BAD CHECK?
Call it the Ouiji board of the roadways. More mysterious than the Bermuda triangle or Don King's hair. Yes, friends, we're talking about the CHECK ENGINE light!
Naturally, the first thing you want to do when the thing comes on is ... well, check your engine. Of course, that's where the trouble begins. First off, you don't want to try this anywhere except in your own driveway. Let's be serious for a moment. In this day and age, with all the maniacs on the road, the last thing you want to be doing is leaning under the hood alongside a busy highway.
You might as well ask Steve Irwin to set you up with a 20-foot croc on which to perform a tonsillectomy. One bump from behind or a sideswipe from an errant 18-wheeler and you've bought the farm. Yes, this is one case where it can be said -- Folks, try this at home!
OK. You've pulled the hood release, opened the hood and peered into the engine bay. Yup, there's an engine -- or, at least, a hunk of metal, hoses and wires. But now what? The dreaded CHECK ENGINE light can mean any of 247 different things. Examples: Your gas cap is off. Your oxygen sensor is defective. Your positive crankcase ventilation -- PCV -- valve needs replaced. Who knows? The dang thing might even be triggered if your two-year-old has an accident in the back seat.
We've reached a stage in automotive evolution where the average Joe Mechanic with the average garage toolset can't cut it under the hood any more. Really, what the CHECK ENGINE light should read is PREPARE TO EMPTY BANK ACCOUNT!
Not all is lost, however. You can go to an auto parts store and buy -- for about $40 -- a code detector for most vehicles with CHECK ENGINE lights. Or, in the hopes of getting you to buy the part to get the light to go out, many stores offer free diagnostic checks. You plug the checker into your vehicle's wiring harness and a code appears that can be deciphered from a code book.
For instance, 6006 might mean you need a new car seat.
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