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There are three things school spits you out into adulthood without teaching you properly: emotional intelligence, financial literacy and how to read a car’s dashboard. Without help, all three can just look like an arbitrary jumble of signs and gestures and blinking lights.
We can’t teach you how to tell love from infatuation, but we can teach you what that ominous red hieroglyphic behind your steering wheel means, with a little help from the experts at Gines Auto Service in Kearns.
Is this thing on?
The first step to properly reading warning lights on dashboards is to make sure each light has the ability to turn on if it needs to. To do a bulb check, put your key in the ignition and turn it one notch before the engine cranks. All of the lights on the dash should come on. If your bulb is burned out, your vehicle won’t be able to tell you if there’s a problem. Needless to say, it’s better to prevent a problem than to address it when you’re broken down on the side of the highway.
Red means dead(ly serious)
Dash lights come in many shapes, sizes, and colors. The most important warning lights are red in color. Anything red is signaling to the driver that the vehicle shouldn’t be driven anymore until repaired.
The oil pressure light is designed to indicate that engine oil pressure has dropped to the point that major engine damage is occurring.
The red engine coolant temperature light indicates that the engine is overheating and if the engine is not shut off it will start to melt or warp internal engine parts.
The charge light is designed to let the driver know that the vehicle’s charging system is not working and only the electricity in the battery is keeping the car running. If ignored the battery will be drained and the engine will stop running.
The red brake light serves two purposes. It will come on if the parking brake is still applied or if the hydraulic system has lost pressure. The end result of ignoring either of these conditions is brake failure, which could lead to a collision.
Yellow’s a little more mellow
Vehicle manufacturers also use yellow or amber colored lights to warn you of problems that are less severe. Though very important to have addressed they are not as critical as the red warning lights. Many of the yellow lights are self-explanatory, but we’ll look at them for reference.
The check engine/service engine soon light is an indicator that the onboard computer has determined the vehicle is not running as efficiently as it should be and is putting out excessive harmful gasses. If the check engine light ever blinks, that means you need to shut off your vehicle or change the driving conditions before you further damage emissions-control devices called catalytic converters, which can be very expensive.
The tire pressure warning light lets drivers know when a tire’s air pressure has dropped by 20%, which will hurt your gas mileage and wear out your tire(s) faster than normal. If the tire pressure light blinks, that means the computer has lost communication with at least one of the sensors in the tires.
The ABS brake light shows if something is compromising the effectiveness of your anti-lock brakes.
Some cars also have a worn brake pad indicator light.
The stability control light will come on if there is a problem with the vehicle’s traction control or anti-skid system.
The lamp out light tells you when an exterior light isn’t working.
The loose gas cap indicator indicates that your gas cap is too tight. Just kidding. Too loose. Some cars don’t have a specific light for this and a loose cap will activate the check engine light.
Car manufacturers put many other lights on dashboards to inform the driver if certain accessories on the vehicle have been turned on or disabled, such as cruise control, stability control, fog lights, rear window defroster, hill descent, economy mode, sport mode, turn signal indicators, four-wheel drive indicator, and many more. Read the owners manual for a rundown of the indicator lights specific to your vehicle.
And, when in doubt, ask an ASE-certified auto mechanic like the fine folks at Gines to help you understand, diagnose and address any problems indicated by your dash.
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