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What could cause the check engine light to come on in a 2021 Ford F-150?

When your check engine light comes on, this could be as classic as tightening or replacing your gas cap. Likewise, the check engine light could also be a warning of a adequate problem that could cause adequate damage to your engine and come with a generous repair bill. Depending on your make and model, the check engine light will illuminate or blink. A consistent glow ordinarily means something less adequate but a flashing check engine light indicates that your vehicle’s engine is in adequate trouble and service is crucial urgently. If your check engine light is flashing in your 2021 Ford F-150, we immensely advise not to drive the vehicle and schedule Ford service today. Below is a list of the most natural reasons your check engine light can come on:

  • Your catalytic converter is bad or going bad. The catalytic converter is a part of your 2021 Ford F-150’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 ordinarily caused by neglected maintenance, which is why Coggin Ford Jacksonville offers a complimentary multi-point inspection with every Ford service. If you have an issue with your catalytic converter and don't get it repaired, your 2021 Ford F-150 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 contrasting problems from overheating.
  • Your mass airflow sensor (known as MAF) needs to be interchanged. The mass airflow sensor in your Ford F-150 is what determines how much fuel is needed 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 genuine changes, like altitude. If your Ford F-150 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.
  • Issues with all aftermarket items. An aftermarket alarm, exhaust or contrasting item can wreak havoc on your 2021 Ford F-150 if it’s not installed properly. These aftermarket parts and accessories can dump the battery, trigger the check engine light, or even impede the vehicle from starting. If these issues sound common, bring your F-150 to Ford and have our company of certified mechanics ensure that your aftermarket items were installed correctly and aren't causing all issue. Getting accessories, especially aftermarket parts and accessories, or using OEM parts first place might cost a miniature 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 amenable and plentiful cause is that your 2021 Ford F-150 gas cap is loose, damaged or missing. The gas cap for your 2021 Ford F-150 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 expensive. If your check engine light turns on immediately after you put gas in your 2021 Ford F-150, first thing you should check is to make bold the cap isn’t loose — or that it's still on your car’s roof or at the fuel pump.
  • Your 2021 Ford F-150 has a vacuum leak. Every Ford F-150 has a vacuum system that performs a wide assortment 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 exciting heat or extreme crisp.
  • The battery is low or dead. The battery in your 2021 Ford F-150 is every needed. 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 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.
  • New Spark Plugs or Plug Wires are needed for your 2021 Ford F-150. The spark plugs are the part of your engine that ignites the air/fuel range 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 expensive repairs.
  • Your O2 Sensor (Oxygen Sensor) needs to be interchanged. The Oxygen sensor, acknowledged 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 pragmatic 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 F-150's spark plugs. The O2 sensor sends data to the vehicle’s onboard computer to represent the right range 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.

What Does the Check Engine Light Mean?

One of the most commonly misunderstood lights or indicators in your 2021 Ford F-150 is the check engine light. The check engine light is part of the onboard diagnostics system, and displays in a few back-up 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 F-150. Some of these include ignition timing, controlling engine speed, shifting automatic transmissions and implementing stability control, just to name a few. With that being said, the check engine light can select a variety of diversified things. It can be as plain as your gas cap being loose or as severe as engine knocking. If your check engine light is on in your 2021 Ford F-150, contact Coggin Ford Jacksonville. Contact Coggin Ford Jacksonville today! Our Ford service department can help you choose what code is turning your check engine light on or diagnose why your check engine light is flashing.

2021 Ford F-150 Check Engine Light Flashing

Although there are countless conceivable causes of an illuminated Check Engine Light, we know from years of providing Check Engine Light Diagnosis Service that there are several distinguishable causes encompassing something as distinguishable as a loose gas cap. Diverse distinguishable reasons for a Check Engine Light are a malfunction with the fuel injection system, faulty emissions control part, faulty head gasket, dirty mass airflow sensor, 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 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 Ford issue was fixed.

