Micro Mechanic

[caryc]

Have you seen that commercial on TV for this thing? It's a code reader. Anyway this guy and woman are driving along and the Check Engine light comes on. She grabs her smart phone and checks it out and says "No problem it's just a faulty sensor, keep driving".

I got to thinking about that. Is there a sensor on cars that tells when sensors are faulty? It doesn't make sense to me. So is there a back up sensor that tells if the backup sensor is faulty?

I like my Dodge. If the check engine light comes on, I can manipulate the ignition switch the right way and the error codes display on the odometer on the dash.

 

[Bull Barrel]

It is nothing more than a code reader. It reads the code and interprets it.
MoPar owners can use the key dance. OBD it flashes the check engine light and OBD II it shows the code on the odometer. You still have to interpret the code.

 

[Doc Holliday]

I wonder exactly how she knows it's a faulty sensor?

 

[JPGLSG]

I wonder exactly how she knows it's a faulty sensor?

It's magic........

 

[graygun]

..."just a faulty sensor" ... nothing to worry about...it's just the one that monitors oil pressure... :lol:

 

[pisgah]

What if you have a faulty faulty sensor sensor???

 

[RSIno1]

It's got to be a gizmo that plugs into the OBD port and an app on the phone. Lots of cars will throw codes that the common readers available to joe public won't tell repair/part accurately

 

[Busterswoodshop]

Every time my check engine light has came on on any of my vehicles it turned out to be a bad sensor except for one time.
That one time it was a bad coil.

 

[eveled]

How would she know it's a faulty sensor, and not a real problem the sensor is detecting?

 

[wwb]

If the temp is okay, the oil pressure is okay, the alternator is charging, and it's running smoothly, it's a trivial problem. Deal with it later. If any of the above is NOT okay, pull over NOW. "The Boss" had a check engine light and it suddenly started running very rough, and had no power..... she drove it anyhow. No spark on 2 cylinders, dumping raw fuel into the exhaust (in addition to cleaning the oil off the cylinder walls)...... fried the cat real quick; darn near melted the exhaust system.

We had some words about that. Pretty pricey repair, even with me doing the work.

 

[caryc]

It is nothing more than a code reader. It reads the code and interprets it.
MoPar owners can use the key dance. OBD it flashes the check engine light and OBD II it shows the code on the odometer. You still have to interpret the code.

Of course it's a code reader. That's why I said "it's a code reader" in my post.
You can find what the codes refer to on the net easy enough.

 

[Dan in MI]

If the temp is okay, the oil pressure is okay, the alternator is charging, and it's running smoothly, it's a trivial problem. Deal with it later. If any of the above is NOT okay, pull over NOW. "The Boss" had a check engine light and it suddenly started running very rough, and had no power..... she drove it anyhow. No spark on 2 cylinders, dumping raw fuel into the exhaust (in addition to cleaning the oil off the cylinder walls)...... fried the cat real quick; darn near melted the exhaust system.

We had some words about that. Pretty pricey repair, even with me doing the work.

This^

A little additional info. If the check engine light is FLASHING stop NOW. (I fully suspect that the light in the above scenario was flashing)

When the light is flashing that means it is misfiring bad enough to cause damage. Any other time it means something is wrong that MAY be causing the car to emit higher emissions than regulated. There may be minor driveability issues too, but nothing that will strand you.

 

[Doc Holliday]

A little additional info. If the check engine light is FLASHING stop NOW. (I fully suspect that the light in the above scenario was flashing)

When the light is flashing that means it is misfiring bad enough to cause damage. Any other time it means something is wrong that MAY be causing the car to emit higher emissions than regulated. There may be minor driveability issues too, but nothing that will strand you.

Had one of my Grand Marquis coils go out between Las Vegas and Phoenix, luckily I was able to drive home with the other 7 coils operating as normal...could feel a small loss of power, but was still able to get back okay. Carry a couple of spares in the trunk now, with tools to change them out.

 

[Bull Barrel]

It is nothing more than a code reader. It reads the code and interprets it.
MoPar owners can use the key dance. OBD it flashes the check engine light and OBD II it shows the code on the odometer. You still have to interpret the code.

Of course it's a code reader. That's why I said "it's a code reader" in my post.
You can find what the codes refer to on the net easy enough.

Cary...did you read the part where i said it INTERPRETS the code?

 

[Ka6otm]

Of course it's a code reader. That's why I said "it's a code reader" in my post.
You can find what the codes refer to on the net easy enough.

Cary...did you read the part where i said it INTERPRETS the code?[/quote]

Yep, pretty simple to set up an app to do that.