Is it safe to drive your 2014 Kia Soul with the check engine light on?
If the check engine light is flashing, this means that there is a risky issue and it is recommended to service your Kia Soul straightaway. This question is not very real 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 reliable to drive. This is normally indicated by a persistent 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 precarious problem. Call the experts at Nalley Kia by dialing 7702885283 so you can describe the issues. Or lessen your speed and deliver your 2014 Kia to our certified technicians as soon as possible.
How many miles can you drive with the check engine light?
If you check engine light is flashing, we recommend that you pull over and contact Nalley Kia to help elect for if your vehicle is stable to drive in or if we recommend a tow truck. It could be anything from a bad sensor to plug wires needing to be replaced. Since all check engine code has its own level of severity, it is complicated to predict how many miles you can drive with the warning light on. The safest bet is to decipher the code and then plan your strategy accordingly.
What could cause the check engine light to come on in a 2014 Kia Soul?
When your check engine light comes on, this could be as simple as tightening or replacing your gas cap. Likewise, the check engine light could also be a warning of a risky problem that could cause risky damage to your engine and come with a imposing repair bill. Depending on your make and model, the check engine light will illuminate or blink. A consistent glow frequently means something fewer risky but a glaring check engine light indicates that your vehicle’s engine is in risky trouble and service is fundamental urgently. If your check engine light is glaring in your 2014 Kia Soul, we highly advise not to commute the vehicle and schedule Kia service at this moment. Below is a list of the most commonplace reasons your check engine light can come on:
- Your catalytic converter is bad or going bad. The catalytic converter is a part of your 2014 Kia Soul’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 constantly caused by neglected maintenance, which is why Nalley Kia offers a complimentary multi-point inspection with every Kia service. If you have an issue with your catalytic converter and don't get it repaired, your 2014 Kia Soul 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 disparate problems from overheating.
- The battery is low or dead. The battery in your 2014 Kia Soul is every exciting. 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 truly require maintenance. The price of a new one depends on the type of Kia you drive, but check our prevailing service coupons and specials.
- Your 2014 Kia Soul has a vacuum leak. Every Kia Soul has a vacuum system that performs a wide variety 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 bitter.
- Your mass airflow sensor (known as MAF) needs to be replaced. The mass airflow sensor in your Kia Soul is what determines how much fuel is crucial to run your engine efficiently by measuring the deposit 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 Kia Soul is having trouble starting, idling rough or has a swift change in the position of the throttle pedal, this could be a sign of a bad mass airflow sensor.
- One of the most cognizant and frequent cause is that your 2014 Kia Soul gas cap is loose, damaged or missing. The gas cap for your 2014 Kia Soul 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 traditional 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 hastily after you put gas in your 2014 Kia Soul, earliest thing you should check is to make positive the cap isn’t loose — or that it's still on your car’s roof or at the fuel pump.
- New Spark Plugs or Plug Wires are crucial for your 2014 Kia Soul. 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 traditional, you will experience low 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, primary to more expensive repairs.
- Issues with any aftermarket items. An aftermarket alarm, exhaust or disparate item can wreak havoc on your 2014 Kia Soul if it’s not installed properly. These aftermarket parts and accessories can drain the battery, trigger the check engine light, or even prevent the vehicle from starting. If these issues sound cognizant, bring your Soul to Kia and have our department of certified mechanics ensure that your aftermarket items were installed properly and aren't causing any issue. Getting accessories, especially aftermarket parts and accessories, or using OEM parts earliest place might cost a little bit more but could save you money from having to get low work and damage caused by low installation work corrected.
- Your O2 Sensor (Oxygen Sensor) needs to be replaced. The Oxygen sensor, accepted as the O2 sensor, measures the deposit of oxygen in your exhaust system. If there is excess oxygen in your exhaust system, fuel burns faster and your vehicle will be less definite 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 2014 Kia Soul's spark plugs. The O2 sensor sends data to the vehicle’s onboard computer to pick the right mixture 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.
Will the check engine light reset itself?
The check engine light on your 2014 Kia Soul will typically 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 efficient, and you did a lot 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 2014 Kia Soul light will go off after about 20-40 miles. If you drive over that amount and the light is still on, you will need to bring it in to Nalley Kia so the light and code can be double-checked and reset.
Check Engine Light Service 2014 Kia Soul
What do you do when you’re driving along in your Kia Soul and suddenly, a yellow light illuminates on your dash and says "Check Engine". If you’re like most Kia owners, your heart sinks a microscopic because you have microscopic 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 determine 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 2014 Kia Soul checked as soon as active. Ignoring that warning could end up causing major damage to costly engine components.
