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2018 BMW X3 Check Engine Light

A twinkling light hints that the problem is perilous and if not taken care of immediately may result in first-rate wear and tear to the vehicle. If the check engine light in your 2018 BMW X3 starts twinkling, that means that the problem needs immediate attention and your BMW should be brought in immediately. This blinking light ordinarily indicates a harsh engine misfire allowing unused fuel to be ejected into the exhaust system. There it can quickly raise the temperature of the catalytic converter to a point where damage is potential, requiring an expensive repair. Some owners ask if spark plugs cause the check engine light to flash? This can exclusively be the cause. A bad, old 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 exceedingly expensive repair. If your check engine light is flashing, please contact our unit of automotive experts at Richmond BMW hastily by calling 8042074692.

Will the check engine light reset itself?

The check engine light on your 2018 BMW X3 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 convenient, and you did assorted 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 BMW X3 light will go off after about 20-40 miles. If you commute over that sum and the light is still on, you will need to bring it in to Richmond BMW 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 blinking, we recommend that you pull over and contact Richmond BMW to help read if your vehicle is reliable 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 innumerable miles you can drive with the warning light on. It could be anything from a bad sensor to plug wires needing to be changed. The safest bet is to decipher the code and then plan your strategy accordingly.

What could cause the check engine light to come on in a 2018 BMW X3?

When your check engine light comes on, this could be as visible as tightening or replacing your gas cap. Likewise, the check engine light could also be a warning of a alarming problem that could cause alarming damage to your engine and come with a big repair bill. Depending on your make and model, the check engine light will illuminate or blink. A steady glow naturally means something less alarming but a flashing check engine light indicates that your vehicle’s engine is in alarming trouble and service is fundamental immediately. If your check engine light is flashing in your 2018 BMW X3, we remarkably recommend not to drive the vehicle and schedule BMW service today. Below is a list of the most typical reasons your check engine light can come on:

  • Your O2 Sensor (Oxygen Sensor) needs to be replaced. The Oxygen sensor, noted as the O2 sensor, measures the sum of oxygen in your exhaust system. If there is excess oxygen in your exhaust system, fuel burns faster and your vehicle will be less productive 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 BMW X3's spark plugs. The O2 sensor sends data to the vehicle’s onboard computer to advocate 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.
  • Issues with any aftermarket items. An aftermarket alarm, exhaust or supplemental item can wreak havoc on your 2018 BMW X3 if it’s not installed properly. These aftermarket parts and accessories can discharge the battery, trigger the check engine light, or even prevent the vehicle from starting. If these issues sound commonplace, transport your X3 to BMW and have our squad of certified mechanics ensure that your aftermarket items were installed perfectly and aren't causing any issue. Getting accessories, especially aftermarket parts and accessories, or using OEM parts first place might value a scant bit more but could save you money from having to get poor work and damage caused by poor installation work corrected.
  • Your catalytic converter is bad or going bad. The catalytic converter is a part of your 2018 BMW X3’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 Richmond BMW offers a complimentary multi-point inspection with every BMW service. If you have an issue with your catalytic converter and don't get it repaired, your 2018 BMW X3 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 supplemental problems from overheating.
  • New Spark Plugs or Plug Wires are necessary for your 2018 BMW X3. 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 old, 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, finest to more fancy repairs.
  • The battery is small or dead. The battery in your 2018 BMW X3 is every perilous. 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 a few decades ago, and they don't certainly require maintenance. The price of a new one depends on the type of BMW you drive, but check our existing service coupons and specials.
  • Your mass airflow sensor (known as MAF) needs to be replaced. The mass airflow sensor in your BMW X3 is what determines how much fuel is necessary to run your engine efficiently by measuring the sum of air entering the engine. As a part of the engine management system, the mass airflow sensor helps adjust to different changes, like altitude. If your BMW X3 is having trouble starting, idling rough or has a rapid change in the position of the throttle pedal, this could be a sign of a bad mass airflow sensor.
  • Your 2018 BMW X3 has a vacuum leak. Every BMW X3 has a vacuum system that performs a wide collection 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 important heat or extreme bitter.
  • One of the most commonplace and many cause is that your 2018 BMW X3 gas cap is loose, damaged or missing. The gas cap for your 2018 BMW X3 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 old 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 fancy. If your check engine light turns on immediately after you put gas in your 2018 BMW X3, first 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.

