Hyundai Santa Fe Check Engine Light

What could cause the check engine light to come on in a Hyundai Santa Fe?

When your check engine light comes on, this could be as simple as tightening or replacing your gas cap. Again, the check engine light could likewise be a warning of an essential problem that could cause serious damage to your engine and come with a hefty and expensive repair bill. Depending on your make and model, the check engine light will illuminate or blink. A steady and continuous glow typically means something less serious but a flashing check engine light indicates that your vehicle’s engine is in serious trouble and useful service is necessary swiftly. If your check engine light is flashing in your Hyundai Santa Fe, we exceedingly endorse not to drive the car and schedule Hyundai service today. Below is a list of the most common reasons your check engine light can come on:

• One of the most regular and frequent cause is that your Hyundai Santa Fe gas cap is loose, damaged or missing. The gas cap for your Hyundai Santa Fe serves various purposes. It prevents perilous gas fumes from being released when you aren't driving, it seals the fuel system and helps cultivate pressure within the fuel tank. What happens if you have a faulty fuel cap? If your gas cap is old or has a ruptured seal, you can lose fuel through evaporation which will result in more trips to the pump and be more costly. Luckily, to change a gas cap isn't costly. If your check engine light turns on immediately after you put gas in your Hyundai Santa Fe, first thing you should check is to make sure the cap isn’t loose — or that it's still on your car’s roof or at the fuel pump.
• Issues with any aftermarket items. An aftermarket alarm, exhaust or other item can wreak extreme havoc on your Hyundai Santa Fe if it’s not installed perfectly. These aftermarket components and accessories can drain the battery, trigger the check engine light, or even impede the car from starting. If these issues sound familiar, bring your Santa Fe to Hyundai and have our team of skilled certified mechanics ensure that your aftermarket items were installed perfectly and aren't causing any issue. Getting accessories, exceptionally aftermarket parts and accessories, or utilizing OEM components first place might cost a little bit more but could support you save substantially from having to get poor work and damage caused by poor installation work corrected.
• The battery is low or dead. The battery in your Hyundai Santa Fe is each essential. Without a vehicle battery, your vehicle won’t start, light up the road in front, play the radio or charge your phone. Today’s vehicle batteries last much longer than they did a few decades ago, and they don't genuinely require maintenance. The price of a new one depends on the type of Hyundai you drive, but check our current service coupons and specials.
• Your Hyundai Santa Fe has a vacuum leak. Each Hyundai Santa Fe has a vacuum system that performs a wide variety of functions. The vacuum system again helps lower harmful emissions by routing the fumes as gasoline evaporates through the engine. If you notice that your RPM is high in idle or randomly surges, a vacuum leak could be the cause. Over time, vacuum hoses can dry out and crack, exceptionally if they’re exposed to intense heat or extreme cold.
• Your mass airflow sensor (known as MAF) needs to be replaced. The mass airflow sensor in your Hyundai Santa Fe is what determines how much fuel is needed to run your engine efficiently by measuring the amount of air entering the engine. As a part of the engine management system, the mass airflow sensor helps adjust to certain changes, like altitude. If your Hyundai Santa Fe is having trouble starting, idling rough or has a sudden rapid change in the position of the throttle pedal, this could be a critical sign of a faulty mass airflow sensor.
• Your O2 Sensor (Oxygen Sensor) needs to be replaced. The Oxygen sensor, known as the O2 sensor, measures the amount of oxygen in your exhaust system. If there is excess oxygen in your exhaust system, fuel burns more quickly and your car will be less efficient when it comes to fuel economy. So what happens if I don’t change your O2 sensor? A faulty sensor can not only affect your miles per gallon, but it can cause serious damage to your catalytic converter and your Hyundai Santa Fe's spark plugs. The O2 sensor sends data to the vehicle’s onboard computer to determine the explicitly appropriate combination of air and fuel that enters the cylinders in your engine. A faulty O2 sensor can again cause a vehicle to fail an emissions test.
• New Spark Plugs or Plug Wires are needed for your Hyundai Santa Fe. The spark plugs are the part of your engine that ignites the air/fuel combination in the combustion chamber of your car. This explosion is what moves the pistons and makes the engine run smooth. The spark plug wires deliver the spark from the ignition coil to the spark plugs. If your spark plugs or spark plug wires are bad or old, you will endure a conspicuous poor performance and decreased power. In some extreme cases, your engine will have trouble starting or continuing to run. Worn spark plugs and plug wires can cause clogged catalytic converter or damage to ignition coils and O2 sensors, leading to more costly repairs.
• Your catalytic converter is bad or going bad. The catalytic converter is a part of your Hyundai Santa Fe’s exhaust system. The catalytic converter's function is to turn the carbon monoxide created by the combustion process into carbon dioxide. A damaged catalytic converter is frequently caused by invariably neglected maintenance, which is why Larry H. Miller Southwest Hyundai Albuquerque offers a free multi-point examination with each Hyundai service. If you have an issue with your catalytic converter and don't get it repaired, your Hyundai Santa Fe will not pass an emissions test, show a lack of engine performance and will negatively affect your fuel economy. Your vehicle may run at a higher temperature, too, which can cause other perilous problems from overheating.

