2012 Ford Explorer Check Engine Light

How much does it cost to get the engine light checked?

The average cost for a check engine light diagnosis & testing is mostly between $88 and $111. The cooperative news, Bill Estes Ford Brownsburg offers complimentary multi-point inspections and free diagnostics, in most cases, to help designate the cause of your check engine light. The check engine light warns of issues ranging from a gas cap that's not accurately tightened to a more treacherous failure like a damaging catalytic converter or a problem with one of the car's oxygen sensors, so it cooperative to get the common code reading and diagnosis.

What could cause the check engine light to come on in a 2012 Ford Explorer?

When your check engine light comes on, this could be as easy as tightening or replacing your gas cap. Likewise, the check engine light could also be a warning of a unhealthy problem that could cause unhealthy damage to your engine and come with a generous repair bill. Depending on your make and model, the check engine light will illuminate or blink. A steady glow commonly means something less unhealthy but a flashing check engine light indicates that your vehicle’s engine is in unhealthy trouble and service is decisive quickly. If your check engine light is flashing in your 2012 Ford Explorer, we immensely recommend not to drive the vehicle and schedule Ford service today. Below is a list of the most sufficient reasons your check engine light can come on:

• Your catalytic converter is bad or going bad. The catalytic converter is a part of your 2012 Ford Explorer’s exhaust system. The catalytic converter's function is to turn the carbon monoxide created by the combustion process into carbon dioxide. A damaged catalytic converter is commonly caused by neglected maintenance, which is why Bill Estes Ford Brownsburg offers a complimentary multi-point inspection with every Ford service. If you have an issue with your catalytic converter and don't get it repaired, your 2012 Ford Explorer will not pass an emissions test, show a lack of engine performance and will negatively affect your fuel economy. Your car may run at a higher temperature, too, which can cause substitute problems from overheating.
• Your mass airflow sensor (known as MAF) needs to be changed. The mass airflow sensor in your Ford Explorer is what determines how much fuel is decisive to run your engine efficiently by measuring the amount of air entering the engine. As a part of the engine management system, the mass airflow sensor helps adjust to genuine changes, like altitude. If your Ford Explorer is having trouble starting, idling rough or has a sudden change in the position of the throttle pedal, this could be a sign of a bad mass airflow sensor.
• One of the most regular and frequent cause is that your 2012 Ford Explorer gas cap is loose, damaged or missing. The gas cap for your 2012 Ford Explorer serves multiple purposes. It prevents gas fumes from being released when you aren't driving, it seals the fuel system and helps maintain pressure within the fuel tank. What happens if you have a bad fuel cap? If your gas cap is popular or has a ruptured seal, you can lose fuel through evaporation which will result in more trips to the pump. Luckily, to replace a gas cap isn't expensive. If your check engine light turns on suddenly after you put gas in your 2012 Ford Explorer, first thing you should check is to make fearless the cap isn’t loose — or that it's still on your car’s roof or at the fuel pump.
• Your 2012 Ford Explorer has a vacuum leak. Every Ford Explorer has a vacuum system that performs a grand variety of functions. The vacuum system also helps lower harmful emissions by routing the fumes as gasoline evaporates through the engine. If you notice that your RPM is high in idle or randomly surges, a vacuum leak could be the cause. Over time, vacuum hoses can dry out and crack, greatly if they’re exposed to thrilling heat or extreme congenial.
• New Spark Plugs or Plug Wires are decisive for your 2012 Ford Explorer. The spark plugs are the part of your engine that ignites the air/fuel mixture in the combustion chamber of your vehicle. This explosion is what moves the pistons and makes the engine run. The spark plug wires bring the spark from the ignition coil to the spark plugs. If your spark plugs or spark plug wires are bad or popular, you will experience suitable performance and reduced power. In some extreme cases, your engine will have trouble starting or continuing to run. Worn spark plugs and plug wires can cause clogged catalytic converter or break to ignition coils and O2 sensors, best to more expensive repairs.
• Issues with each aftermarket items. An aftermarket alarm, exhaust or substitute item can wreak havoc on your 2012 Ford Explorer if it’s not installed perfectly. These aftermarket parts and accessories can deposit the battery, trigger the check engine light, or even prevent the vehicle from starting. If these issues sound amicable, bring your Explorer to Ford and have our company of certified mechanics ensure that your aftermarket items were installed perfectly and aren't causing each issue. Getting accessories, greatly aftermarket parts and accessories, or using OEM parts first place might estimate a bit bit more but could save you money from having to get suitable work and break caused by suitable installation work corrected.
• Your O2 Sensor (Oxygen Sensor) needs to be changed. The Oxygen sensor, noted as the O2 sensor, measures the amount of oxygen in your exhaust system. If there is excess oxygen in your exhaust system, fuel burns faster and your vehicle will be less practical when it comes to fuel economy. So what happens if I don’t replace your O2 sensor? A faulty sensor can not only affect your miles per gallon, but it can cause break to your catalytic converter and your 2012 Ford Explorer's spark plugs. The O2 sensor sends data to the vehicle’s onboard computer to mean the decent mixture of air and fuel that enters the cylinders in your engine. A bad O2 sensor can also cause a car to fail an emissions test.
• The battery is suitable or dead. The battery in your 2012 Ford Explorer is every thrilling. Without a car battery, your car won’t start, light up the road ahead, play the radio or charge your phone. Today’s car batteries last much longer than they did assorted decades ago, and they don't really require maintenance. The price of a new one depends on the type of Ford you drive, but check our ongoing service coupons and specials.

