Engine light on dash display

Sekmor · Oct 26, 2016

What do you guys do when the engine light comes on?? The wife noticed when she drove to work. I told her to check vital fluids first, which are fine.
I know what engine lights are for and the range of problems can be nothing, to needs service asap. Suggested to drop by dealer and they can do a quick scan. Find out we must make an appointment, leave car for several hours and they may look at it. WTF, is that the normal service a guy can expect? I've taken my older vehicles past our local auto parts store and they are more than happy to plug in the scanner, which takes about 2 minutes. Is there more to these Mazdas, or is the dealer just being idiots again?
Since oil & coolant is good, I just told her to drive it.

CX-5um · Oct 26, 2016

Can you confirm that it is indeed the engine light?

Not the tire PSI light, fuel light, outside freezing temp indicator light or anything else? Maybe check if the oil level is good?

astriuminc · Oct 26, 2016

Sekmor said:
What do you guys do when the engine light comes on?? The wife noticed when she drove to work. I told her to check vital fluids first, which are fine.
I know what engine lights are for and the range of problems can be nothing, to needs service asap. Suggested to drop by dealer and they can do a quick scan. Find out we must make an appointment, leave car for several hours and they may look at it. WTF, is that the normal service a guy can expect? I've taken my older vehicles past our local auto parts store and they are more than happy to plug in the scanner, which takes about 2 minutes. Is there more to these Mazdas, or is the dealer just being idiots again?
Since oil & coolant is good, I just told her to drive it.

gas cap not tightened enough ? give it shot and drive around and see if light goes off, my wife never tightens it enough, it will throw a CEL (check engine light).

heybrady · Oct 26, 2016

Pickup a $15 ODBII reader from Amazon. Connects to your phone via wifi and will show you the codes and a ton of other info.

Kaps · Oct 26, 2016

heybrady said:
Pickup a $15 ODBII reader from Amazon. Connects to your phone via wifi and will show you the codes and a ton of other info.

On this - is it really a benefit? I have an older vehicle and its a reliable one but I would like to see such readers / apps forewarn me about certain things that I need to watch in near future.

mazdadude · Oct 26, 2016

astriuminc said:
gas cap not tightened enough ? give it shot and drive around and see if light goes off, my wife never tightens it enough, it will throw a CEL (check engine light).

This is the first thing you should check, YES!

Sekmor · Oct 26, 2016

The main reason for this thread was, what can I expect from the dealer. The wife was a little concerned that something was wrong with the car. (Woohoo, she did notice the light). She was going by the dealer while working and figured they could do a quick check. They told her to book it in for an appointment next week, because they do not use their scan tool for things like this. Our dealer has a drive through service bay when you bring your car in for service. It would take them 2 minutes to plug in the tool and see what's going on. Then I will book an appointment if need be.
Am I asking too much?

Chris_Top_Her · Oct 26, 2016

You can expect the dealer to tell you what the CEL is on for. They will pull a code, and the code will directly or indirectly identify the problems(s). They may charge you a "diagnostics fee"; upwards of $100. For ~$5-10 you can get the a device that will pull the same code, and avoid a dealer upcharge on something that may be as simple as a loose battery cable, or gas cap. If you go to an autoparts store, ask them for the specific code pulled, and someone here can look it up in the service manual and give better insight before paying $$$.

freys · Oct 27, 2016

Had the same deal at 5k in mine and was thinking WTF. I ended up figuring out when I first got it I set the oil service thing for 5k so at 5k the light came on to let me know.

Ride92 · Oct 27, 2016

I think the big reason that the dealer takes so long and may charge a diagnostic fee as they generally don't use a simple OBDII scanner like the parts store does. Mazda has MMI or something like that, Mazda Multimedia interface I think it is. It's similar to what Audi has with VAG-COM (Volkswagen Automotive Group - Communication Software). Basically is a proprietary software that is much more advanced then just telling you what code is thrown causing the check engine. I don't know the ins and outs of mazdas software but the VAG-COM software lets you do a lot of tweeks to the car Like windows up down with remote and what not. It takes longer to plug in and run that sort of software then your typical OBDII reader.

wlong01 · Oct 27, 2016

Sekmor said:
What do you guys do when the engine light comes on?? The wife noticed when she drove to work. I told her to check vital fluids first, which are fine.
I know what engine lights are for and the range of problems can be nothing, to needs service asap. Suggested to drop by dealer and they can do a quick scan. Find out we must make an appointment, leave car for several hours and they may look at it. WTF, is that the normal service a guy can expect? I've taken my older vehicles past our local auto parts store and they are more than happy to plug in the scanner, which takes about 2 minutes. Is there more to these Mazdas, or is the dealer just being idiots again?
Since oil & coolant is good, I just told her to drive it.

Are you sure it's the engine light or a service light? The engine light is shaped like an engine. If it's blinking that's big trouble. Don't drive it. If it's just illuminated it could be a host of problems including gas cap not being tightened properly. If it's just illuminated and the car drives fine then schedule an appt. If it's a service light figure out what's scheduled like oil change, tire rotation, etc. and either do it yourself or get shop/dealer to do it.

The service indicator is different from the "check engine light" (CEL).

Tom 6-6 · Oct 27, 2016

Stop by Autozone and they will scan it for you for free. Then you can decide to take it to the dealer or walk back and tighten the gas cap. They can clear them too and see if it comes back.

craigo · Oct 28, 2016

I actually had to have my gas cap replaced earlier this year. No CEL, but it failed inspection. Was still under warranty.

CX-5um · Oct 28, 2016

Good call on the gas caps. May have to order a new one myself soon.

Engine light on dash display

Sekmor

CX-5um

astriuminc

Member

heybrady

Member

Kaps

mazdadude

ZOOOOOOOOOM ZOOOOOOOOOM

Sekmor

Chris_Top_Her

Banned

freys

Ride92

wlong01

Tom 6-6

craigo

CX-5um

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