It’s every driver’s worst nightmare. You’re driving down the street, enjoying your day, when all of a sudden a light on your dashboard catches your eye. You look down and see – the dreaded “Check Engine” signal.

When this light flickers on, it means the onboard computer system in your vehicle has self-diagnosed a problem. The causes for this alert varies from a momentary hiccup that has little or no noticeable effect on engine performance or driving safety, to a failure of a major electronic component. Unfortunately, the only way to tell what has triggered this alarm is to run a diagnostic scan on your vehicle to determine the culprit.

The onboard diagnostic system in your vehicle is very complex. To accurately access and diagnose this system special tools are used to troubleshoot your vehicle. At Toyota of Tampa Bay, our highly trained staff will access your vehicle’s computer system and put your vehicle into a special diagnostic mode to display the “fault codes.” These are numeric codes that are generated and stored in your vehicle’s computer system when a problem is detected. By retrieving the fault codes, the service technicians at Toyota of Tampa Bay can isolate the failed component and begin repairing or replacing it.

Intermittent problems are often more difficult, and may take a significant amount of time to diagnose. In these situations, it is critical to make note of the conditions that caused the light to turn on. Were you driving at a certain speed? Were you accelerating or slowing down, or were you shifting gears?

If your check engine light has illuminated recently, feel free to bring your vehicle to Toyota of Tampa Bay for a complete diagnosis and inspection.