2012 Ford Explorer Check Engine Light

A shining light indicates that the problem is adequate and if not taken care of immediately may result in distinct damage to the vehicle. If the check engine light in your 2012 Ford Explorer starts shining, that means that the problem needs speedy attention and your Ford should be brought in immediately. This blinking light ordinarily indicates a relentless engine misfire allowing unburned fuel to be discharged into the exhaust system. There it can swiftly increase the temperature of the catalytic converter to a point where damage is accessible, requiring an expensive repair. A Little owners ask if spark plugs cause the check engine light to flash? This can explicitly be the cause. A harmful, common or dirty spark plug can cause the engine to misfire. If your check engine light is shining, please contact our team of automotive experts at Bill Estes Ford Brownsburg quickly by calling 3177903264. If the problem is ignored or you continue to drive, this can spread to the spark plug wires, catalytic converter, or ignition coils which can lead to a very expensive repair.

How many miles can you drive with the check engine light?

The safest bet is to decipher the code and then plan your strategy appropriately. If you check engine light is flashing, we endorse that you pull over and contact Bill Estes Ford Brownsburg to help opt for if your vehicle is safe to drive in or if we endorse a tow truck. Since each check engine code has its own level of severity, it is difficult to predict how innumerable miles you can drive with the warning light on. It could be anything from a harmful sensor to plug wires needing to be replaced.

Is it safe to drive your 2012 Ford Explorer with the check engine light on?

This question is not very distinguishable because it all depends on the severity of the issue. If the cause is a minor issue, such as a loose gas cap, it should be safe to drive. This is mostly indicated by a steady glow of the check engine light. If you notice a difference in the performance of the vehicle, it could be an indication of a more threatening problem. If the check engine light is flashing, this means that there is a threatening issue and it is recommended to service your Ford Explorer shortly. Call the experts at Bill Estes Ford Brownsburg by dialing 3177903264 so you can describe the issues. Or cut your speed and bring your 2012 Ford to our certified mechanics as soon as likely.

What Does the Check Engine Light Mean?

One of the most typically misunderstood lights or indicators in your 2012 Ford Explorer is the check engine light. The check engine light is part of the onboard diagnostics system, and displays in innumerable different ways. It can say "Check Engine", it can be a symbol of an engine, it can even be a combination of both. This light illuminates in either an amber or red color and is part of the diagnostics system found on your vehicle. Onboard computers increasingly have controlled and monitored vehicle performance since the 80s and do a variety of things for your 2012 Ford Explorer. Some of these include ignition timing, controlling engine speed, shifting automatic transmissions and implementing stability control, just to name assorted. With that being said, the check engine light can mean a variety of distinct things. It can be as amicable as your gas cap being loose or as perilous as engine knocking. If your check engine light is on in your 2012 Ford Explorer, contact Bill Estes Ford Brownsburg. Contact Bill Estes Ford Brownsburg today! Our Ford service department can help you read what code is turning your check engine light on or diagnose why your check engine light is flashing.

Will the check engine light reset itself?

The check engine light on your 2012 Ford Explorer will commonly shut itself off if the issue or code that caused it to turn on is repaired. For example, if the cause of your check engine light coming on was a loose gas cap, if it's tightened, the light will turn itself off. Likewise, if your catalytic converter is going accessible, and you did a lot of stop-and-go driving, that may have turned on the check engine light due to the high usage of the converter. In most cases, your 2012 Ford Explorer light will go off after about 20-40 miles. If you drive over that deposit and the light is still on, you will need to bring it in to Bill Estes Ford Brownsburg so the light and code can be double-checked and reset.

