Is it safe to drive with Check Engine Lights on

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It really depends on what the problem is, what caused the "Check Engine" lamp to light up.

It could be something minor, but it can also be something more serious, which should be taken care of as soon as you bring your car into the garage. In the most severe of cases driving with a "Check Engine" lamp can cause more damage to the vehicle.

One of the common causes is ,due to bad air mass meter, vacuum or some other reason, the air and fuel mixture entering the engine to change the parameters, or simply entering into the system too much air and too little fuel. In this case, the engine computer tries to compensate by adding more fuel, but it can only be done within a certain limit.

If the engine computer can no longer compensate for this condition, it becomes a check engine light and stores the appropriate code in its memory. Usually, every code stored in the computer such as the Ford P0171 indicates that the system in the first cylinder is too lean, which means that there is a shortage of fuel or code P0174, which indicates that the system is too lean in the second cylinder. If dealt with this time, the problem can be solved with a simple repair and major problems can be avoided.

This lean mixture of air and fuel can cause pre-ignition or detonation and it can lead to serious problems and damage to the engine. If your light "check engine" light comes on while driving, we at Team findspares.co.za certainly recommend you take your car to the nearest possible workshop for diagnosis and problem solving. If the "Check Engine" indicator, it means that the engine computer (ECM) has determined that there is an incorrect starting condition. Driving with an improper ignition engine can damage your catalytic converter (catalyst), which is a very expensive part. Often incorrect ignition engine can be caused by bad plugs or plug leads. If you recently changed spark plugs and/or spark plug leads on the engine, it might be a good idea to check them at this point as a start.
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