Hyundai Repair: Malfunction Indicator Light - Elantra 2001, malfunction indicator light, hyundai elantra

Question
My Hyundai Elantra has 69,092 miles and while driving the Malfunction Indicator Light turned on. The previous owner told me that it is common for this car to do this. I saw your answer to the Tiburon's owner but I found it sort of vague and no really useful..since you repeated what is on the owner's manual of any car. Can you give more detail about the possible problems (or false alarms) that could lead to this. Thanks

Gabriel
Thanks

Answer
Unfortunately, the possible issues are large.  The list of possible diagnostic trouble codes that have the potential of causing the check engine lamp to come on is about twenty pages long.  Each of these codes refers to a specific type of problem seen by the engine (or transmission) control module, and each type of problem may have several different potrntial causes.  That's why I'm unable to give you advice as to what may be wrong without knowing the trouble code.

If it's common for your car to display the check engine lamp, then there's something wrong with the car that needs to be repaired.  As to the seriousness of the issue, as long as the car is running properly and the check engine lamp isn' t flashing, it's probably not serious and okay to drive.  

I think it's still important to find out something about the nature of the problem in a reasonable amount of time to help determine whether there's a potential issue that could cause a breakdown or damage to the vehicle.  AutoZone has advertised that they'll check trouble codes for free, so I'd recommend starting there.  If you report back with the trouble code(s), I can give you information about what it means, the potential hazards of continuing to drive the vehicle while the problem exists, and the most common problems causing the diagnostic trouble code(s) you've given me.