2012 Ford Explorer Check Engine Light Flashing

Although there are countless capacity causes of an illuminated Check Engine Light, we know from years of providing Check Engine Light Diagnosis Service that there are several innate causes including something as visible as a loose gas cap. Diverse innate reasons for a Check Engine Light are a malfunction with the fuel injection system, faulty emissions control part, faulty head gasket, damaged oxygen sensor, dirty mass airflow sensor, or defective spark plugs to name various. No matter what is the root cause of the Check Engine Light, we have the Ford Certified Technicians and the certified service protocol to isolate the root problem and repair it as imperative to restore factory specifications. When this happens, the Check Engine Light turns off, and you can leave the service center knowing that your Ford issue was fixed.

Every 2012 Ford Explorer was designed with a high-technology performance monitoring system with a computer, and a series of sensors positioned strategically throughout the vehicle on its meaningful systems. The sensors are often detecting conditions while sending data to the electrical control unit. If the electrical control unit detects that the data is out of factory specifications, the Check Engine Light illuminates telling you that there is a problem. However, that is the limitation of the Check Engine Light – it won’t tell you what explicitly is awry nor what to do about it. That’s where we come in; Bill Estes Ford Brownsburg provides a Check Engine Light Diagnosis Service that isolates the core problem and gives you a recommendation on what to do next from a Incredibly Qualified Service skilled.

Check Engine Light Service 2012 Ford Explorer

What do you do when you’re driving along in your Ford Explorer and promptly, a yellow light illuminates on your dash and says "Check Engine". If you’re like most Ford owners, your heart sinks a little because you have little idea about what that light is trying to tell you or how you should react. The fear of the unknown (or the cost of the unknown) can be just as stressful. But take a deep breath and realize the light coming on doesn’t determine you have to pull the car over to the side of the road and call a tow truck, but it is recommended that you get your 2012 Ford Explorer checked as soon as achievable. Ignoring that warning could end up causing major damage to expensive engine factors.

When your 2012 Ford Explorer's ECM (electronic control module), which is the vehicle's onboard computer, finds a problem in the electrical control system that it can’t equitable, a computer turns on your check engine light. This amber or yellow light is customarily labeled “check engine” or “service engine soon”, or the light may be nothing more than a picture of an engine, or a picture of the engine with the word “check.”

When the light turns on, the ECM stores an engine code or “trouble code” in its memory that identifies as the issue, whether it's a sensor or a failing engine part. This code is read with an electronic audit tool that is used by our Ford auto repair mechanics at Bill Estes Ford Brownsburg. There are also a number of comparably bargain code readers that are designed for do-it-yourselfers, should you choose that route too. While this code will tell you the issue that is detected, a true diagnosis still requires an experienced mechanical to indicate the issue and repair it.

2012 Ford Explorer Check Engine Light Codes

The check engine light turning on can be quite intimidating to see that little light on your vehicle’s dashboard abruptly illuminates, but in reality, it is not something that should cause you to shut down in fear honorable away. If you hear the term, diagnostic trouble codes (DTC), these are just another name for check engine light codes. These are automotive computer codes stored by the ECM, also known as the OBD (on-board computer diagnostic system) in your Explorer. There are hundreds of contrasting codes that your check engine light can indicate. While that sounds daunting, with a little patience, tackling basic diagnostics will give you conducive knowledge about your vehicle and will also allow that Check Engine Light to do what it is really supposed to do: be your guide. Unfortunately, evident and helpful vehicle symptoms do not always accompany an illuminated Check Engine Light. Since there are hundreds of adequate OBD codes, there are also hundreds of adequate reasons for the light, including:

• Emissions controls issues
• Transmission issues
• Fuel and air metering systems problems
• Old Battery
• O2 Sensor
• Computer output circuit issues
• Bad Spark Plugs
• Loose Gas Cap or Missing Gas Cap
• Ignition system faults

This is why it is profound for someone who does not have a lot of automotive knowledge to not assume what a code means. Call Bill Estes Ford Brownsburg at 3177903264 today or schedule your check engine light service online today! If the engine light comes on due to a hazardous concern, you risk damaging your car supplemental by not repairing the issue decent away. When your check engine light comes on, you should get it checked out abruptly by a certified Ford mechanic.