HiTLeR Posted February 28, 2021 Posted February 28, 2021 Few things divide us like the damned check engine light, it seems. A study shows 36.1 percent of us run the car to a mechanic within a week of seeing that dreaded little icon in the instrument panel. But another 25 percent just leave it on forever. Reviews.com found the disparity with a survey. They asked 1,239 American drivers how they respond to the appearance of the check engine light. Answers vary from having it immediately investigated to “oh, that’s not supposed to be on?” A total of 29.6 percent fell in the middle, with waits of between a week and a year to have the light checked out. Demographically, two big trends appear in the data – men are nearly twice as likely to ignore the light indefinitely than women (32 percent vs. 18.4 percent). Those over 45 are more likely to attend to it immediately (43.4 percent of them do) than those under 35 (26.6 percent). We’d fall on the side of checking it, but we say that thanks to a little-known fact…there’s a way to check it for free. Major auto parts stores, including AutoZone, O’Reilly’s, and Pep Boys, will usually do it for you at no cost. They simply plug a tool into your car that reads any error codes (it’s called an OBDII scanner, and you can buy one yourself for less than $50 if this happens to you often enough to justify it) and tell you what the car thinks is wrong. Since the problem can be as simple as a loose gas cap, that can enable you to turn the light off for free. And if you’re dealing with something much more expensive, at least you’ll know how urgent the problem is. 3
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