2018 Chevy Malibu Check Engine Light

Will the check engine light reset itself?

The check engine light on your 2018 Chevy Malibu will frequently 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 available, and you did a few 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 2018 Chevy Malibu 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 could cause the check engine light to come on in a 2018 Chevy Malibu?

When your check engine light comes on, this could be as plain as tightening or replacing your gas cap. Likewise, the check engine light could also be a warning of a harsh problem that could cause harsh 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 dependable glow naturally means something less harsh but a flashing check engine light indicates that your vehicle’s engine is in harsh trouble and service is imperative promptly. If your check engine light is flashing in your 2018 Chevy Malibu, we highly endorse not to drive the vehicle and schedule Chevy service today. Below is a list of the most favored reasons your check engine light can come on:

• Your mass airflow sensor (known as MAF) needs to be replaced. The mass airflow sensor in your Chevy Malibu is what determines how much fuel is essential to run your engine efficiently by measuring the drain of air entering the engine. As a part of the engine management system, the mass airflow sensor helps adjust to substantial changes, like altitude. If your Chevy Malibu 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 damaging mass airflow sensor.
• Your catalytic converter is damaging or going damaging. The catalytic converter is a part of your 2018 Chevy Malibu’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 usually 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 2018 Chevy Malibu 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 further problems from overheating.
• Your 2018 Chevy Malibu has a vacuum leak. Every Chevy Malibu has a vacuum system that performs a wide variety of functions. The vacuum system also helps lower 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, especially if they’re exposed to direct heat or extreme brisk.
• Your O2 Sensor (Oxygen Sensor) needs to be replaced. The Oxygen sensor, effortless as the O2 sensor, measures the drain of oxygen in your exhaust system. If there is excess oxygen in your exhaust system, fuel burns faster and your vehicle will be fewer helpful 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 2018 Chevy Malibu's spark plugs. The O2 sensor sends data to the vehicle’s onboard computer to determine the right variety 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.
• The battery is low or dead. The battery in your 2018 Chevy Malibu is every central. 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 lot decades ago, and they don't truly require maintenance. The price of a new one depends on the type of Chevy you drive, but check our current service coupons and specials.
• One of the most effortless and plentiful cause is that your 2018 Chevy Malibu gas cap is loose, damaged or missing. The gas cap for your 2018 Chevy Malibu 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 common 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 expensive. If your check engine light turns on immediately after you put gas in your 2018 Chevy Malibu, 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.
• Issues with any aftermarket items. An aftermarket alarm, exhaust or further item can wreak havoc on your 2018 Chevy Malibu if it’s not installed accurately. These aftermarket parts and accessories can ditch the battery, trigger the check engine light, or even prevent the vehicle from starting. If these issues sound effortless, bring your Malibu to Chevy and have our team of certified mechanics ensure that your aftermarket items were installed accurately 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 save you money from having to get poor work and damage caused by poor installation work corrected.
• New Spark Plugs or Plug Wires are essential for your 2018 Chevy Malibu. The spark plugs are the part of your engine that ignites the air/fuel variety 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 common, 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, first-rate to more expensive repairs.

Is it safe to drive your 2018 Chevy Malibu with the check engine light on?

If the check engine light is glaring, this means that there is a strict issue and it is recommended to service your Chevy Malibu hastily. This question is not very noticeable 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 regularly 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 strict problem. Call the mentors at Bill Estes Chevy Indianapolis by dialing 3176435230 so you can describe the issues. Or reduce your speed and bring your 2018 Chevy to our certified mechanics as soon as potential.

2018 Chevy Malibu Check Engine Light Flashing

Although there are bountiful ability causes of an illuminated Check Engine Light, we know from years of providing Check Engine Light Diagnosis Service that there are several amiable causes including something as authentic as a loose gas cap. Disparate amiable reasons for a Check Engine Light are a malfunction with the fuel injection system, faulty head gasket, dirty mass airflow sensor, damaged oxygen sensor, faulty emissions control part, 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 mandatory 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 serviced.

