Ask PAT!!!!
Sept.2000
(Poway high school Automotive Technicians)
Sponsored by the VICA Automotive Technology Club
This page will be used to answer common questions asked by individuals to Poway High Schools Automotive Technology's Advanced Students. phsat@hotmail.com
To whom it may concern:
A famous philosopher once said that there were three professionals that one needs in today's society. One is a doctor who
you feel comfortable with and has the ability to keep you healthy. The second important individual, is a lawyer that you can
trust to look after your legal affairs. The last is a good Automotive Technician. Especially in Southern California, where we
depend on our vehicles to get us to the other two individuals.(the famous philosopher is one of my teachers who I am sure
took the idea from someone else) So with this in mind and with your help we (the Poway High School Automotive
Technology students involved with VICA) will field and try to the best of our abilities to answer your Automotive questions!
This will help us to improve in our field of study as well as the other disciplines we have learned at Poway High School.
A very common occurrence in our field is the question regarding the check engine light. In fact my sister two years ago had
the occasion to phone her brother (me) to ask what the check engine light meant on her 1998 Ford Windstar. It seems she
had been going to a conference in Las Vegas. (right!!) The check engine light came on and so being the intelligent individual
that she is(she scored very high on IQ tests) she stopped her vehicle, opened the hood and checked the engine. The engine
was still there, so she closed the hood, got in the van and drove on. A month later she decided to call me. Told me what had
occurred and asked what does the check engine light mean?
Simply put the check engine light will come on to inform the driver that there is a problem in communication between either
the computer and a sensor or perhaps a actuator. This happens to the human body as well. When your brain no longer is
getting a signal from say your hand a light goes on in your brain and lets us know that perhaps we might want to go to the
hospital. The sensor is no longer sending a signal to the brain and we can no longer feel our hand. Or perhaps we mentally try
to move our fingers and our fingers do not respond. This is an actuator problem. Like the human body, a vehicle has many
sensors and actuators along with a brain (the computer). If there exists a communication problem then a code is stored and
the check engine light comes on to inform us that unlike our human body where we ignore the problem, we should take our
vehicle in to a trained technician so that he or she may pull the codes and run diagnostic tests. Please do not ignore your check
engine light! The life you save is your vehicle's and perhaps your own!!!!
Sincerely,
PAT