When you see your check engine light come on your dashboard, it means that something has gone wrong with your engine.
There are several reasons why the check engine light might come on, sometimes, these reasons are valid, and sometimes they are not. Sometimes, the check engine light may come back on even after resetting it. The question is, why? And how long before check engine light comes back on after reset?
The check engine light will come back on between 50 to 100 miles after a reset if the problem that caused the warning light has not been fixed. If the problem is critical, it may come back on after a few minutes of driving.
Will the Check Engine Light Come Back On After Reset?
Not in all cases. The only time that the check engine light comes back on after reset is if there is something still wrong with your engine.
There are times that the check engine light gives off a false alarm, and it simply goes off and doesn’t come back on again after you have reset it.
However, at other times, when something is off with your engine, after resetting the check engine light, it will come back on.
How Long Before Check Engine Light Comes Back On After Reset?
Depending on the issue with the engine, it could take a few minutes, after driving for about fifty miles or more for the check engine light to come back on after reset. It could take a few days for the light on the dashboard to come back on.
Sometimes, perhaps due to a shift in the bonnet, or a misreading, the check engine light shows up on your dashboard, however, after resetting, it goes off and doesn’t come back on at all.
At other times, even after resetting, it might come back on several minutes or hours later. When it does, then it is an indication that something is truly wrong with your engine, and you should check it yourself.
If you reset your check engine light and it comes back on immediately, then you have every right to be a little bit apprehensive. You should not keep driving with your engine light on.
On the other hand, if you reset your check engine light, and it doesn’t come back on again, then it is safe to assume that it was a false positive and that there is nothing wrong with your engine.
What Causes Check Engine Light to Come Back On After Reset?
There are several reasons why your check engine light might come back on after resetting. It could be that your engine is truly faulty, and you haven’t fixed the fault in the engine.
It could also be that even after fixing what you thought was wrong with the engine, there still is something else wrong with it, that is, more than one issue with the engine.
Also, it could be that what you thought you fixed wasn’t fixed properly, or that there is a leak somewhere triggering the check engine light to keep coming back on.
This means you have to further scrutinize your engine for any damages, faults, or leakages.
The thing is, when you run the code for trouble diagnostics, you will usually have several faults that show up as the possible reasons for why your check engine light is on.
When you just repair one of them, or a few of them, expecting your check engine light to return to its normal state, you might be in for a rude shock and find out that the cause of the check engine light is one of the other faults you didn’t fix.
The issues you might have overlooked and decided not to fix might be the cause of why your check engine light has come back on after resetting.
How to Ensure Check Engine Light Never Comes Back On After Reset
The way the check engine light works are this; even after resetting, it will be persistent until your engine is back to its proper, safe, and efficient state. That is until you fix what is wrong with the engine, it will keep coming back on even after resetting.
The only way to ensure that the check engine light never comes back on is to fix all the problems that surfaced after troubleshooting or running the problem diagnostics code.
People are in the habit of guessing which one of the problems might have triggered the engine light and fixing only that issue. People are always being economical with the problems around their engines.
With this attitude, there is a high chance that the check engine light will keep coming on because you cannot accurately guess what might be triggering the check engine light.
The best method to ensure that the Check Engine Light never comes back on is to fix all the issues that have been listed, that is, all the possible points of trigger for the check engine light.
Remember, it is unsafe to drive while your check engine light is indicated on your dashboard.
Final Thoughts
If your check engine light comes on while driving, do well to park and check if there is anything wrong with your engine. Don’t drive while your check engine light is on.
If after you find out what is wrong with your engine, you fix it and reset the check engine light, you still notice it comes on after several minutes, or later on, it just shows you haven’t fixed the problem.
Go to the nearest mechanic, run a full problem diagnostics code, and fix all possible faults triggering your check engine light.
