HOW TO PREVENT A CHECK ENGINE LIGHT? -

On our website, we’ve written about the check engine light problem numerous times. This time, we’ll write about how to prevent the check engine light problem altogether.

If not completely prevent it, then at least seriously reduce the possibility of this happening.

The check engine light is a very common car problem that often causes wild goose chases in terms of diagnosis and spending money on parts you didn’t really need to replace.

So, this may come in handy to avoid a couple of “car-headaches”.

Besides this website, you can also watch videos on our YouTube channel, where we have many car-related videos that may help with maintenance, driving, etc.

HOW TO PREVENT A CHECK ENGINE LIGHT ON YOUR CAR?

1. PREVENT AIR LEAKS

One of the most common causes of the check engine light problem is air leaks.

If there is excess air in the air-intake system, it disturbs the air-fuel mixture ratio and triggers the check engine light.

Older and high-mileage cars are especially prone to this.

Cracked air hoses, loose clamps, improperly fitted seals, loose gas caps, and others are just some of the reasons why air leaks appear.

The best remedy for this is to make regular inspections of your car.

Especially pay attention to the hoses that are near the engine. If you see a cracked hose, a bad or loose clamp, or a bad gas cap seal, replace them right away while you’ve noticed the problem.

In most cases, all of these are not expensive and are easy to replace.

To see more common reasons for the check engine light, click here.

2. USE GOOD QUALITY FUEL

Next, use fuel that has good quality and, if possible, the one that the manufacturer has recommended.

Bad quality fuel will affect the combustion and the exhaust gases, which will then affect the catalytic converter and the O2 sensors. This then triggers the check engine light.

Also know that bad-quality fuel will, over time, ruin the engine and the fuel injection system.

3. CHANGE THE AIR FILTER REGULARLY

One more easy thing you can do to prevent the check engine light is to change the air filter on a regular basis.

Do not cheap out on this. Most air filters are not expensive, and skipping this will cause things like a weaker air flow, dirty MAF and MAP sensors, dirty throttle bodies, and more.

This again causes a disturbance in the air-fuel mixture, and the check engine light appears.

You should especially pay attention to replacing the filter on time this if you drive in countries with more dust and more gravel roads, for instance.

4. DRIVE THE ENGINE UNDER HIGH REVS

When possible, from time to time, take the car out on the highway where you can drive faster and at higher revs.

Especially pay attention to this tip if most of your driving is done in an urban environment and involves a lot of starting and stopping.

Driving under high revs will help reduce carbon deposit build-up in all the vital inner parts of the engine but also within the air intake, exhaust system, and else.

Apply this tip especially to cars with petrol engines.

If you don’t do this, the carbon deposits will, over time, cause a check engine light since the engine will not “breathe” properly.

5. DO REGULAR MAINTENANCE ON TIME

Finally, the most important tip for how to prevent a check engine light: do regular maintenance.

Except for things like freak electric and electronic problems, temporary glitches in some of the car’s systems (which are mostly rare), sloppy maintenance is the number one reason for a check engine light problem.

In cars where maintenance has been neglected, it is almost certain that this problem will happen.

Regular maintenance will not only reduce or eliminate the check engine light problem, but it will also keep all the car’s systems in top condition.

It will also help notice any other problems on time, like the mentioned cracked hoses, leaks, loose electric connections, and else.

CONCLUSION

In the end, to be sincere with you: even if you use all of these tips, it’s not a guarantee that you’ll prevent every check engine light problem, especially on older cars.

Some cars have built-in faults; sometimes there’s a temporary electric or electronic glitch, sometimes you’ll get a bad batch of fuel somewhere, it just happens. The whole system is built to be sensitive.

Also, besides preventing, this advice will help you seriously narrow down the possible reasons for the check engine light problem, which is crucial for making a proper diagnosis.