Hi all,

I bought a used 1998 Mazda Protege ES sedan, It was ok when I purchased it, but after I travelled for 15 miles after making the deal a Glowing indicator with Engine Symbol and a "Check" started glowing near the Odometer in the dash board. I'm worried about this. I asked the seller he said He had just replaced the oil in the car and as the milleage is only 44K It shouldn't be the timing belt problem. This worries me! Kindly let me know why this is happening and a solution for it.

Thanks in advance,

Highly ppreciate the response to this posting

thanks

powersree

 

Hi powersree and welcome. Where are you from?

That light is called the Check Engine Light or CEL. When it turns on it means that the computer that controls all of the engine operations has detected a fault somewhere in the system. The computer will also store a code number that can be retrieved with a scan tool so that a determination of the fault can be found. There are 63 different code numbers and faults that will cause the light to come on as it did.
It is not related to an oil change being needed or timing belt. You can either take the car into a trusted repair shop and have them retrieve the code and diagnose the problem or have the code # retrieved at a parts store or with a purchased scanner and post back here with the code that was stored and maybe someone here has run across the same problem and can give you a direction to go. The code should start with the letter P and then have 4 numbers after it ( for example P0455 ).