QuestionMy 2001 chevy cavilear has been in the crapper twice! first it was my tumbler and key, then about 2 weeks ago it was my fuel pump. i was driving home and my check engine light came on. the car runs really well concidering it has about 94,000 miles on it and even after the light came on it was fine, im just worried. also this other light has been going on and off lately its one with a box that has an arrow going down pointing at some fluid, but i have no idea what that is.
AnswerHi Tracy,
"The car runs really well considering it has 94K miles on it?"
That car barely crossed the half-way mark in it's usability if you ask my opinion.
The check engine light comes on for many different reasons. Because you are not experiencing any drivability problems due to the light being on, I'd have to say one of your sensors is getting old and may be slightly out of range or you are receiving a rich/lean signal from the Oxygen sensor(s). These are the two most popular reasons why your check light would be on given what you told me. My advice would be to either have the computer scanned or if possible, scan/read the codes yourself. If you jump the ground terminal on the ALDL connector with the ignition key ON, the check engine light will 'blink' the stored codes. Write down the codes you receive (they are given in three's: code 12 would be: 'blink'..pause.. 'blink' 'blink'...longer pause...'blink'..pause.. 'blink' 'blink'...longer pause...'blink'..pause.. 'blink' 'blink'...longer pause and then it will start the next code, let's say code 24 would be: 'blink' 'blink'..pause.. 'blink' 'blink' 'blink' 'blink'...longer pause...and will repeat that twice more before going onto the next code. When the code reading is complete, the system will display the code 12 again.) and send me a follow-up with them and I'll try and figure out what the issue is you are experiencing.
The Other light would have me out under the hood looking for what fluid is low. An arrow pointing down usually means LOW and if it is pointing to a fluid, well, you see where this is going. My guess would be low coolant or low washer fluid. The importance of the light is typically reflected in the color of the light. Yellow/orange is important but can wait, red means check it NOW.
Thanks for the question, I hope this information was helpful to you.
Fred
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