Your vehicle was designed to have several fail safes to ensure that you have a chance to fix your vehicle before a situation gets worse and far more expensive. One of those is the light on your dashboard, the check engine light.

There are many reasons why your check engine light has illuminated. Before you take your car into get serviced it would behoove you to narrow down what the problem might be. You can pick up a code reader at your local auto parts store and plug it into the connector under your dash – you can find where that plug is in your owner’s manual. Once the code pops up on the reader you can look up what triggered your light to turn on. Now you have a direction of what the problem is, it could be something very simple to something more complicated that you need to have repaired ASAP.

What are some simple reasons why your check engine light came on?

The simplest reason why your light came on is because the gas cap! Newer vehicles have a sensor built into the gas container and cap to help you avoid spilling gas everywhere if you drive off without your gas cap. So check your gas cap first to see if that’s the problem, if you tighten it and in a few days the light doesn’t shut off automatically – take it into a repair shop or dealership to double check that you don’t have a fuel leak somewhere in your system.

Do a visual inspect! Before you pay a mechanic to check under your hood, you should look first. Spend a few minutes checking in your engine to inspect plugs, cords, wires, hoses, connections, etc. Sometimes it is a fairly simple fix of replacing a fuse that you didn’t know went bad. This process could save you a lot of grief later.

There are many reasons why your check engine light has come on but if you follow these steps and you still aren’t able to find the issue, bring your car into us at BMW Repair San Diego! We can help answer your questions, let you know what the issue is and get you back in your vehicle safely and with peace of mind too! Give us a call today!