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What could cause the check engine light to come on in a 2021 Ford Explorer?

When your check engine light comes on, this could be as pure as tightening or replacing your gas cap. Likewise, the check engine light could also be a warning of a hazardous problem that could cause hazardous damage to your engine and come with a extensive repair bill. Depending on your make and model, the check engine light will illuminate or blink. A steady glow regularly means something less hazardous but a blinking check engine light indicates that your vehicle’s engine is in hazardous trouble and service is mandatory immediately. If your check engine light is blinking in your 2021 Ford Explorer, we extremely endorse not to drive the vehicle and schedule Ford service today. Below is a list of the most prevailing reasons your check engine light can come on:

  • The battery is low or dead. The battery in your 2021 Ford Explorer is every forceful. 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 assorted decades ago, and they don't actually require maintenance. The price of a new one depends on the type of Ford you drive, but check our current service coupons and specials.
  • Your mass airflow sensor (known as MAF) needs to be replaced. The mass airflow sensor in your Ford Explorer is what determines how much fuel is essential 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 factual changes, like altitude. If your Ford Explorer is having trouble starting, idling rough or has a fast change in the position of the throttle pedal, this could be a sign of a bad mass airflow sensor.
  • New Spark Plugs or Plug Wires are essential for your 2021 Ford Explorer. The spark plugs are the part of your engine that ignites the air/fuel mixture in the combustion chamber of your vehicle. 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 classic, 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, major to more expensive repairs.
  • Your O2 Sensor (Oxygen Sensor) needs to be replaced. The Oxygen sensor, current 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 vehicle will be fewer steady 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 2021 Ford Explorer's spark plugs. The O2 sensor sends data to the vehicle’s onboard computer to recommend the right 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 catalytic converter is bad or going bad. The catalytic converter is a part of your 2021 Ford Explorer’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 Coggin Deland Ford offers a complimentary multi-point inspection with every Ford service. If you have an issue with your catalytic converter and don't get it serviced, your 2021 Ford Explorer 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 2021 Ford Explorer if it’s not installed accurately. These aftermarket parts and accessories can drain the battery, trigger the check engine light, or even impede the vehicle from starting. If these issues sound current, bring your Explorer to Ford and have our unit of certified mechanics ensure that your aftermarket items were installed accurately and aren't causing any issue. Getting accessories, especially aftermarket parts and accessories, or using OEM parts earliest place might rate a small bit more but could save you money from having to get poor work and damage caused by poor installation work corrected.
  • One of the most common and frequent cause is that your 2021 Ford Explorer gas cap is loose, damaged or missing. The gas cap for your 2021 Ford Explorer 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 classic 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 immediately after you put gas in your 2021 Ford Explorer, earliest 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.
  • Your 2021 Ford Explorer has a vacuum leak. Every Ford Explorer has a vacuum system that performs a wide variety of functions. The vacuum system also 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, especially if they’re exposed to rare heat or extreme brisk.

Check Engine Light Service 2021 Ford Explorer

What do you do when you’re driving along in your Ford Explorer and shortly, a yellow light brightens on your dash and says "Check Engine". If you’re like most Ford owners, your heart sinks a miniature because you have miniature 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 indicate 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 2021 Ford Explorer checked as soon as productive. Ignoring that warning could end up causing energetic damage to expensive engine components.

When your 2021 Ford Explorer's ECM (electronic control module), which is the vehicle's onboard computer, finds a problem in the mechanical control system that it can’t authentic, a computer turns on your check engine light. This amber or yellow light is usually 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 select with an electronic audit tool that is used by our Ford auto repair mechanics at Coggin Deland Ford. There are also a number of comparably honorable code readers that are designed for do-it-yourselfers, should you mean that route too. While this code will tell you the issue that is detected, a true diagnosis still requires an skilled expert to mean the issue and repair it.

Will the check engine light reset itself?

The check engine light on your 2021 Ford Explorer will frequently shut itself off if the issue or code that caused it to turn on is serviced. 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 authentic, 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 2021 Ford Explorer 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 Coggin Deland Ford so the light and code can be double-checked and reset.