When your 2014 Kia Soul's ECM (electronic control module), which is the vehicle's onboard computer, finds a problem in the electronic control system that it can’t decent, a computer turns on your check engine light. This amber or yellow light is regularly 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 computerized scan tool that is used by our Kia auto repair mechanics at Nalley Kia. There are also a number of comparatively inexpensive code readers that are designed for do-it-yourselfers, should you pick that route too. While this code will tell you the issue that is detected, a true diagnosis still requires an experienced expert to mean the issue and repair it.
2014 Kia Soul Check Engine Light Codes
The check engine light turning on can be quite intimidating to see that small light on your vehicle’s dashboard promptly 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 known as the OBD (on-board computer diagnostic system) in your Soul. There are hundreds of plentiful codes that your check engine light can represent. While that sounds daunting, with a small patience, tackling traditional diagnostics will give you available 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, accessible and favorable vehicle symptoms do not always accompany an illuminated Check Engine Light. Since there are hundreds of detailed OBD codes, there are also hundreds of detailed reasons for the light, including:
- O2 Sensor
- Bad Spark Plugs
- Transmission issues
- Loose Gas Cap or Missing Gas Cap
- Ignition system faults
- Emissions controls issues
- Computer output circuit issues
- Old Battery
- Fuel and air metering systems problems
This is why it is fundamental 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 immediately by a certified Kia mechanic. If the engine light comes on due to a unhealthy concern, you risk damaging your car extra by not repairing the issue right away. Call Nalley Kia at 7702885283 today or schedule your check engine light service online today!
2014 Kia Soul Check Engine Light Flashing
Although there are countless ability causes of an illuminated Check Engine Light, we know from years of providing Check Engine Light Diagnosis Service that there are plentiful daily causes including something as simple as a loose gas cap. Additional daily reasons for a Check Engine Light are faulty emissions control part, a malfunction with the fuel injection system, faulty head gasket, damaged oxygen sensor, dirty mass airflow sensor, or defective spark plugs to name assorted. No matter what is the root cause of the Check Engine Light, we have the Kia Certified Mechanics 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 Kia issue was fixed.
Every 2014 Kia Soul was designed with a high-technology performance monitoring system with a computer, and a series of sensors positioned strategically throughout the vehicle on its principal systems. The sensors are continually 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 lights up 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 untrue nor what to do about it. That’s where we come in; Nalley Kia provides a Check Engine Light Diagnosis Service that isolates the core problem and gives you a recommendation on what to do next from a Largely Qualified Service professional.
What Does the Check Engine Light Mean?
One of the most consistently misunderstood lights or indicators in your 2014 Kia Soul is the check engine light. The check engine light is part of the onboard diagnostics system, and displays in copious copious 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 car. Onboard computers increasingly have controlled and monitored car performance since the 80s and do a collection of things for your 2014 Kia Soul. Some of these include shifting automatic transmissions controlling engine speed, ignition timing, and implementing stability control, just to name a few. With that being said, the check engine light can indicate a variety of further things. It can be as prevalent as your gas cap being loose or as significant as engine knocking. If your check engine light is on in your 2014 Kia Soul, contact Nalley Kia. Contact Nalley Kia today! Our Kia 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.
2014 Kia Soul Check Engine Light
If the check engine light in your 2014 Kia Soul starts flashing, that means that the problem needs agile attention and your Kia should be brought in immediately. A flashing light indicates that the problem is compatible and if not taken care of immediately may result in major break to the vehicle. This blinking light ordinarily indicates a exacting engine misfire allowing unburned fuel to be dumped into the exhaust system. There it can abruptly raise the temperature of the catalytic converter to a point where damage is likely, requiring an expensive repair. Some owners ask if spark plugs cause the check engine light to flash? This can absolutely be the cause. A destructive, departed or dirty spark plug can cause the engine to misfire. If your check engine light is flashing, please contact our company of automotive experts at Nalley Kia shortly by calling 7702885283. 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 highly pricey repair.
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 accordingly tightened to a more alarming failure like a bad catalytic converter or a problem with one of the car's oxygen sensors, so it fearless to get the definite code reading and diagnosis. The average cost for a check engine light diagnosis & testing is commonly between $88 and $111. The fearless news, Nalley Kia offers complimentary multi-point inspections and free diagnostics, in most cases, to help suggest the cause of your check engine light.