2016 BMW 528i Check Engine Light

What Does the Check Engine Light Mean?

One of the most frequently misunderstood lights or indicators in your 2016 BMW 528i is the check engine light. The check engine light is part of the onboard diagnostics system, and displays in a little other 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 assortment of things for your 2016 BMW 528i. Some of these include ignition timing, shifting automatic transmissions controlling engine speed, and implementing stability control, just to name a miniature. With that being said, the check engine light can mean a collection of precise things. It can be as plain as your gas cap being loose or as rigorous as engine knocking. If your check engine light is on in your 2016 BMW 528i, contact Nalley BMW of Decatur. Contact Nalley BMW of Decatur 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.

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

The check engine light warns of issues ranging from a gas cap that's not appropriately tightened to a more exacting failure like a bad catalytic converter or a problem with one of the car's oxygen sensors, so it excellent to get the beneficial code reading and diagnosis. The intermediate price for a check engine light diagnosis & testing is mostly between $88 and $111. The excellent news, Nalley BMW of Decatur offers complimentary multi-point inspections and free diagnostics, in most cases, to help determine the cause of your check engine light.

What could cause the check engine light to come on in a 2016 BMW 528i?

When your check engine light comes on, this could be as commonplace as tightening or replacing your gas cap. Likewise, the check engine light could also be a warning of a direct problem that could cause direct 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 dependable glow continuously means something fewer direct but a blinking check engine light indicates that your vehicle’s engine is in direct trouble and service is crucial immediately. If your check engine light is blinking in your 2016 BMW 528i, we highly recommend not to drive the vehicle and schedule BMW service today. Below is a list of the most commonplace reasons your check engine light can come on:

• The battery is low or dead. The battery in your 2016 BMW 528i is every imperative. Without a vehicle battery, your vehicle won’t start, light up the road ahead, play the radio or charge your phone. Today’s vehicle batteries last much longer than they did various 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 current service coupons and specials.
• New Spark Plugs or Plug Wires are crucial for your 2016 BMW 528i. 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 common, 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, dominant to more expensive repairs.
• Your O2 Sensor (Oxygen Sensor) needs to be replaced. The Oxygen sensor, receptive 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 effective 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 2016 BMW 528i's spark plugs. The O2 sensor sends data to the vehicle’s onboard computer to determine the prudent mixture of air and fuel that enters the cylinders in your engine. A bad O2 sensor can also cause a vehicle to fail an emissions test.
• One of the most amicable and innumerable cause is that your 2016 BMW 528i gas cap is loose, damaged or missing. The gas cap for your 2016 BMW 528i 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 common 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 2016 BMW 528i, 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.
• Your catalytic converter is bad or going bad. The catalytic converter is a part of your 2016 BMW 528i’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 Nalley BMW of Decatur 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 2016 BMW 528i will not pass an emissions test, show a lack of engine performance and will negatively affect your fuel economy. Your vehicle may run at a higher temperature, too, which can cause other problems from overheating.
• Your mass airflow sensor (known as MAF) needs to be replaced. The mass airflow sensor in your BMW 528i is what determines how much fuel is crucial 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 actual changes, like altitude. If your BMW 528i is having trouble starting, idling rough or has a speedy change in the position of the throttle pedal, this could be a sign of a bad mass airflow sensor.
• Issues with any aftermarket items. An aftermarket alarm, exhaust or other item can wreak havoc on your 2016 BMW 528i if it’s not installed subsequently. These aftermarket parts and accessories can ditch the battery, trigger the check engine light, or even avoid the vehicle from starting. If these issues sound receptive, bring your 528i to BMW and have our company of certified mechanics ensure that your aftermarket items were installed correctly and aren't causing any issue. Getting accessories, especially aftermarket parts and accessories, or using OEM parts first place might cost a few bit more but could save you money from having to get poor work and damage caused by poor installation work corrected.
• Your 2016 BMW 528i has a vacuum leak. Every BMW 528i has a vacuum system that performs a wide variety of functions. The vacuum system also helps reduction in cost 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 imposing heat or extreme agreeable.

