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What Does the Check Engine Light Mean?

One of the most generally misunderstood lights or indicators in your 2018 MINI Clubman is the check engine light. The check engine light is part of the onboard diagnostics system, and displays in a few clear-cut 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 2018 MINI Clubman. Some of these include shifting automatic transmissions ignition timing, controlling engine speed, and implementing stability control, just to name a few. With that being said, the check engine light can opt for a variety of different things. It can be as pure as your gas cap being loose or as serious as engine knocking. If your check engine light is on in your 2018 MINI Clubman, contact Crown MINI of Richmond. Our MINI service department can help you find out what code is turning your check engine light on or analyze why your check engine light is flashing. Contact Crown MINI of Richmond today!

What could cause the check engine light to come on in a 2018 MINI Clubman?

When your check engine light comes on, this could be as classic as tightening or replacing your gas cap. Likewise, the check engine light could also be a warning of a serious problem that could cause serious damage to your engine and come with a enormous repair bill. Depending on your make and model, the check engine light will illuminate or blink. A steady glow typically means something less serious but a glaring check engine light expresses that your vehicle’s engine is in serious trouble and service is needed shortly. If your check engine light is glaring in your 2018 MINI Clubman, we exceptionally recommend not to drive the car and schedule MINI service today. Below is a list of the most prevalent reasons your check engine light can come on:

  • Your O2 Sensor (Oxygen Sensor) needs to be replaced. The Oxygen sensor, pure as the O2 sensor, measures the amount of oxygen in your exhaust system. If there is excess oxygen in your exhaust system, fuel burns faster and your automobile will be less equitable 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 damage to your catalytic converter and your 2018 MINI Clubman's spark plugs. The O2 sensor sends data to the vehicle’s onboard computer to pick the prudent 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.
  • Your 2018 MINI Clubman has a vacuum leak. Every MINI Clubman has a vacuum system that performs a wide assortment of functions. The vacuum system also helps lower contentious 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 arid out and crack, especially if they’re exposed to energetic heat or extreme cold.
  • Issues with any aftermarket items. An aftermarket alarm, exhaust or back-up item can wreak havoc on your 2018 MINI Clubman if it’s not installed accordingly. These aftermarket parts and accessories can drain the battery, trigger the check engine light, or even prevent the automobile from starting. If these issues sound pure, bring your Clubman to MINI and have our team of certified mechanics ensure that your aftermarket items were installed correctly and aren't causing any issue. Getting accessories, especially aftermarket parts and accessories, or using OEM parts first place might cost a miniature bit more but could save you money from having to get poor work and damage caused by poor installation work corrected.
  • New Spark Plugs or Plug Wires are imperative for your 2018 MINI Clubman. 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 former, 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 damage to ignition coils and O2 sensors, best to more expensive repairs.
  • Your mass airflow sensor (known as MAF) needs to be replaced. The mass airflow sensor in your MINI Clubman is what determines how much fuel is imperative 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 positive changes, like altitude. If your MINI Clubman is having trouble starting, idling rough or has a speedy change in the position of the throttle pedal, this could be a sign of a bad mass airflow sensor.
  • One of the most regular and frequent cause is that your 2018 MINI Clubman gas cap is loose, damaged or missing. The gas cap for your 2018 MINI Clubman 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 former 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 urgently after you put gas in your 2018 MINI Clubman, 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 catalytic converter is bad or going bad. The catalytic converter is a part of your 2018 MINI Clubman’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 neglected maintenance, which is why Crown MINI of Richmond offers a complimentary multi-point inspection with every MINI service. If you have an issue with your catalytic converter and don't get it repaired, your 2018 MINI Clubman 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 back-up problems from overheating.
  • The battery is scanty or dead. The battery in your 2018 MINI Clubman is every paramount. 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 bountiful decades ago, and they don't really require maintenance. The price of a new one depends on the type of MINI you drive, but check our convincing service coupons and specials.

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

It could be anything from a detrimental sensor to plug wires needing to be replaced. The safest bet is to decipher the code and then plan your strategy accordingly. If you check engine light is flashing, we recommend that you pull over and contact Crown MINI of Richmond to help opt for if your vehicle is safe to drive in or if we recommend a tow truck. 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.

Will the check engine light reset itself?

The check engine light on your 2018 MINI Clubman will customarily 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 turn itself off. Likewise, if your catalytic converter is going practical, and you did a few 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 2018 MINI Clubman 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 Crown MINI of Richmond so the light and code can be double-checked and reset.

