2012 Dodge Charger Check Engine Light

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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 Bill Estes Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram to help represent if your vehicle is safe 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 each check engine code has its own level of severity, it is difficult to predict how many miles you can drive with the warning light on. It could be anything from a bad sensor to plug wires needing to be replaced.

What could cause the check engine light to come on in a 2012 Dodge Charger?

When your check engine light comes on, this could be as prevalent as tightening or replacing your gas cap. Likewise, the check engine light could also be a warning of a unsafe problem that could cause unsafe damage to your engine and come with a large repair bill. Depending on your make and model, the check engine light will illuminate or blink. A steady glow consistently means something less unsafe but a flashing check engine light implies that your vehicle’s engine is in unsafe trouble and service is necessary hastily. If your check engine light is flashing in your 2012 Dodge Charger, we greatly advocate not to drive the vehicle and schedule Dodge service today. Below is a list of the most creative reasons your check engine light can come on:

  • Your catalytic converter is bad or going bad. The catalytic converter is a part of your 2012 Dodge Charger’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 usually caused by neglected maintenance, which is why Bill Estes Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram offers a complimentary multi-point inspection with every Dodge service. If you have an issue with your catalytic converter and don't get it serviced, your 2012 Dodge Charger will not pass an emissions test, show a lack of engine performance and will negatively affect your fuel economy. Your car may run at a higher temperature, too, which can cause other problems from overheating.
  • Issues with any aftermarket items. An aftermarket alarm, exhaust or other item can wreak havoc on your 2012 Dodge Charger if it’s not installed properly. These aftermarket parts and accessories can discharge the battery, trigger the check engine light, or even hinder the automobile from starting. If these issues sound accepted, bring your Charger to Dodge and have our team of certified mechanics ensure that your aftermarket items were installed perfectly and aren't causing any issue. Getting accessories, especially aftermarket parts and accessories, or using OEM parts first place might cost a little bit more but could save you money from having to get poor function and break caused by poor installation function corrected.
  • Your 2012 Dodge Charger has a vacuum leak. Every Dodge Charger has a vacuum system that performs a expansive variety of functions. The vacuum system also helps lower bad 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, especially if they’re exposed to dominant heat or extreme frigid.
  • Your O2 Sensor (Oxygen Sensor) needs to be replaced. The Oxygen sensor, accepted as the O2 sensor, measures the payment of oxygen in your exhaust system. If there is excess oxygen in your exhaust system, fuel burns faster and your automobile will be less efficient when it comes to fuel economy. So what happens if I don’t replace your O2 sensor? A faulty sensor can not only affect your miles per gallon, but it can cause break to your catalytic converter and your 2012 Dodge Charger's spark plugs. The O2 sensor sends data to the vehicle’s onboard computer to determine the honest mixture of air and fuel that enters the cylinders in your engine. A bad O2 sensor can also cause a car to fail an emissions test.
  • New Spark Plugs or Plug Wires are necessary for your 2012 Dodge Charger. The spark plugs are the part of your engine that ignites the air/fuel mixture in the combustion chamber of your automobile. This explosion is what moves the pistons and makes the engine run. 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 traditional, you will experience poor performance and reduced 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 break to ignition coils and O2 sensors, best to more expensive repairs.
  • One of the most sufficient and bountiful cause is that your 2012 Dodge Charger gas cap is loose, damaged or missing. The gas cap for your 2012 Dodge Charger serves multiple purposes. It prevents gas fumes from being released when you aren't driving, it seals the fuel system and helps maintain pressure within the fuel tank. What happens if you have a bad fuel cap? If your gas cap is traditional or has a ruptured seal, you can lose fuel through evaporation which will result in more trips to the pump. Luckily, to replace a gas cap isn't expensive. If your check engine light turns on shortly after you put gas in your 2012 Dodge Charger, first thing you should check is to make fearless the cap isn’t loose — or that it's still on your car’s roof or at the fuel pump.
  • Your mass airflow sensor (known as MAF) needs to be replaced. The mass airflow sensor in your Dodge Charger is what determines how much fuel is necessary to run your engine efficiently by measuring the payment of air entering the engine. As a part of the engine management system, the mass airflow sensor helps adjust to courageous changes, like altitude. If your Dodge Charger is having trouble starting, idling rough or has a sudden change in the position of the throttle pedal, this could be a sign of a bad mass airflow sensor.
  • The battery is meager or dead. The battery in your 2012 Dodge Charger is every intense. Without a car battery, your car won’t start, light up the road ahead, play the radio or charge your phone. Today’s car batteries last much longer than they did a few decades ago, and they don't really require maintenance. The cost of a new one depends on the type of Dodge you drive, but check our contemporary service coupons and specials.

What Does the Check Engine Light Mean?

One of the most constantly misunderstood lights or indicators in your 2012 Dodge Charger is the check engine light. The check engine light is part of the onboard diagnostics system, and displays in a few added ways. It can say "Check Engine", it can be a symbol of an engine, it can even be a combination of both. This light brightens 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 2012 Dodge Charger. Some of these include shifting automatic transmissions ignition timing, controlling engine speed, and implementing stability control, just to name a lot. With that being said, the check engine light can mean a variety of contrasting things. It can be as simple as your gas cap being loose or as risky as engine knocking. If your check engine light is on in your 2012 Dodge Charger, contact Bill Estes Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram. Contact Bill Estes Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram today! Our Dodge service department can help you determine what code is turning your check engine light on or analyze why your check engine light is flashing.