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

The average cost for a check engine light diagnosis & testing is typically between $88 and $111. The good news, Coggin Deland Ford offers complimentary multi-point inspections and free diagnostics, in most cases, to help express the cause of your check engine light. The check engine light warns of issues ranging from a gas cap that's not properly tightened to a more hazardous failure like a bad catalytic converter or a problem with one of the car's oxygen sensors, so it good to get the suitable code reading and diagnosis.

2021 Ford Explorer 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 many commonplace causes including something as affectionate as a loose gas cap. Other commonplace reasons for a Check Engine Light are faulty head gasket, a malfunction with the fuel injection system, dirty mass airflow sensor, faulty emissions control part, damaged oxygen sensor, or defective spark plugs to name a few. No matter what is the root cause of the Check Engine Light, we have the Ford Certified Mechanics and the certified service protocol to isolate the root problem and repair it as decisive to restore factory specifications. When this happens, the Check Engine Light turns off, and you can leave the service center knowing that your Ford issue was fixed.

Every 2021 Ford Explorer 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 team. If the electronic control team 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 exactly is awry nor what to do about it. That’s where we come in; Coggin Deland Ford 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 Qualified Service licensed.

Is it safe to drive your 2021 Ford Explorer with the check engine light on?

If the check engine light is glaring, this means that there is a phenomenal issue and it is recommended to service your Ford Explorer immediately. This question is not very effortless 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 reliable to drive. This is mostly 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 phenomenal problem. Call the experts at Coggin Deland Ford by dialing 3862100247 so you can describe the issues. Or decrease your speed and bring your 2021 Ford to our certified mechanics as soon as adequate.

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

It could be anything from a bad sensor to plug wires needing to be replaced. 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. If you check engine light is shining, we advocate that you pull over and contact Coggin Deland Ford to assist opt for if your car is safe to drive in or if we advocate a tow truck.

2021 Ford Explorer Check Engine Light Codes

The check engine light turning on can be quite intimidating to see that microscopic 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 acknowledged as the OBD (on-board computer diagnostic system) in your Explorer. There are hundreds of precise codes that your check engine light can indicate. While that sounds daunting, with a microscopic patience, tackling instinctive diagnostics will give you essential 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, evident and handy vehicle symptoms do not always accompany an illuminated Check Engine Light. Since there are hundreds of practical OBD codes, there are also hundreds of practical reasons for the light, including:

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

This is why it is ongoing 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 promptly by a certified Ford mechanic. If the engine light comes on due to a alarming concern, you risk damaging your car further by not repairing the issue right away. Call Coggin Deland Ford at 3862100247 straightaway or schedule your check engine light service online today!

What Does the Check Engine Light Mean?

One of the most ordinarily misunderstood lights or indicators in your 2021 Ford Explorer is the check engine light. The check engine light is part of the onboard diagnostics system, and displays in a few divergent 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 2021 Ford Explorer. Some of these include controlling engine speed, shifting automatic transmissions ignition timing, and implementing stability control, just to name a few. With that being said, the check engine light can indicate a variety of contrasting things. It can be as pure as your gas cap being loose or as strict as engine knocking. If your check engine light is on in your 2021 Ford Explorer, contact Coggin Deland Ford. Contact Coggin Deland Ford today! Our Ford service department can help you find out what code is turning your check engine light on or inspect why your check engine light is shining.

2021 Ford Explorer Check Engine Light

If the check engine light in your 2021 Ford Explorer starts flashing, that means that the problem needs prompt attention and your Ford should be brought in instantly. A flashing light hints that the problem is unhealthy and if not taken care of instantly may result in major damage to the vehicle. This glaring light usually indicates a draconian 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 likely, requiring an expensive repair. Some owners ask if spark plugs cause the check engine light to flash? This can specifically be the cause. A harmful, old or dirty spark plug can cause the engine to misfire. If your check engine light is shining, please contact our team of automotive experts at Coggin Deland Ford hastily by calling 3862100247. 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 fancy repair.