My cars engine warning light keeps flashing at 30mph, and I think it may be the exhaust, there has been problems before with the exhaust not fitted properly on the car, but I don’t like the idea of just writing the car off completely, is this problem fixable? Or is it a symptom of a larger problem?
What else, if anything, happens at 30mph? Do you lose engine power?
Diagnosing the problem will require a lot more information than you’ve given us here.
And figuring whether you should scrap the car depends on lots MORE factors, such as what it would cost you to get a replacement vehicle, are you able to do auto repairs yourself, do you still owe money on this car, et cetera.
For starters, how about telling us the year, make, and model of the car.
It could be anything…from a bad spark plug to a cat converter failure. Have the code read by a good mechanic. it is impossible to make such a decision without knowing the magnitude of the problem-would you throw a good car away over a $3.00 sparkplug?
Details
Make FIAT
Model PUNTO ACTIVE
Colour RED
Year 2003
Engine Size 1242 cc
I have been driving for years with the engine check light constantly on.
If the light weren’t flashing would you know anything was wrong with the car?
It’s worth less than 700 quid, based on comparable vehicles listed in Auto Trader.
I don’t have any useful advice. I’ll just be over here being amazed that you got 12 years out of a Fiat.
Many car part stores will check your engine codes for free. Call around and find one that does and get your codes checked. That will tell you a lot. Exhaust problems can create engine codes since there are sensors for the emissions checks. You’ll probably need to talk with a shop to know what it will cost to fix.
Since the OP is looking for advice, let’s move this to IMHO.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Normally a flashing check engine light is a critical indicator meaning expensive damage may be acculturating the more you drive with that condition, while a stead check engine light means you should get this checked out but not critical and one can expect to be able to drive with it on and not cause further harm.
Is it allowed to post a reply with a link for a possible solution for the OP if he decides to scrap his car? (It’s a donation program.)
a flashing “Check Engine” light usually indicates “repeated misfire, catalyst damage imminent.” your catalyst is probably already toast.
In that case, the car will fail its next MOT and the problem will take care of itself.
If the “exhaust not being fitted properly” means something upstream of the oxygen sensors, that could very easily cause the flashing CEL of doom. It could also be an easy fix, so definitely get the thing actually looked at before consigning it to the scrap heap.
The idea of just scrapping your car over a warning light without even checking further seems utterly insane to me.
Really?? :rolleyes:
In the US a CEL could be one of 100’s of trouble codes. At least get a mechanics assessment.
There is a finance advice personality here that offers, “The cheapest car to own is usually the one you have now” - within reason. It’s reasonalble to think that a 2003 model could still be pretty solid mechanically.
A solid CEL can mean a whole myriad of things, but a flashing CEL usually only indicates one or two things that are going to cause imminent damage to the emissions equipment.
Yep. We had the check engine light come on in our 1998 Civic. The mechanic said “catalytic converter”, 600-800 dollars (I forget the exact figure).
We drove it a bit longer, figuring it would be fine until we had to pass the emissions test, but had to get the repair done when the car started making really bad noises.
To our surprise, that solved the problem.
Now, the car is only worth about 1,600 dollars, so anything more than the catalytic converter and it would probably be time to scrap it.
OP is in England, I believe, so if it’s a US charity, shipping would not be very cost effective. Even for a Fiat.
I bought an 11-year-old Fiat in 1990 and drove it for 2 more years. It was still running great when some jerk plowed into me with a pickup truck and totaled it.