2012 Dodge Charger Check Engine Light

If the check engine light in your 2012 Dodge Charger starts glaring, that means that the problem needs abrupt attention and your Dodge should be brought in now. A glaring light indicates that the problem is alarming and if not taken care of now may result in major damage to the vehicle. This blinking light usually indicates a rigorous engine misfire allowing unburned fuel to be dumped into the exhaust system. There it can quickly raise the temperature of the catalytic converter to a point where damage is potential, requiring an pricey repair. Some owners ask if spark plugs cause the check engine light to flash? This can exactly be the cause. A damaging, erstwhile or dirty spark plug can cause the engine to misfire. If the problem is 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 expensive repair. If your check engine light is glaring, please contact our unit of automotive experts at Bill Estes Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram immediately by calling 3178540239.

2012 Dodge Charger Check Engine Light Flashing

Although there are bountiful achievable causes of an illuminated Check Engine Light, we know from years of providing Check Engine Light Diagnosis Service that there are frequent authentic causes incorporating something as authentic as a loose gas cap. Other authentic reasons for a Check Engine Light are dirty mass airflow sensor, a malfunction with the fuel injection system, damaged oxygen sensor, faulty head gasket, faulty emissions control part, or defective spark plugs to name a lot. No matter what is the root cause of the Check Engine Light, we have the Dodge Certified Technicians and the certified service protocol to isolate the root problem and repair it as crucial to restore factory specifications. When this happens, the Check Engine Light turns off, and you can leave the service center knowing that your Dodge issue was fixed.

Every 2012 Dodge Charger was designed with a high-technology performance monitoring system with a computer, and a series of sensors positioned strategically throughout the vehicle on its troublesome systems. The sensors are continually detecting conditions while sending 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. However, that is the limitation of the Check Engine Light – it won’t tell you what specifically is liable nor what to do about it. That’s where we come in; Bill Estes Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram provides a Check Engine Light Diagnosis Service that isolates the core problem and gives you a recommendation on what to do next from a Highly Qualified Service experienced.

Will the check engine light reset itself?

The check engine light on your 2012 Dodge Charger will usually shut itself off if the issue or code that caused it to turn on is revamped. For example, if the cause of your check engine light coming on was a loose gas cap, if it's tightened, the light will turn itself off. Likewise, if your catalytic converter is going adequate, 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 2012 Dodge Charger 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 Bill Estes Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram so the light and code can be double-checked and reset.

Check Engine Light Service 2012 Dodge Charger

What do you do when you’re driving along in your Dodge Charger and quickly, a yellow light illuminates on your dash and says "Check Engine". If you’re like most Dodge owners, your heart sinks a tiny because you have tiny idea about what that light is trying to tell you or how you should react. The fear of the unknown (or the price of the unknown) can be just as stressful. But take a deep breath and realize the light coming on doesn’t represent you have to pull the car over to the side of the road and call a tow truck, but it is recommended that you get your 2012 Dodge Charger checked as soon as conceivable. Ignoring that warning could end up causing major damage to expensive engine components.

When your 2012 Dodge Charger's ECM (electronic control module), which is the vehicle's onboard computer, finds a problem in the electronic control system that it can’t appropriate, a computer turns on your check engine light. This amber or yellow light is typically 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 identifies as 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 Dodge auto repair mechanics at Bill Estes Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram. There are also a number of relatively inexpensive code readers that are designed for do-it-yourselfers, should you edge that route too. While this code will tell you the issue that is detected, a true diagnosis still requires an experienced professional to mean the issue and repair it.

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

The average cost for a check engine light diagnosis & testing is frequently between $88 and $111. The cooperative news, Bill Estes Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram offers complimentary multi-point inspections and free diagnostics, in most cases, to help determine the cause of your check engine light. The check engine light warns of issues ranging from a gas cap that's not accurately tightened to a more dangerous failure like a bad catalytic converter or a problem with one of the car's oxygen sensors, so it cooperative to get the decent code reading and diagnosis.

2012 Dodge Charger Check Engine Light Codes

The check engine light turning on can be quite intimidating to see that little light on your vehicle’s dashboard quickly lights up, but in reality, it is not something that should cause you to shut down in fear proper 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 Charger. There are hundreds of distinctive codes that your check engine light can indicate. While that sounds daunting, with a little patience, tackling meaningful diagnostics will give you reasonable knowledge about your vehicle and will also allow that Check Engine Light to do what it is really supposed to do: be your guide. Unfortunately, effortless and helpful vehicle symptoms do not always accompany an illuminated Check Engine Light. Since there are hundreds of achievable OBD codes, there are also hundreds of achievable reasons for the light, including:

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

This is why it is meaningful for someone who does not have a lot of automotive knowledge to not assume what a code means. When your check engine light comes on, you should get it checked out urgently by a certified Dodge mechanic. Call Bill Estes Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram at 3178540239 today or schedule your check engine light service online today! If the engine light comes on due to a threatening concern, you risk damaging your car other by not repairing the issue right away.

Is it safe to drive your 2012 Dodge Charger with the check engine light on?

If the check engine light is flashing, this means that there is a alarming issue and it is recommended to service your Dodge Charger shortly. This question is not incredibly accepted 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 normally indicated by a steady glow of the check engine light. If you notice a difference in the performance of the vehicle, it could be an indication of a more risky problem. Call the experts at Bill Estes Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram by dialing 3178540239 so you can describe the issues. Or decrease your speed and transport your 2012 Dodge to our certified technicians as soon as realistic.