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I agree that TPMS is great. I can tell at a glance the pressure in all 4 of my tires and know immediately if one is getting low. Does anybody really go around and take pressure readings on all 4 tires every time you fill up like you're supposed to? I've never once seen anyone checking tire pressure at a gas station.
And you know what? The CEL is a fantastic modern convenience too. Cars actually self-diagnose and tell you exactly what's wrong, that's a miracle. Anyone who's ever had to futz around with carburetors can appreciate the age we live in.
Exactly. I've owned both. Give me OBDII or better ANY DAY!
OBDII also speeds up emissions testing. If the computer says everything is ok, you go right on through with very little wasted time. And yeah, I do like plugging in and testing a late model used car to see if there's anything wrong with it, or if the computer has been reset recently (which can indicate potential problems that are being covered up), or if the car isn't running, it can indicate why that might be, which can help you find good deals on cheap used cars.
How did we do before the check engine light? Answer:just fine. I can't remember any issue going unresolved because nobody told the mechanic didn't know P0441 is the error code. In my experience, CEL has been nothing but trouble. CEL is a nightmare on older cars. Nobody can figure out why they come on. I don't know who checks the CEL itself.
Yes, the old it used to be better years ago whine. When a vehicle sets a SES light it is giving you a warning a fault has occurred. Most codes can be looked up and diagnose the fault, and repair with ease. My 69 Z28 would run high 13's in the quarter, and got 10 mpg on a good day. Compare this with my 04 Corvette that will run a quarter in a 13 flat and get 29 mpg on the freeway I have no desire to go back. While I do believe there may be a market for a simpler, less complicated vehicle, computers are here to stay, so get used to it and embrace it and its benefits.
Mine comes on when I dont put the gas cap on tight enough. Clearly not a life or death engine problem.
The gas cap today plays an important part in the evaporative emissions capture system. They are designed to prevent the release of evaporated gasoline from the fuel tank into the air. If that system isn't working correctly, I think it ok to let the driver know.
I would be far more useful however to say "gas cap not tight" than turn on a dash light.
I agree that TPMS is great. I can tell at a glance the pressure in all 4 of my tires and know immediately if one is getting low. Does anybody really go around and take pressure readings on all 4 tires every time you fill up like you're supposed to? I've never once seen anyone checking tire pressure at a gas station.
Totally agree. The #1 cause of flat tires: under inflated tires. Not road hazards.
Something weird in my car happened!
Display diagnostic codes... Low voltage to right door module?
Pop the panel, secure teh connection.
Everything's fine now.
Picture trying to fix a Lower Intake manifold leak on Ford Duratecs with out the check engine code P171 174, you would be there for 3 weeks trying to figure out what is wrong.
If anything I think manufacturers need to have the engine give out more specific codes and what the so we dont have to have the dealer diagnose every thing.
Mine comes on when I dont put the gas cap on tight enough. Clearly not a life or death engine problem.
Speaking of...
Being a tech guy, when a CEL came on in my Toyota Tacoma a few weeks ago I became curious about self-diagnosis.
The dealer can check it, too, but I can't imaging getting out of that for less than $75 per visit. Their time does cost money; fair enough.
So my purpose was somewhat simple: triage, because it didn't appear to be immediately catastrophic. The Tacoma drove as always, no obvious heat, oil, or other issues noted. I figured: if the code for my particular vehicle is a known trouble-spot, or potentially very serious, I'll take action. If not, well, less important and deal-with at-leisure.
I found a non-Chinese (more-robust) Bluetooth dongle on Amazon for the OBD-II port found on each of my cars, an '01 and '07. The port is easy to find under the driver's left knee area on both Toyota and Porsche. The dongle came with software for either Android or Apple, downloaded immediately via QR code found in the packaging. Connected all that up, loaded the app, and lo and behold: quick diagnostic tool. Plus lots of other interesting information, gauges and etc., for those who like to tweak such stuff (fuel consumption, RPMs, much more).
In this case, yes indeed: the CEL was caused by a poorly sealed gas cap! D'oh! Tacomas toss the CEL for some sort of vacuum issue related-to, apparently. But considering I'd had a factory supercharger put on only a few months ago, I didn't want to take the chance of something more serious. Like, say, a holed piston due to a bad injector or worse.
So now I have a way to check codes on the Porsche, too, since the dongle snaps on and off in seconds. Over time, that may be a bit more-critical: various thing can go wrong with the Turbo's engine, some trivial and others not. It's the "not" I'm concerned about.
But the above was a $90 experiment. One of the plug in tools costs less than that. The dongle was (is) mostly for tweakers and gadget-guys, I think. And no, the codes were not terribly specific on my Tacoma for what was really going on. For that, I have the Internet
Yes, we're in a transition period in automotive technology. I'd guess in ten year or sooner the self-diagnostics will become sufficiently sophisticated to give a plain-English answer to fault codes, on most new cars. There isn't much reason not to have robust, friendly computers on-board cars anymore. Forget dongles and schizophrenic blinking lights or codes so abstruse they make Windows blue screen errors look legible.
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