2016 BMW 528i Check Engine Light Flashing

Although there are countless achievable causes of an illuminated Check Engine Light, we know from years of providing Check Engine Light Diagnosis Service that there are countless classic causes incorporating something as accepted as a loose gas cap. Other classic reasons for a Check Engine Light are faulty head gasket, a malfunction with the fuel injection system, damaged oxygen sensor, faulty emissions control part, dirty mass airflow 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 2016 BMW 528i was designed with a high-technology performance monitoring system with a computer, and a series of sensors positioned strategically throughout the vehicle on its critical systems. The sensors are consistently detecting conditions while sending data to the electronic control unit. If the electronic control unit detects that the data is out of factory specifications, the Check Engine Light illuminates telling you that there is a problem. However, that is the limitation of the Check Engine Light – it won’t tell you what exactly is incorrect nor what to do about it. That’s where we come in; Nalley BMW of Decatur provides a Check Engine Light Diagnosis Service that isolates the core problem and gives you a recommendation on what to do next from a Hugely Qualified Service technical.

Check Engine Light Service 2016 BMW 528i

What do you do when you’re driving along in your BMW 528i and suddenly, a yellow light illuminates 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 cost 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 2016 BMW 528i checked as soon as authentic. Ignoring that warning could end up causing major damage to pricey engine components.

When your 2016 BMW 528i's ECM (electronic control module), which is the vehicle's onboard computer, finds a problem in the electronic control system that it can’t definite, a computer turns on your check engine light. This amber or yellow light is frequently 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 Nalley BMW of Decatur. There are also a number of comparatively 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 mechanical to select the issue and repair it.

2016 BMW 528i Check Engine Light Codes

The check engine light turning on can be quite intimidating to see that miniature light on your vehicle’s dashboard suddenly illuminates, but in reality, it is not something that should cause you to shut down in fear noble 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 known as the OBD (on-board computer diagnostic system) in your 528i. There are hundreds of different codes that your check engine light can represent. While that sounds daunting, with a miniature patience, tackling normal diagnostics will give you ready for use knowledge about your vehicle and will also allow that Check Engine Light to do what it is really supposed to do: be your guide. Unfortunately, clear and helpful vehicle symptoms do not always accompany an illuminated Check Engine Light. Since there are hundreds of viable OBD codes, there are also hundreds of viable reasons for the light, including:

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

This is why it is risky for someone who does not have a lot of automotive knowledge to not assume what a code means. When your check engine light comes on, you should get it checked out expeditiously by a certified BMW mechanic. Call Nalley BMW of Decatur at 7706285694 today or schedule your check engine light service online today! If the engine light comes on due to a critical concern, you risk bad your car extra by not repairing the issue polite away.

2016 BMW 528i Check Engine Light

A flashing light indicates that the problem is strict and if not taken care of abruptly may result in extensive damage to the vehicle. If the check engine light in your 2016 BMW 528i starts flashing, that means that the problem needs immediate attention and your BMW should be brought in abruptly. This blinking light mostly illustrates a tough engine misfire allowing unburned fuel to be discarded into the exhaust system. There it can quickly boost the temperature of the catalytic converter to a point where damage is efficient, requiring an expensive repair. Some owners ask if spark plugs cause the check engine light to flash? This can surely be the cause. A bad, common or dirty spark plug can cause the engine to misfire. If your check engine light is flashing, please contact our team of automotive specialists at Nalley BMW of Decatur shortly by calling 7706285694. If the problem is ignored or you continue to travel to work, this can spread to the spark plug wires, catalytic converter, or ignition coils which can lead to a very expensive repair.

Will the check engine light reset itself?

The check engine light on your 2016 BMW 528i will usually shut itself off if the issue or code that caused it to turn on is repaired. 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 authentic, and you did a few 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 2016 BMW 528i light will go off after about 20-40 miles. If you commute over that amount and the light is still on, you will need to deliver it in to Nalley BMW of Decatur so the light and code can be double-checked and reset.

Is it safe to drive your 2016 BMW 528i with the check engine light on?

If the check engine light is shining, this means that there is a strict issue and it is recommended to service your BMW 528i now. 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 safe to drive. This is ordinarily indicated by a steady 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 exacting problem. Call the experts at Nalley BMW of Decatur by dialing 7706285694 so you can describe the issues. Or reduce your speed and bring your 2016 BMW to our certified mechanics as soon as conscious.

How many miles can you drive with the check engine light?

It could be anything from a bad sensor to plug wires needing to be replaced. Since any check engine code has its own level of severity, it is hard to predict how innumerable miles you can drive with the warning light on. The safest bet is to decipher the code and then plan your strategy accordingly. If you check engine light is flashing, we advocate that you pull over and contact Nalley BMW of Decatur to help designate if your vehicle is safe to drive in or if we advocate a tow truck.