squad272

hey I tried this in general tech and got no reply

so I thought I would try here



Anybody know why a 2001 Explorer Sport trac would have a check guage light only first thing in the morning on cold mornings?
did it last winter then fine all summer, doing it now in the fall weather. wife says its off in about a mile. I have turned car off then startd it again to make it go away.

Does a check guage light put a code in the computer I could check or have auto zone check?


Any input is appreciated

PRO50SC

Well, is one of the gauges reading low or not at all when this happens?

squad272

NO THATS JUST IT... just idiot light everything else ok

if it only happened to my I would understand the idiot light part of it ,but it happens to my wife and shes not an idiot.

(although she did marry me so how smart could she be)

PRO50SC

Well the first thing I would do is make sure all the fluids were full and then find out what circuits are connected to the light.

squad272

is a Haynes manual going to tell me that?- or the owners manual?



my guess is that there is no code stored as I think it would have shown up at state inspecction in Sept. I don't think battery has been disconnected during that time.

I am guessing also that it is some kind of coolant temp sensor/guage/sending unit issue because as the car warms up the light goes out.

vristang

The CEL is on because of a problem.

Quite speculating and pull the codes.


There are countless things that could cause a CEL.
Don't waste your time guessing.
Let the computer do the hard part.

Keep in mind that the computer will not trigger the CEL for every code.
It is common to have several codes show, and never have the CEL come on.


Just my .02




jason

PRO50SC

The cel and the check gauges light are 2 different things.

squad272

Yes, it it a check guage light not a check engine light and at state inspection in sept. they pull codes (or try to and the printout says no codes) . on a 2001 vehicle they look for the computer to tell them to fail it.. I didn't even see them put the probe in the tail pipe.

I may have to wait until something actually fails-- as I know ford will try to charge me and say they could not produce issue.

vehicle runs fine- light on or off

gbtrout

If it's the check gauge light and it the gauges are fine and it goes off after a minute or two I wouldn't worry about it. Unless your **** about that sort of thing.

ZachW04Stang

It could just have a reading for the coolant temp thats too low for the guage to do anything then once the car warms up it goes off. Could explain why only cooler days it does that.