2018 Lexus ES 350 Check Engine Light

What could cause the check engine light to come on in a 2018 Lexus ES 350?

When your check engine light comes on, this could be as regular as tightening or replacing your gas cap. Likewise, the check engine light could also be a warning of a harsh problem that could cause harsh wear and tear to your engine and come with a bizarre repair bill. Depending on your make and model, the check engine light will illuminate or blink. A steady glow generally means something less harsh but a blinking check engine light indicates that your vehicle’s engine is in harsh trouble and service is fundamental expeditiously. If your check engine light is blinking in your 2018 Lexus ES 350, we particularly advise not to drive the car and schedule Lexus service today. Below is a list of the most prevailing reasons your check engine light can come on:

• One of the most overt and frequent cause is that your 2018 Lexus ES 350 gas cap is loose, damaged or missing. The gas cap for your 2018 Lexus ES 350 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 erstwhile 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 rapidly after you put gas in your 2018 Lexus ES 350, first thing you should check is to make hopeful 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 Lexus ES 350’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 Nalley Lexus Smyrna offers a complimentary multi-point inspection with every Lexus service. If you have an issue with your catalytic converter and don't get it repaired, your 2018 Lexus ES 350 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 further problems from overheating.
• New Spark Plugs or Plug Wires are decisive for your 2018 Lexus ES 350. 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 erstwhile, 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, first-rate to more expensive repairs.
• Issues with any aftermarket items. An aftermarket alarm, exhaust or further item can wreak havoc on your 2018 Lexus ES 350 if it’s not installed correctly. These aftermarket parts and accessories can deposit the battery, trigger the check engine light, or even stop the vehicle from starting. If these issues sound appreciative, bring your ES 350 to Lexus and have our company 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 little bit more but could save you money from having to get poor work and damage caused by poor installation work corrected.
• The battery is low or dead. The battery in your 2018 Lexus ES 350 is every difficult. Without a vehicle battery, your vehicle won’t start, light up the road ahead, 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 really require maintenance. The rate of a new one depends on the type of Lexus you travel to work, but check our ongoing service coupons and specials.
• Your O2 Sensor (Oxygen Sensor) needs to be replaced. The Oxygen sensor, current 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 vehicle will be less functional 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 Lexus ES 350's spark plugs. The O2 sensor sends data to the vehicle’s onboard computer to suggest the right mixture of air and fuel that enters the cylinders in your engine. A bad O2 sensor can also cause a vehicle to fail an emissions test.
• Your 2018 Lexus ES 350 has a vacuum leak. Every Lexus ES 350 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 imposing heat or extreme crisp.
• Your mass airflow sensor (known as MAF) needs to be replaced. The mass airflow sensor in your Lexus ES 350 is what determines how much fuel is decisive 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 various changes, like altitude. If your Lexus ES 350 is having trouble starting, idling rough or has a precipitous change in the position of the throttle pedal, this could be a sign of a bad mass airflow sensor.

Check Engine Light Service 2018 Lexus ES 350

What do you do when you’re driving along in your Lexus ES 350 and suddenly, a yellow light illuminates on your dash and says "Check Engine". If you’re like most Lexus owners, your heart sinks a slight because you have slight 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 breath and realize the light coming on doesn’t mean 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 2018 Lexus ES 350 checked as soon as positive. Ignoring that warning could end up causing extensive damage to pricey engine components.

When your 2018 Lexus ES 350's ECM (electronic control module), which is the vehicle's onboard computer, finds a problem in the electronic control system that it can’t noble, 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 learn with an electronic scan tool that is used by our Lexus auto repair mechanics at Nalley Lexus Smyrna. 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 professional to opt for the issue and repair it.

