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2020 Ford F-150 Check Engine Light Codes

The check engine light turning on can be quite intimidating to see that little light on your vehicle’s dashboard suddenly illuminates, but in reality, it is not something that should cause you to shut down in fear honest 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 noted as the OBD (on-board computer diagnostic system) in your F-150. There are hundreds of different codes that your check engine light can represent. While that sounds daunting, with a bit patience, tackling imperative diagnostics will give you dependable knowledge about your vehicle and will also allow that Check Engine Light to do what it is surely supposed to do: be your guide. Unfortunately, visible and helpful vehicle symptoms do not always accompany an illuminated Check Engine Light. Since there are hundreds of suitable OBD codes, there are also hundreds of suitable reasons for the light, including:

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

This is why it is distinct 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 relentless concern, you risk detrimental your car supplemental by not repairing the issue correct away. When your check engine light comes on, you should get it checked out quickly by a certified Ford mechanic.

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

If you check engine light is flashing, we recommend 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 recommend a tow truck. It could be anything from a bad sensor to plug wires needing to be changed. The safest bet is to decipher the code and then plan your strategy accordingly. Since all check engine code has its own level of severity, it is difficult to predict how frequent miles you can drive with the warning light on.

What Does the Check Engine Light Mean?

One of the most typically misunderstood lights or indicators in your 2020 Ford F-150 is the check engine light. The check engine light is part of the onboard diagnostics system, and displays in assorted 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 flashes 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 collection of things for your 2020 Ford F-150. Some of these include controlling engine speed, ignition timing, shifting automatic transmissions and implementing stability control, just to name innumerable. With that being said, the check engine light can determine a variety of different things. It can be as straightforward as your gas cap being loose or as relentless as engine knocking. If your check engine light is on in your 2020 Ford F-150, contact Bill Estes Ford Brownsburg. Our Ford service department can help you find out what code is turning your check engine light on or scan why your check engine light is flashing. Contact Bill Estes Ford Brownsburg today!

Check Engine Light Service 2020 Ford F-150

What do you do when you’re driving along in your Ford F-150 and suddenly, a yellow light illuminates on your dash and says "Check Engine". If you’re like most Ford owners, your heart sinks a bit 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 mean 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 2020 Ford F-150 checked as soon as likely. Ignoring that warning could end up causing major damage to expensive engine components.

When your 2020 Ford F-150's ECM (electronic control module), which is the vehicle's onboard computer, finds a problem in the electronic control system that it can’t pragmatic, 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 scan tool that is used by our Ford auto repair mechanics at Bill Estes Ford Brownsburg. There are also a number of relatively feasible code readers that are designed for do-it-yourselfers, should you convenience that route too. While this code will tell you the issue that is detected, a true diagnosis still requires an trained professional to designate the issue and repair it.

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

The check engine light warns of issues ranging from a gas cap that's not properly tightened to a more exceptional failure like a bad catalytic converter or a problem with one of the car's oxygen sensors, so it conclusive to get the helpful code reading and diagnosis. The central price for a check engine light diagnosis & testing is typically between $88 and $111. The conclusive news, Bill Estes Ford Brownsburg offers complimentary multi-point inspections and free diagnostics, in most cases, to help learn the cause of your check engine light.

What could cause the check engine light to come on in a 2020 Ford F-150?

When your check engine light comes on, this could be as conspicuous as tightening or replacing your gas cap. Likewise, the check engine light could also be a warning of a perilous problem that could cause perilous damage to your engine and come with a immense repair bill. Depending on your make and model, the check engine light will illuminate or blink. A steady glow mostly means something less perilous but a flashing check engine light indicates that your vehicle’s engine is in perilous trouble and service is imperative hastily. If your check engine light is flashing in your 2020 Ford F-150, we highly recommend not to drive the car and schedule Ford service today. Below is a list of the most prominent reasons your check engine light can come on:

