You’re driving along in your car or truck and suddenly a yellow light illuminates on your dash telling you to check or service your engine. If you’re like most car owners, you have little idea about ...

While your car can’t talk, it communicates with you using chimes, icons, and messages. One icon that you should never ignore is the check engine light. It turns on when the car’s onboard computer ...

Onboard diagnostics (OBD) systems have been around since the 1980s and were developed to help limit harmful automotive exhaust emissions. Between 1988 and 1995, U.S.-built vehicles came with what's ...

The check engine light means one of your car’s systems is malfunctioning. If it’s flashing, pull over as soon as you safely can. If it’s steady, follow these simple steps. Many, or all, of the ...

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. The check engine light is one of those dashboard warning lights drivers dread to see suddenly come on in the middle of driving. First-time car ...

Modern cars are becoming more and more computerized, so much so that in 2010, CarMD.com, a provider of automotive diagnostic data, reported 675 different possible reasons for a check engine light to ...

This article was updated in August 2025 with new products and information. That little yellow check-engine light is sneaky. Most of the time, you forget it could be there. But when it detects an issue ...

Of the myriad warning lights on your car or truck’s dashboard, it seems the most ubiquitous is the “check engine” alert. When you see the "check engine" message or a symbol that looks like a car ...

Your dashboard’s check engine light can seem like a mystery within in an enigma wrapped in a sad confusion burrito. Some of us figure that if the car still runs well, it’s no big deal, and ignore it ...

Seeing a check engine light can be frustrating. It’s even more frustrating when the problem causing that light is hard to diagnose and expensive to fix. If your blood pressure is rising, we apologize, ...