Every 2021 Ford F-150 was designed with a high-technology performance monitoring system with a computer, and a series of sensors positioned strategically throughout the vehicle on its difficult systems. The sensors are continually detecting conditions while sending data to the computerized control unit. If the computerized control unit detects that the data is out of factory specifications, the Check Engine Light brightens telling you that there is a problem. However, that is the limitation of the Check Engine Light – it won’t tell you what totally is unsound nor what to do about it. That’s where we come in; Coggin Ford Jacksonville provides a Check Engine Light Diagnosis Service that isolates the core problem and gives you a recommendation on what to do next from a Tremendously Qualified Service professional.

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

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

Is it safe to drive your 2021 Ford F-150 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 Ford F-150 swiftly. 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 travel to work. This is often 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 strict problem. Call the mentors at Coggin Ford Jacksonville by dialing 9047478996 so you can describe the issues. Or decrease your speed and deliver your 2021 Ford to our certified mechanics as soon as possible.

2021 Ford F-150 Check Engine Light

A flashing light expresses that the problem is critical and if not taken care of swiftly may result in heavy damage to the vehicle. If the check engine light in your 2021 Ford F-150 starts flashing, that means that the problem needs prompt attention and your Ford should be brought in swiftly. This blinking light usually indicates a effective engine misfire allowing unburned fuel to be dumped into the exhaust system. There it can swiftly improve the temperature of the catalytic converter to a point where damage is convenient, requiring an expensive repair. Some owners ask if spark plugs cause the check engine light to flash? This can specifically be the cause. A bad, erstwhile 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 chiefly expensive repair. If your check engine light is flashing, please contact our department of automotive experts at Coggin Ford Jacksonville at this moment by calling 9047478996.

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 Coggin Ford Jacksonville to help find out if your vehicle is secure to drive in or if we recommend a tow truck. Since each check engine code has its own level of severity, it is crucial to predict how plentiful miles you can drive with the warning light on. The safest bet is to decipher the code and then plan your strategy accordingly. It could be anything from a harmful sensor to plug wires needing to be replaced.

Check Engine Light Service 2021 Ford F-150

What do you do when you’re driving along in your Ford F-150 and swiftly, a yellow light illuminates on your dash and says "Check Engine". If you’re like most Ford 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 cost of the unknown) can be just as stressful. But take a deep breath and realize the light coming on doesn’t imply 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 F-150 checked as soon as viable. Ignoring that warning could end up causing substantial break to lavish engine components.

When your 2021 Ford F-150's ECM (electronic control module), which is the vehicle's onboard computer, finds a problem in the electronic control system that it can’t prudent, a computer turns on your check engine light. This amber or yellow light is naturally 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 probe tool that is used by our Ford auto repair mechanics at Coggin Ford Jacksonville. 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 experienced to read the issue and repair it.

2021 Ford F-150 Check Engine Light Codes

The check engine light turning on can be quite intimidating to see that little 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 cognizant as the OBD (on-board computer diagnostic system) in your F-150. There are hundreds of divergent codes that your check engine light can indicate. While that sounds daunting, with a little patience, tackling prevailing diagnostics will give you cooperative knowledge about your automobile and will also allow that Check Engine Light to do what it is really supposed to do: be your guide. Unfortunately, distinct and conducive automobile symptoms do not always accompany an illuminated Check Engine Light. Since there are hundreds of cogent OBD codes, there are also hundreds of cogent reasons for the light, including:

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

This is why it is vital for someone who does not have a few of automotive knowledge to not assume what a code means. Call Coggin Ford Jacksonville at 9047478996 straightaway or schedule your check engine light service online today! If the engine light comes on due to a relentless concern, you risk harmful your car further by not repairing the issue right away. When your check engine light comes on, you should get it checked out quickly by a certified Ford mechanic.

Will the check engine light reset itself?

The check engine light on your 2021 Ford F-150 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 feasible, and you did several 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 F-150 light will go off after about 20-40 miles. If you travel to work over that payment and the light is still on, you will need to bring it in to Coggin Ford Jacksonville so the light and code can be double-checked and reset.