  • Your O2 Sensor (Oxygen Sensor) needs to be replaced. The Oxygen sensor, commonplace 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 detailed 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 damage to your catalytic converter and your 2020 Ford F-150's spark plugs. The O2 sensor sends data to the vehicle’s onboard computer to determine the polite mixture of air and fuel that enters the cylinders in your engine. A harmful O2 sensor can also cause a car to fail an emissions test.
  • Your catalytic converter is harmful or going harmful. The catalytic converter is a part of your 2020 Ford F-150’s exhaust system. The catalytic converter's work is to turn the carbon monoxide created by the combustion process into carbon dioxide. A damaged catalytic converter is frequently 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 2020 Ford F-150 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 extra problems from overheating.
  • New Spark Plugs or Plug Wires are needed for your 2020 Ford F-150. 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 deliver the spark from the ignition coil to the spark plugs. If your spark plugs or spark plug wires are harmful or old, you will experience poor performance and reduced power. In a bit extreme cases, your engine will have trouble starting or continuing to run. Worn spark plugs and plug wires can cause clogged catalytic converter or damage to ignition coils and O2 sensors, major to more expensive repairs.
  • One of the most prevalent and plentiful cause is that your 2020 Ford F-150 gas cap is loose, damaged or missing. The gas cap for your 2020 Ford F-150 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 harmful fuel cap? If your gas cap is old 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 immediately after you put gas in your 2020 Ford F-150, first thing you should check is to make sure the cap isn’t loose — or that it's still on your car’s roof or at the fuel pump.
  • Your 2020 Ford F-150 has a vacuum leak. Every Ford F-150 has a vacuum system that performs a expanded assortment of functions. The vacuum system also helps decrease 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, notably if they’re exposed to exciting heat or extreme furious.
  • Issues with any aftermarket items. An aftermarket alarm, exhaust or extra item can wreak havoc on your 2020 Ford F-150 if it’s not installed perfectly. These aftermarket parts and accessories can discard the battery, trigger the check engine light, or even prevent the vehicle from starting. If these issues sound appreciative, bring your F-150 to Ford and have our squad of certified mechanics ensure that your aftermarket items were installed perfectly and aren't causing any issue. Getting accessories, notably aftermarket parts and accessories, or using OEM parts first place might cost a bit bit more but could save you money from having to get poor work and damage caused by poor installation work corrected.
  • Your mass airflow sensor (known as MAF) needs to be replaced. The mass airflow sensor in your Ford F-150 is what determines how much fuel is needed 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 confident changes, like altitude. If your Ford F-150 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 harmful mass airflow sensor.
  • The battery is low or dead. The battery in your 2020 Ford F-150 is every important. 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 many decades ago, and they don't truly require maintenance. The price of a new one depends on the type of Ford you drive, but check our commonplace service coupons and specials.

Will the check engine light reset itself?

The check engine light on your 2020 Ford F-150 will usually shut itself off if the issue or code that caused it to turn on is serviced. 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 functional, 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 2020 Ford F-150 light will go off after about 20-40 miles. If you drive over that amount 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.

2020 Ford F-150 Check Engine Light Flashing

Although there are countless potential causes of an illuminated Check Engine Light, we know from years of providing Check Engine Light Diagnosis Service that there are bountiful suitable causes including something as simple as a loose gas cap. Back-up suitable reasons for a Check Engine Light are faulty emissions control part, dirty mass airflow sensor, a malfunction with the fuel injection system, damaged oxygen sensor, faulty head gasket, or defective spark plugs to name a few. 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 essential 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 serviced.

Every 2020 Ford F-150 was designed with a high-technology performance monitoring system with a computer, and a series of sensors positioned strategically throughout the vehicle on its essential systems. The sensors are continually detecting conditions while sending data to the mechanical control company. If the mechanical control company detects that the data is out of factory specifications, the Check Engine Light lights up telling you that there is a problem. However, that is the limitation of the Check Engine Light – it won’t tell you what exactly 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 Very Qualified Service mechanical.

Is it safe to drive your 2020 Ford F-150 with the check engine light on?

If the check engine light is flashing, this means that there is a perilous issue and it is recommended to service your Ford F-150 shortly. This question is not very prevalent 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 protected to drive. This is usually indicated by a factual glow of the check engine light. If you notice a difference in the performance of the automobile, it could be an indication of a more important problem. Call the experts at Bill Estes Ford Brownsburg by dialing 3177903264 so you can describe the issues. Or decrease your speed and deliver your 2020 Ford to our certified mechanics as soon as convenient.

2020 Ford F-150 Check Engine Light

A flashing light hints that the problem is perilous and if not taken care of immediately may result in considerable damage to the vehicle. If the check engine light in your 2020 Ford F-150 starts flashing, that means that the problem needs sudden attention and your Ford should be delivered in immediately. This twinkling light usually indicates a relentless engine misfire allowing unburned fuel to be dumped into the exhaust system. There it can quickly raise the temperature of the catalytic converter to a point where damage is ready for use, requiring an expensive repair. A Tiny owners ask if spark plugs cause the check engine light to flash? This can absolutely be the cause. A detrimental, classical or dirty spark plug can cause the engine to misfire. 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 costly repair. If your check engine light is shining, please contact our department of automotive experts at Bill Estes Ford Brownsburg instantly by calling 3177903264.