Hyundai Santa Fe Check Engine Light

If the check engine light in your Hyundai Santa Fe starts flashing, that means that the problem needs attention expeditiously and your Hyundai should be brought in instantly. A flashing light signifies that the problem is very serious and if not taken care of expeditiously may result in major and significant damage to the car. This blinking light usually reveals a severe engine misfire allowing unburned fuel to be dumped into the exhaust system. There it can instantly raise the temperature of the catalytic converter to a point where damage is likely, requiring an pricey and extensive repair. Some owners ask if spark plugs cause the check engine light to flash? This can exactly be the cause. A defective, old or dirty spark plug can cause the engine to misfire. If your check engine light is repeatedly flashing, please contact our team of automotive experts at Larry H. Miller Southwest Hyundai Albuquerque immediately by calling 5056577844. If the problem is entirely ignored or you continue to drive, this can spread to the spark plug wires, catalytic converter, or ignition coils which can lead to a very pricey repair.

How much does it cost to get the engine light checked?

The check engine light warns of issues ranging from a gas cap that's not correctly tightened to a more serious failure like a bad catalytic converter or a problem with one of the car's oxygen sensors, so it good to get the correct code reading and diagnosis. The average cost for a check engine light diagnosis & testing is generally between $88 and $111. The good news, Larry H. Miller Southwest Hyundai Albuquerque offers entirely free multi-point inspections and free diagnostics, in most cases, to help determine the cause of your check engine light.

Check Engine Light Service Hyundai Santa Fe

What do you do when you’re driving along in your Hyundai Santa Fe and suddenly, a yellow light illuminates on your dash and says "Check Engine". If you’re like most Hyundai owners, your heart sinks extremely because you may have explicitly idea about what that light is trying to tell you or how you should react. The fear of the unknown (or the cost of the unknown) can be just as stressful. But take a deep, tranquil breath and realize the light coming on doesn’t mean you have to pull the vehicle over to the side of the road and call a tow truck, but it is recommended that you get your Hyundai Santa Fe checked expeditiously. Ignoring that warning could end up causing significant, huge damage to costly engine parts.

When your Hyundai Santa Fe's ECM (electronic control module), which is the vehicle's onboard computer, finds a problem in the electronic control system that it can’t correct, a computer turns on your check engine light. This amber or yellow light is ordinarily labeled “check engine” or “service engine soon”, or the light may be nothing more than a picture of an engine, or a picture of the engine with the word “check.”

When the light turns on, the ECM stores an engine code or “trouble code” in its memory that can swiftly identify the issue, whether it's a sensor or a failing engine part. This code is read with an electronic scan tool that is used by our Hyundai auto repair mechanics at Larry H. Miller Southwest Hyundai Albuquerque. There are likewise a number of essentially inexpensive code readers that are designed for do-it-yourselfers, should you pick that route too. While this code will tell you the issue that is detected, a true diagnosis still requires an experienced professional to determine the absolutely correct issue and repair it.

What Does the Check Engine Light Mean?

One of the most frequently misunderstood lights or indicators in your Hyundai Santa Fe is the check engine light. The check engine light is part of the vital onboard diagnostics system, and displays in a variety of different ways. It can say "Check Engine", it can be a symbol of an engine, it can even be a combination of both. This light illuminates in either an amber or red color and is part of the diagnostics system found on your vehicle. Onboard computers increasingly have controlled and monitored vehicle performance since the 80s and do a variety of things for your Hyundai Santa Fe. Some of these essential duties include controlling engine speed, shifting automatic transmissions ignition timing, and implementing security control, just to name a few. With that being said, the check engine light can mean a wide range of different things. It can be as simple as your gas cap being loose or as hazardous as engine knocking. If your check engine light is on in your Hyundai Santa Fe, contact Larry H. Miller Southwest Hyundai Albuquerque. Our Hyundai service department can help you find out what code is turning your check engine light on or diagnose why your check engine light is flashing. Contact Larry H. Miller Southwest Hyundai Albuquerque today!

Is it safe to drive your Hyundai Santa Fe with the check engine light on?

