The Check Engine light or Service Engine Soon light is one of the most misunderstood lights on a car’s dashboard. This light will come on for any number of reasons, and when it does, it shouldn’t be ignored. That’s because it’s designed to alert you to minor problems with your vehicle’s emission system (like a vacuum leak from a loose or cracked gas cap), so you can have it fixed before it becomes a major problem (like having to replace the catalytic converter). If you’ve been searching the web for why the Check Engine light or Service Engine Soon light is on, you’ll find some recommendations to go to your local parts store to have them check for the error code that’s being generated by your vehicle’s computer system. While you can certainly do this, having the error code doesn’t mean you’ll know what to do to fix the problem. In this post, I’ll give you some general information on the Check Engine light and Service Engine Soon light. I’ll also outline some of the more common causes for this light to come on and what should be done to get your vehicle fixed.

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