whats up guys. i bought this car about a month ago and ive put about 600 miles on it. this morning on the way to school, it was raining and about 45 degrees outside. all of a sudden while driving in traffic, the check engine light came on! thank god there is still a warranty on the car, but just to keep my nerves a little calm until my appointment, any ideas what it could be? the car drives fine and i have a receipt saying the car got an oil change about a month ago.

 

It might help to know the mileage of your car, any mods, loose gas caps, etc.
Also, are you certain it's the SES light and not just a maintenance service interval indicator?

 

Check your Gas Cap. If your Gas cap isn't put on tight enough, it will light up the Check engine light. Most common reason why it comes on.

Other than that, it can be a crap load of other sensors that are throwing the error and can only be read by an OBDII scanner. Unless you have one, you will have to either have the code read by a mechanic or go to your local autozone/strauss and they will red it for free.

My money is on the Gas cap though. Re-tighten the cap and drive around for a bit. I bet the light goes off

 

Car has 46000 miles, no mods, and I re-tightened the gas cap when the light came on. And yes, I'm certain its the check engine light

 

probably nothing....take it to a parts store and they will read the codes for free and maybe even clear the code if it is a worthless emission code.

 

I just double checked, and it actually is the service engine soon light that's on. My mistake hahaha

 

Ok then, was there any overheating at the time and have you double checked your oil level? These cars are normally quite reliable and if you have warranty available and haven't done anything stupid (like run it out of oil or coolant), then I wouldn't waste any time worrying about it. I would suggest you minimize your mileage until such time as you get it in to have any fault codes read.

I agree that it's probably not serious, and you have a good point about only dismissing/erasing a worthless code. As a general rule, I would never consider just any emission code as worthless. Failure to rectify a more pertinent emission fault in a timely manner can result in some very costly repair for collateral damage (ie. cats aren't cheap!).

 

WAIT...You do realize that the SES light IS the "check engine" light on these cars, right? There are also informationally based 'maintenance interval' indicators, but they are basically just a programmed "alarm clock" to remind you of when to service your car.

 

i wasnt sure if the service engine soon light was different than the check engine light. but i do know that the maintenance interval indicators are basically alarms clocks. i just wanted to give you guys the most specific details possible so you could give me your best guesses until i go to infiniti tomorrow

 

BTW, although the lamp reads SES, that check light is also referred to as the MIL, or Malfuntion Indicator Lamp. It should be in your owner's manual somewhere around page 2-17.

 

just got back from the dealer. they said i needed a new valve control stem and it would be replaced under warranty