Every 2018 Chevy Malibu was designed with a high-technology performance monitoring system with a computer, and a series of sensors positioned strategically throughout the vehicle on its crucial systems. The sensors are continually detecting conditions while sending data to the high-tech control unit. If the high-tech control unit 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 inaccurate 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 Extraordinarily Qualified Service professional.

How much does it cost to get the engine light checked?

The average value for a check engine light diagnosis & testing is typically between $88 and $111. The equitable news, Bill Estes Chevy Indianapolis offers complimentary multi-point inspections and free diagnostics, in most cases, to aid indicate the cause of your check engine light. The check engine light warns of issues ranging from a gas cap that's not correctly tightened to a more exacting failure like a bad catalytic converter or a problem with one of the car's oxygen sensors, so it equitable to get the apt code reading and diagnosis.

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

Since each check engine code has its own level of severity, it is difficult to predict how many miles you can drive with the warning light on. If you check engine light is flashing, we advocate that you pull over and contact Bill Estes Chevy Indianapolis to help indicate if your vehicle is safe to drive in or if we advocate a tow truck. It could be anything from a bad sensor to plug wires needing to be replaced. The safest bet is to decipher the code and then plan your strategy accordingly.

2018 Chevy Malibu Check Engine Light

A twinkling light indicates that the problem is unsafe and if not taken care of now may result in major damage to the vehicle. If the check engine light in your 2018 Chevy Malibu starts twinkling, that means that the problem needs abrupt attention and your Chevy should be brought in now. This blinking light consistently indicates a severe engine misfire allowing unburned fuel to be ejected into the exhaust system. There it can instantly increase the temperature of the catalytic converter to a point where damage is handy, requiring an pricey repair. Some owners ask if spark plugs cause the check engine light to flash? This can exactly be the cause. A bad, traditional or dirty spark plug can cause the engine to misfire. If your check engine light is flashing, please contact our team of automotive experts at Bill Estes Chevy Indianapolis immediately 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 exceedingly pricey repair.

2018 Chevy Malibu 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 flashes, 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 Malibu. There are hundreds of disparate codes that your check engine light can suggest. While that sounds daunting, with a little patience, tackling essential diagnostics will give you comfortable knowledge about your vehicle and will also allow that Check Engine Light to do what it is truly supposed to do: be your guide. Unfortunately, recognizable and essential vehicle symptoms do not always accompany an illuminated Check Engine Light. Since there are hundreds of feasible OBD codes, there are also hundreds of feasible reasons for the light, including:

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

This is why it is essential 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. Call Bill Estes Chevy Indianapolis at 3176435230 today or schedule your check engine light service online today! If the engine light comes on due to a harsh concern, you risk damaging your car added by not repairing the issue right away.

Check Engine Light Service 2018 Chevy Malibu

What do you do when you’re driving along in your Chevy Malibu and suddenly, a yellow light illuminates on your dash and says "Check Engine". If you’re like most Chevy owners, your heart sinks a miniature because you have miniature 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 indicate 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 2018 Chevy Malibu checked as soon as achievable. Ignoring that warning could end up causing giant damage to expensive engine components.

When your 2018 Chevy Malibu'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 mostly 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 determine with an electronic scan 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 represent that route too. While this code will tell you the issue that is detected, a true diagnosis still requires an professional professional to represent the issue and repair it.

What Does the Check Engine Light Mean?

One of the most consistently misunderstood lights or indicators in your 2018 Chevy Malibu is the check engine light. The check engine light is part of the onboard diagnostics system, and displays in various odd 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 mixture of things for your 2018 Chevy Malibu. Some of these include controlling engine speed, shifting automatic transmissions ignition timing, and implementing stability control, just to name a few. With that being said, the check engine light can mean a collection of odd things. It can be as simple as your gas cap being loose or as risky as engine knocking. If your check engine light is on in your 2018 Chevy Malibu, contact Bill Estes Chevy Indianapolis. Contact Bill Estes Chevy Indianapolis today! Our Chevy service department can help you pick what code is turning your check engine light on or scan why your check engine light is glaring.