Engine Malfunction Indicator Lamp

[PaulaH]

Hi All

This is my first post so please be nice!

My Fiesta (1.4 Titanium, 60 Plate) has developed a fault, which the garage has told me is probably something simple like the spark plugs and it is booked in to be looked at on Thursday.

When I reported it on Friday I had no warning lights, just a rather annoying irregular revving on idle but now the Engine Malfunction Indicator Lamp has lit up (constant, not flashing)

The question I hope someone can answer is could the previous problem have lit the light up? Or is it something new?

I'm really hoping it's not something new and horrendously expensive as the warranty ran out yesterday.....

Thanks

Oh - as an aside, the garage I'm taking it to is about 20 miles away - is it safe to drive it that far with this light on?

[Mike77]

If the light is on, and you have full use of all the power then the car doesn't think its anything serious. If however you have restricted power eg, it won't rev past 3k revs, then the car considers this a more serious issue, hence why it is restricting the power. However, if it will start and drive, restricted or not, you should be ok to drive it to the garage. No one can diagnose a fault over the internet, and if the light is on it needs its codes reading to point the garage in the right direction. Although technology is moving onwards and upwards, gone are the days of a problem being fixed with a hammer and a screwdriver. Everything is run by computers now, which just makes things more expensive when they go wrong.

And on the irregular revving, it would surprise me if that was spark plug related,,, sounds more like a split vacuum hose to me, Or possibly an idle control valve. And I think the problems could be related, it may have started out as a minor problem, but as its got worse, the cars brain has picked up on it, hence the reason for the light coming on now.