Ford: 2000 ford escort zx2, ford escort zx2, 2000 ford escort zx2

Question
service engine light soon popped up on my car today. i read the message you wrote the prior guy about the engine light. but i dont want to know how to take it off. i was wondering if you knew the things that could be wrong with it. i am not mechanically smart by all means. and i am not asking as a stupid question, i honestly have no idea what could be wrong with it. it drives fine. thanks for your time.

Answer
The "Service engine soon" or "Check Engine Light" (CEL) is required to come on when the computor detects anything that goes out of range that will effect emmissions.

This could be anything from a loose gas cap to a bad sensor or a badly needed tune-up.

Often the computor will do it's best to compensate for the problem and will allow the vehicle to be driven normally.

If the light is flashing, however, it is telling you that something very bad is happening and you should not drive the car or damage will occur.

Unfortunately, the only way to see what the cause of the light is, is to have the code read, either by a garage, or a small reader available at your local parts store for about $50

Let me know what code is stored and I will see if I can recommend the next step.