Car Basics... Dashboard Cautions & Warnings

Fortunately in modern-day cars, we are blessed to have an array of helpers in the car with us: dashboard cautions and/or warning lights. Depending upon the make and model of your vehicle, you could have any number of these indicators installed to help you.

The indicators do not really need much of an introduction, because they are the lights that illuminate every time you rotate your key to the start position. When you put your key into the ignition and rotate the start switch, a set of contacts in the switch tell your car's monitoring system(s) to test all the lights and (depending upon the year, make and model of your vehicle) systems' sensors associated with each light. We see them so often, they're often ignored; that is until one illuminates while we're driving.

The problem we have is understanding what each of the lights mean. Is it serious when the "Check Engine" or "Service Engine Soon" lights illuminate or not? Can I continue to drive with an "Engine Oil" light on or not? What about the battery light or "ABS" light?

Let's look at some of the more common lights and indicators that appear in today's vehicles, beginning with the needle-equipped indicators.

Tachometer

This is a tachometer. It tells you how fast your engine is running. The graduations are in Revolutions Per Minute (RPM). Literally, it is telling you about the rotational speed of the engine's crankshaft. All engines have an "operating speed" normally. To exceed this speed is to risk damaging the engine. The first speed to avoid is the yellow range. This is bad enough, but to go into the red zone means that you have pushed your engine beyond the speed that it is designed for. << MORE>>