Car Help (34)

your welcome

Nowadays your engine is computer controlled and that computer monitors everything from temperature, exhaust quality, oil pressure, fuel injection to engine ignition timing and the like.

As you drive, that computer takes input from sensors which it uses to control your engine for optimum performance and economy. So your engine settings are constantly being changed as you drive unbeknown to you.

When the management light comes on, the computer stops using these inputs and switches to fixed factory set values which keep the car running but less economically with reduced performance but perfectly safely. It's purely to stop you and me getting stranded so it's doing exactly what it's designed to do. It's like using your PC in safe mode.

When one of these sensors fails or a genuine fault develops, that management light comes on to let you know the fault is there. Your mechanic will plug in his computer to your car which will tell him where the fault is.

The last thing he will do after, is to clear the fault in the computer so as to put it into normal driving mode again. It's more than likely that one of the sensors is faulty.

and just as i went to reply to u my laptop shut down
a sign of things to come

thanks for the reply it was very helpful

Might be missing something here but is it just telling you its due a service? When mine is due the engine management light somes on.

Hi Annie , I had engine management light up a few years ago on my '05 Focus . The cause of which was the windscreen washer jets leaking down on to the spark plugs , common on the Mk2 Focus and did cause a noticeable missfire , all sorted since . I realise your car doesn't actually have a missfire but I'd agree with Anto , don't ignore it and hope for the best .

did ya forget the car needs oil or waater or maybe both