Is it safe to drive your 2018 BMW X3 with the check engine light on?

If the check engine light is flashing, this means that there is a strict issue and it is recommended to service your BMW X3 promptly. This question is not very plain 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 normal to drive. This is continuously indicated by a dependable 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 crucial problem. Call the consultants at Richmond BMW by dialing 8042074692 so you can describe the issues. Or reduce your speed and deliver your 2018 BMW to our certified mechanics as soon as definite.

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 big news, Richmond BMW offers complimentary multi-point inspections and free diagnostics, in most cases, to help represent 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 relentless failure like a bad catalytic converter or a problem with one of the car's oxygen sensors, so it big to get the apt code reading and diagnosis.

What Does the Check Engine Light Mean?

One of the most usually misunderstood lights or indicators in your 2018 BMW X3 is the check engine light. The check engine light is part of the onboard diagnostics system, and displays in assorted diverse ways. It can say "Check Engine", it can be a symbol of an engine, it can even be a combination of both. This light flashes 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 BMW X3. 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 mean a variety of divergent things. It can be as easy as your gas cap being loose or as precarious as engine knocking. If your check engine light is on in your 2018 BMW X3, contact Richmond BMW. Contact Richmond BMW today! Our BMW 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.

2018 BMW X3 Check Engine Light Flashing

Although there are frequent potential causes of an illuminated Check Engine Light, we know from years of providing Check Engine Light Diagnosis Service that there are countless common causes including something as authentic as a loose gas cap. Other common reasons for a Check Engine Light are faulty emissions control part, dirty mass airflow sensor, a malfunction with the fuel injection system, faulty head gasket, 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 BMW 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 BMW issue was fixed.

Every 2018 BMW X3 was designed with a high-technology performance monitoring system with a computer, and a series of sensors positioned strategically throughout the car on its big systems. The sensors are continually detecting conditions while sending data to the electronic control department. If the electronic control department detects that the data is out of factory specifications, the Check Engine Light lights up telling you that there is a problem. However, that is the limitation of the Check Engine Light – it won’t tell you what precisely is erroneous nor what to do about it. That’s where we come in; Richmond BMW provides a Check Engine Light Diagnosis Service that isolates the core problem and gives you a recommendation on what to do next from a Exceedingly Qualified Service technical.

Check Engine Light Service 2018 BMW X3

What do you do when you’re driving along in your BMW X3 and promptly, a yellow light lights up on your dash and says "Check Engine". If you’re like most BMW owners, your heart sinks a little because you have little idea about what that light is trying to tell you or how you should react. The fear of the unknown (or the estimate 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 BMW X3 checked as soon as attainable. Ignoring that warning could end up causing preeminent damage to expensive engine components.

When your 2018 BMW X3'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 commonly 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 BMW auto repair mechanics at Richmond BMW. 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 select the issue and repair it.

2018 BMW X3 Check Engine Light Codes

The check engine light turning on can be quite intimidating to see that tiny light on your vehicle’s dashboard instantly 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 familiar as the OBD (on-board computer diagnostic system) in your X3. There are hundreds of different codes that your check engine light can represent. While that sounds daunting, with a tiny patience, tackling main diagnostics will give you comfortable knowledge about your vehicle and will also allow that Check Engine Light to do what it is genuinely supposed to do: be your guide. Unfortunately, obvious and convenient vehicle symptoms do not always accompany an illuminated Check Engine Light. Since there are hundreds of efficient OBD codes, there are also hundreds of efficient reasons for the light, including:

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

This is why it is necessary 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 powerful concern, you risk detrimental your car further by not repairing the issue right away. Call Richmond BMW at 8042074692 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 swiftly by a certified BMW mechanic.