Is it safe to drive your 2018 MINI Clubman with the check engine light on?

If the check engine light is flashing, this means that there is a unhealthy issue and it is recommended to service your MINI Clubman urgently. This question is not very easy 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 consistently 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 unhealthy problem. Call the experts at Crown MINI of Richmond by dialing 8042078385 so you can describe the issues. Or lessen your speed and bring your 2018 MINI to our certified mechanics as soon as likely.

2018 MINI Clubman Check Engine Light Flashing

Although there are countless ability causes of an illuminated Check Engine Light, we know from years of providing Check Engine Light Diagnosis Service that there are innumerable typical causes including something as pure as a loose gas cap. Other typical reasons for a Check Engine Light are faulty head gasket, dirty mass airflow sensor, damaged oxygen sensor, a malfunction with the fuel injection system, faulty emissions control part, or defective spark plugs to name a bit. No matter what is the root cause of the Check Engine Light, we have the MINI 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 MINI issue was repaired.

Every 2018 MINI Clubman was designed with a high-technology performance monitoring system with a computer, and a series of sensors positioned strategically throughout the vehicle on its admissible systems. The sensors are typically 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 explicitly is wrong nor what to do about it. That’s where we come in; Crown MINI of Richmond provides a Check Engine Light Diagnosis Service that isolates the core problem and gives you a recommendation on what to do next from a Very Qualified Service professional.

Check Engine Light Service 2018 MINI Clubman

What do you do when you’re driving along in your MINI Clubman and hastily, a yellow light illuminates on your dash and says "Check Engine". If you’re like most MINI 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 mean you have to pull the automobile over to the side of the road and call a tow truck, but it is recommended that you get your 2018 MINI Clubman checked as soon as attainable. Ignoring that warning could end up causing major damage to expensive engine components.

When your 2018 MINI Clubman's ECM (electronic control module), which is the vehicle's onboard computer, finds a problem in the electronic control system that it can’t solid, a computer turns on your check engine light. This amber or yellow light is generally 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 MINI auto repair mechanics at Crown MINI of Richmond. There are also a number of relatively inexpensive code readers that are designed for do-it-yourselfers, should you choose that route too. While this code will tell you the issue that is detected, a true diagnosis still requires an experienced direct to embrace the issue and repair it.

2018 MINI Clubman Check Engine Light

A twinkling light indicates that the problem is risky and if not taken care of suddenly may result in major break to the vehicle. If the check engine light in your 2018 MINI Clubman starts twinkling, that means that the problem needs prompt attention and your MINI should be brought in suddenly. This blinking light usually hints a harsh engine misfire allowing unburned fuel to be dumped into the exhaust system. There it can quickly increase the temperature of the catalytic converter to a point where damage is persuasive, requiring an costly repair. Some owners ask if spark plugs cause the check engine light to flash? This can explicitly be the cause. A bad, 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 excessively lavish repair. If your check engine light is glaring, please contact our team of automotive mentors at Crown MINI of Richmond immediately by calling 8042078385.

2018 MINI Clubman Check Engine Light Codes

The check engine light turning on can be quite intimidating to see that tiny light on your vehicle’s dashboard suddenly illuminates, 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 Clubman. There are hundreds of different codes that your check engine light can represent. While that sounds daunting, with a tiny patience, tackling decisive diagnostics will give you agreeable 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, accessible and helpful vehicle symptoms do not always accompany an illuminated Check Engine Light. Since there are hundreds of conceivable OBD codes, there are also hundreds of conceivable reasons for the light, including:

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

This is why it is meaningful for someone who does not have a lot of automotive knowledge to not assume what a code means. If the engine light comes on due to a dangerous concern, you risk damaging your car extra by not repairing the issue prudent away. Call Crown MINI of Richmond at 8042078385 today or schedule your check engine light service online today! When your check engine light comes on, you should get it checked out instantly by a certified MINI mechanic.

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 subsequently tightened to a more threatening failure like a destructive catalytic converter or a problem with one of the car's oxygen sensors, so it favorable to get the suitable code reading and diagnosis. The intermediate cost for a check engine light diagnosis & testing is commonly between $88 and $111. The favorable news, Crown MINI of Richmond offers complimentary multi-point inspections and free diagnostics, in most cases, to help advise the cause of your check engine light.