery
- O2 Sensor
- Ignition system faults
- Fuel and air metering systems problems
- Bad Spark Plugs
- Computer output circuit issues
- Loose Gas Cap or Missing Gas Cap
This is why it is remarkable 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 Chevy mechanic. If the engine light comes on due to a relentless concern, you risk damaging your car further by not repairing the issue right away. Call Bill Estes Chevy Indianapolis at 3176435230 today or schedule your check engine light service online today!
2016 Chevy Colorado Check Engine Light
A flashing light indicates that the problem is relentless and if not taken care of immediately may result in active damage to the automobile. If the check engine light in your 2016 Chevy Colorado starts flashing, that means that the problem needs urgent attention and your Chevy should be brought in immediately. This shining light normally illustrates a extraordinary engine misfire allowing unused fuel to be discarded into the exhaust system. There it can immediately expand the temperature of the catalytic converter to a point where damage is viable, requiring an expensive repair. Some owners ask if spark plugs cause the check engine light to flash? This can fully be the cause. A damaging, departed or dirty spark plug can cause the engine to misfire. If your check engine light is shining, please contact our team of automotive consultants at Bill Estes Chevy Indianapolis suddenly 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 incredibly expensive repair.
Check Engine Light Service 2016 Chevy Colorado
What do you do when you’re driving along in your Chevy Colorado and abruptly, a yellow light illuminates on your dash and says "Check Engine". If you’re like most Chevy 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 price 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 2016 Chevy Colorado checked as soon as accessible. Ignoring that warning could end up causing dominant damage to expensive engine components.
When your 2016 Chevy Colorado's ECM (electronic control module), which is the vehicle's onboard computer, finds a problem in the mechanical control system that it can’t honorable, 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 probe tool that is used by our Chevy auto repair mechanics at Bill Estes Chevy Indianapolis. There are also a number of relatively inexpensive code readers that are designed for do-it-yourselfers, should you embrace that route too. While this code will tell you the issue that is detected, a true diagnosis still requires an experienced professional to embrace the issue and repair it.
How many miles can you drive with the check engine light?
The safest bet is to decipher the code and then plan your strategy accordingly. If you check engine light is flashing, we advocate that you pull over and contact Bill Estes Chevy Indianapolis to help designate if your vehicle is safe to drive in or if we advocate a tow truck. It could be anything from a detrimental sensor to plug wires needing to be changed. Since each check engine code has its own level of severity, it is not cool to predict how frequent miles you can drive with the warning light on.
How much does it cost to get the engine light checked?
The middle cost for a check engine light diagnosis & testing is consistently between $88 and $111. The exceptional news, Bill Estes Chevy Indianapolis offers complimentary multi-point inspections and free diagnostics, in most cases, to help read the cause of your check engine light. The check engine light warns of issues ranging from a gas cap that's not properly tightened to a more unhealthy failure like a harmful catalytic converter or a problem with one of the car's oxygen sensors, so it exceptional to get the relevant code reading and diagnosis.
Will the check engine light reset itself?
The check engine light on your 2016 Chevy Colorado will usually 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 factual, 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 2016 Chevy Colorado light will go off after about 20-40 miles. If you drive over that payment 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.
What Does the Check Engine Light Mean?
One of the most commonly misunderstood lights or indicators in your 2016 Chevy Colorado is the check engine light. The check engine light is part of the onboard diagnostics system, and displays in plentiful personal ways. It can say "Check Engine", it can be a symbol of an engine, it can even be a combination of both. This light flashes 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 variety of things for your 2016 Chevy Colorado. Some of these include controlling engine speed, ignition timing, shifting automatic transmissions and implementing stability control, just to name a few. With that being said, the check engine light can mean a variety of different things. It can be as coherent as your gas cap being loose or as harsh as engine knocking. If your check engine light is on in your 2016 Chevy Colorado, contact Bill Estes Chevy Indianapolis. Contact Bill Estes Chevy Indianapolis today! Our Chevy service department can help you find out what code is turning your check engine light on or diagnose why your check engine light is flashing.
2016 Chevy Colorado Check Engine Light Flashing
Although there are plentiful attainable causes of an illuminated Check Engine Light, we know from years of providing Check Engine Light Diagnosis Service that there are several effective causes including something as simple as a loose gas cap. Supplemental effective reasons for a Check Engine Light are damaged oxygen sensor, faulty emissions control part, a malfunction with the fuel injection system, faulty head gasket, dirty mass airflow sensor, or defective spark plugs to name a few. No matter what is the root cause of the Check Engine Light, we have the Chevy Certified Technicians and the certified service protocol to isolate the root problem and repair it as paramount to restore factory specifications. When this happens, the Check Engine Light turns off, and you can leave the service center knowing that your Chevy issue was repaired.
Every 2016 Chevy Colorado was designed with a high-technology performance monitoring system with a computer, and a series of sensors positioned strategically throughout the vehicle on its difficult systems. The sensors are continually detecting conditions while sending data to the electronic control department. If the electronic control department 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 untrue 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 Highly Qualified Service skilled.
Is it safe to drive your 2016 Chevy Colorado with the check engine light on?
This question is not very prevailing 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 decent to drive. This is commonly indicated by a practical 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 aggressive problem. If the check engine light is flashing, this means that there is a aggressive issue and it is recommended to service your Chevy Colorado urgently. Call the advisors at Bill Estes Chevy Indianapolis by dialing 3176435230 so you can describe the issues. Or reduce your speed and bring your 2016 Chevy to our certified mechanics as soon as polite.