2018 Lexus ES 350 Check Engine Light Codes

The check engine light turning on can be quite intimidating to see that miniature 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 ES 350. There are hundreds of assorted codes that your check engine light can represent. While that sounds daunting, with a miniature patience, tackling principal diagnostics will give you conducive knowledge about your vehicle and will also allow that Check Engine Light to do what it is fully supposed to do: be your guide. Unfortunately, indisputable and apt vehicle symptoms do not always accompany an illuminated Check Engine Light. Since there are hundreds of feasible OBD codes, there are also hundreds of feasible reasons for the light, including:

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

This is why it is main for someone who does not have a lot of automotive knowledge to not assume what a code means. Call Nalley Lexus Smyrna at 7706187908 at this moment or schedule your check engine light service online today! When your check engine light comes on, you should get it checked out hastily by a certified Lexus technician. If the engine light comes on due to a relentless concern, you risk damaging your car supplemental by not repairing the issue right away.

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 properly tightened to a more intense failure like a bad catalytic converter or a problem with one of the car's oxygen sensors, so it satisfactory to get the decent code reading and diagnosis. The average price for a check engine light diagnosis & testing is commonly between $88 and $111. The satisfactory news, Nalley Lexus Smyrna offers complimentary multi-point inspections and free diagnostics, in most cases, to help determine the cause of your check engine light.

What Does the Check Engine Light Mean?

One of the most ordinarily misunderstood lights or indicators in your 2018 Lexus ES 350 is the check engine light. The check engine light is part of the onboard diagnostics system, and displays in various large ways. It can say "Check Engine", it can be a symbol of an engine, it can even be a combination of both. This light lights up 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 Lexus ES 350. Some of these include controlling engine speed, ignition timing, shifting automatic transmissions and implementing stability control, just to name a few. With that being said, the check engine light can determine a variety of different things. It can be as assorted as your gas cap being loose or as adequate as engine knocking. If your check engine light is on in your 2018 Lexus ES 350, contact Nalley Lexus Smyrna. Contact Nalley Lexus Smyrna today! Our Lexus 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.

Will the check engine light reset itself?

The check engine light on your 2018 Lexus ES 350 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 turn itself off. Likewise, if your catalytic converter is going functional, and you did innumerable 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 Lexus ES 350 light will go off after about 20-40 miles. If you drive over that payment and the light is still on, you will need to bring it in to Nalley Lexus Smyrna so the light and code can be double-checked and reset.

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

If you check engine light is shining, we recommend that you pull over and contact Nalley Lexus Smyrna to assist pick if your vehicle is safe to drive in or if we recommend a tow truck. It could be anything from a bad sensor to plug wires needing to be replaced. Since each check engine code has its own level of severity, it is difficult to predict how copious miles you can drive with the warning light on. The safest bet is to decipher the code and then plan your strategy accordingly.

2018 Lexus ES 350 Check Engine Light

If the check engine light in your 2018 Lexus ES 350 starts flashing, that means that the problem needs sudden attention and your Lexus should be brought in instantly. A flashing light indicates that the problem is strict and if not taken care of instantly may result in abundant damage to the vehicle. This blinking light usually indicates a draconian engine misfire allowing unburned fuel to be discharged into the exhaust system. There it can quickly upgrade the temperature of the catalytic converter to a point where damage is accessible, requiring an expensive repair. Some owners ask if spark plugs cause the check engine light to flash? This can actually be the cause. A bad, popular or dirty spark plug can cause the engine to misfire. If your check engine light is twinkling, please contact our squad of automotive veterans at Nalley Lexus Smyrna quickly by calling 7706187908. 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.

2018 Lexus ES 350 Check Engine Light Flashing

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

Every 2018 Lexus ES 350 was designed with a high-technology performance monitoring system with a computer, and a series of sensors positioned strategically throughout the vehicle on its big 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 absolutely is wrong nor what to do about it. That’s where we come in; Nalley Lexus Smyrna provides a Check Engine Light Diagnosis Service that isolates the core problem and gives you a recommendation on what to do next from a Exceptionally Qualified Service professional.

Is it safe to drive your 2018 Lexus ES 350 with the check engine light on?

This question is not very uncomplicated 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 typically 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 hazardous problem. If the check engine light is flashing, this means that there is a hazardous issue and it is recommended to service your Lexus ES 350 quickly. Call the experts at Nalley Lexus Smyrna by dialing 7706187908 so you can describe the issues. Or reduce your speed and deliver your 2018 Lexus to our certified mechanics as soon as potential.