Talk:3096: Check Engine

Cosmic tow truck? I've seen that in the youtube vids where a guy makes the sun grow increasingly larger in minecraft and the villagers built a "tow truck" to tow the sun. --me, hi (talk) 18:26, 31 May 2025 (UTC)

"The Check Engine light is one that drivers will rarely see". Well, in most cars, you'll see the "check engine" light every time you put the car in "accessories" mode, just temporarily, as a test to make sure the light works. So car owners will know that the light is there and exists, and to not ignore it if it comes on outside of being in "accessories" mode. Dogman15 (talk) 19:39, 31 May 2025 (UTC)

Reading up on "Accessories Mode", I'm confused as to which level of key-turning that is. May be different in different models of car, but I'm going by the various makes of car I m used to.

Key position 0: Key inserted (or not), no twist. Minimal 'accessories' available - no wipers, indicators (except full hazards), radio, air, "lighter socket". Nothing lit on dashboard (except both indicators, in synch with hazards).

Key position 1 (maybe, if not straight from '0' to '2', deending upon vehicle make): Unpowered as 0, but key is 'locked' in so it can't be pulled straight out

Key position 2: Power to (practically) everything internal, and (?)individual indicators if either difection active, with engine off. Minimal dashboard lghts on, as necessary for (side-)lights, and 'glow light' illuminating the physical dials (dimmed, if head-/dipped-lights are on, as a less obtrusive 'night mode). I'd call this "accessories mode", would need to check my current car manual to find out what it calls it, but it doesn't show all lights (engine check, battery fault, seat-belt-unused warning for seats with sufficient weight on them but not clipped in as required).

Key position 3: "Driving" position, once engine is started, only things that matter show.

• But if left in this position without going through Pos4, will show many (all?) lights in general "many things aren't actually working" mode, perhaps. Tend not to dwell on this state (if starter-motor isn't working, even, no point leaving it like this while working out what help is needed to jump-start/jumper-start/etc). Will have to check what lights do/don't illuminate, or flash on momentarily, but normally only an issue if there's a problem.
• If the engine stalls (awkward hill start at a junction when the lights suddenly change, and messed up with the clutch-pedal 'bite'..? We've all done it at least once, don't judge me!), I'm fairly sure the "many things not working" doesn't fully show, in the small amount of time it takes to clutch-and-brake and redo the engine starter (before pulling away, sheepishly, making a "sorry" hand-signal to the car behind who might or might not be wondering why you didn't quite move when you initially might have done).

Key position 4: "Starter" position, sprung so that (upon ignition, hopefully) twists back to 3 upon release. Couldn't tell you what lights light (without going to the current car and firing it up), except that the battery symbol might accompany the "click click click" of the starter motor failing due to... well, bad battery. Pretty sure only the 'necessary' pictographs show.

All pretty consistent in cars driven from early '80s to present day. Only real change is that the earliest cars used to have a physical "choke"-puller (at least for cold-day starting, less so at other times), whereas the very latest vehicle manual explicitly tells you not to press the accelerator pedal on starting (something I now have to resist, due to muscle-memory and that having been part of the process for... well, decades), obviously having progressed from auto-choke through to the box of fly-by-wire electronics now also being in charge of the precise amount of throttling necessary to kick the engine into life.

I do tend to read the manual whenever I get a new car (every 5-10 years, I think), but really don't bother much until something goes wrong (working out which fuse blew that means the lighter-socket isn't working, e.g., and whether that's in the hatch under the dashboard or in the box under the bonnet). It's so easy to forget that there is an ABS-warning light, if you don't ever cause its warning to happen, then read the manual and learn that it's one the (normally) unglimpsed 'gap in the lights' on the lower row of an array of glyphs that normally you only ever see the upper set being active.

So, yeah, maybe I can see the ECL, but I have to say that I'd probably never notice it (or its absence), as I'm probably doing things like a mirror-check during the moment of twisting the key from '2', past '3', temporarily into '4' then back and ready to get into gear and go when it's expedient and safe to do so. But don't know how universal this setup tends to be. Sounds like it matches the scenario you're questioning, but I don't think I can improve what's there by adding this longhand personal understanding. Could be shortened. Maybe the original author wouldn't mind something like "most people probably never notice the ECL until it comes on and stays on", if that's not too much against the spirit of your expectations. 172.71.241.166 22:17, 31 May 2025 (UTC)

My thought FWIW is that the "Check Engine Light" falls within the experience of most drivers (most of the audience for xkcd and explainxkcd) and hence shouldn't require explanation beyond what is in the cited Wikipedia article. Indeed, the humor arguably works because of the reader's immediate "Holy [deleted]!" recognition of, and reaction to, the light - however it may be produced. As for the "black patch" mode of producing the image, that is (I read, again via Wikipedia) precisely how sunspots are contrasted from the rest of the sun's surface, as they are cooler and have higher magnetic field strengths. I'm not sure how discussing the manner of producing alert signals on automobile dashboards and LCD screens, and contrasting that with the Sun, contributes positively to the explanation. One can perhaps contemplate the design challenges of producing an image, several Earth diameters across, that means something to humans in an environment of 28g gravity, 5700 degrees K temperature, and 4500 Gauss magnetic field strength, never mind one that accurately reports a fundamental problem with the Sun's "engine".108.162.245.161 23:28, 31 May 2025 (UTC)

uh oh 172.69.134.55 01:11, 1 June 2025 (UTC)