www.jec.org.uk

hi there,just driving back from irish midlands 200m round trip today ...noticed amber "CHECK ENGINE" Light on(rev counter clock) but no message on speedo clock panel. nor on priority indicator...light has stayed on even after break from driving for 2 hours(food stop!)

....section 3-3 in drivers handbook states "lights up if an engine management event has been detected"
does any body know how serious this warning could be...??
OR AM I SAFE UNTIL I GET TO INDEPENDENT SPECIALIST(see below)
or should i go to my local mechanic who has diagnostic equip for diff makes of car incl jaguar (alas not AUTOLOGIC nor JAGUAR)

i will be going to jaguar indep specialist in approx 3 weeks time ...possibly DAVID MARKS FOR 60 K SERV (and tensioners replacement job)...63k on clock now...(changed oil/filter at 58k)

there are no indep jag spec here in southern ireland ...only main dealer 80 miles away(want to avoid these expensive serv costs.)..also not many jags here so even main dealers would not be as upto speed as uk independents regarding service /work to be done!

apprec any advice here!

shorty

With queeries like this on electrical faults,and with them being so complex to non experts......we can only try to give safety first in a basic reply.
Any member with the nessessary knowledge can answer in more detail but i would not like to try and give advice on the subject unless i had first hand knowledge.
This is why we have asked Dave Marks and Paul Grantham to reply to any queeries we cant help with in this forum.
But please remember the guys are busy people who give this information free of charge so please keep your questions as simple and non argumentative as possible.....if however and you are handy to pay a call at their premises, an appointment or a quick solution can be arranged.
So Shorty here is what i would have done (as a novice) in your circumstances......
Re your request for information on the warning message........the only thing i would try without expert help would be to disconnect the battery then after a couple of minutes reconnect it.
If that works then have your battery drop tested....i find at this time of year batterys are suspect pieces of equipment at the best of times.....failing that a phone call to David Marks / or any specialist with the ok equipment is worth the satisfaction of knowing the thing is ok or needs urgent attention........i must stress that any message to check the engine that comes up needs urgent attention and i would have stopped and had it checked instantly....Joe

Hi Shorty
Please cast your eyes over my post in the Exhaust section titled "Check Engine" It sounds to me like your problem is the same as the one I had and in very similar circumstances.
The odds are its the very common "sensor info to ECU glitch".
It usually happens when our cars are taken for a long run and got really warm,after normally being used for a considerable time on relatively short journeys.
Its your call what to do about it.
What usually happens is a dignostic scan reveals an inefficient catalytic converter (or the ECU thinks it is !) the alarm is cancelled, the ECU event log cleared, and that is that.
I was somewhat reassured that the alarm is an AMBER warning, not a RED (URGENT) warning.
Clearly a dignostic scan is required. What I would do I think is get it done and the alarm reset,(should be no more than 20 mins work) or even less.
You only have a real problem if the alarm will not reset, or keeps on coming back very quickly.
Ask Dave Marks to check it again when he services the car. He knows all about these cars.