This question is not very simple because it all depends on the severity of the issue. If the cause is a minor issue, such as a loose gas cap, it should be safe to drive. This is ordinarily indicated by a steady glow of the check engine light. If you notice a difference in the performance of the car, it could be an indication of a more serious problem. If the check engine light is flashing, this means that there is a serious issue and it is suggested to service your Hyundai Santa Fe swiftly. Call the experts at Larry H. Miller Southwest Hyundai Albuquerque by dialing 5056577844 so you can describe the issues. Or decrease your speed and bring your Hyundai to our certified mechanics as soon as likely.

Will the check engine light reset itself?

The check engine light on your Hyundai Santa Fe will usually shut itself off if the issue or code that caused it to turn on is fixed. For example, if the cause of your check engine light coming on was a loose gas cap, if it's tightened, the light will promptly turn itself off. Again, if your catalytic converter is working correctly, and you did a lot of stop-and-go driving, that may have turned on the check engine light due to the high usage of the converter. In most cases, your Hyundai Santa Fe light will go off after about 20-40 miles. If you drive over that amount and the light is still on, you will need to bring it in to Larry H. Miller Southwest Hyundai Albuquerque so the light and code can be double-checked and reset.

Hyundai Santa Fe Check Engine Light Flashing

Although there are countless potential causes of an illuminated Check Engine Light, we know from years of providing Check Engine Light Diagnosis Service that there are several typical causes including something as simple as a loose gas cap. Other generally typical reasons for a Check Engine Light are a malfunction with the fuel injection system, dirty mass airflow sensor, damaged head gasket, broken oxygen sensor, damaged emissions control part, or broken spark plugs to name a few. No matter what is the root cause of the Check Engine Light, we have the Hyundai Certified Mechanics and the certified service protocol to isolate the root problem and absolutely repair it as necessary to restore factory specifications. When this results, the Check Engine Light turns off, and you can leave the service center knowing that your Hyundai issue was completely fixed.

Every Hyundai Santa Fe was designed with a high-technology performance monitoring system with a computer, and a series of sensors positioned strategically throughout the vehicle on its critical systems. The speedy sensors are continually detecting conditions while sending important data to the electronic control unit. If the electronic control unit detects that the data is out of factory specifications, the Check Engine Light illuminates telling you that there is a problem. Nevertheless, unfortunately that is the limitation of the Check Engine Light – it won’t tell you what exactly is wrong nor what to do about it. That’s where we come in; Larry H. Miller Southwest Hyundai Albuquerque provides a Check Engine Light Diagnosis Service that isolates the core problem and gives you a recommendation on what to do next from a Remarkably Knowledgeable Service professional.

How many miles can you drive with the check engine light?

If you check engine light is flashing, we recommend that you pull over and contact Larry H. Miller Southwest Hyundai Albuquerque to support determine if your vehicle is secure to drive in or if we recommend a tow truck. The safest bet is to decipher the code and then plan your strategy accordingly. Since any check engine code has its own level of severity, it is typically difficult to predict how multiple miles you can be secure in driving with the warning light on. It could be anything from a bad sensor to plug wires needing to be replaced.

Hyundai Santa Fe Check Engine Light Codes

The check engine light turning on can be quite intimidating, especially to see that little light on your vehicle’s dashboard suddenly illuminate, but in reality, it is not something that should cause you to shut down in fear right away. If you hear the term, diagnostic trouble codes (DTC), these are just another name for check engine light codes. These are automotive computer codes stored by the ECM, also known as the OBD (on-board computer diagnostic system) in your Santa Fe. There are hundreds of different codes that your check engine light can correctly represent. While that sounds daunting, with a little patience, tackling basic diagnostics will give you helpful knowledge about your car and will also allow that important Check Engine Light to do what it is really supposed to do: be your guide. Sadly, apparent and useful car symptoms do not regularly accompany an illuminated Check Engine Light. Since there are hundreds of likely OBD codes, there are also hundreds of likely reasons for the light, including:

• Ignition system faults
• Fuel and air metering systems problems
• Emissions controls issues
• O2 Sensor
• Loose Gas Cap or Missing Gas Cap
• Computer output circuit issues
• Old Battery
• Transmission issues
• Bad Spark Plugs

This is why it is essential for someone who does not have a lot of prevailing automotive knowledge to not assume what a code means. When your check engine light comes on, you should get it checked out expeditiously by a skillful certified Hyundai mechanic. Call Larry H. Miller Southwest Hyundai Albuquerque at 5056577844 today or schedule your check engine light service online today! If the engine light comes on due to a serious concern, you risk damaging your car further by not repairing the issue right away.