Anyone know anything about car warning lights?

[Stygimoloch]

We’re away on holiday and this morning the dreaded engine warning light came on, flashed for a few seconds and then went off. Engine was a little sluggish while on but fine afterwards. It came on just after pulling off the very steep and awkward driveway of the property where we’re staying. I’d done quite of lot of back and forwards to get off and then accelerated fairly quickly in order to get off onto the main road. I’ve given it a good drive on a 60mph road and the light hasn’t come back on. Any ideas? We have to drive 200 miles home tomorrow and I’m scared we’re going to break down!

I’d be more worried if it had stayed on but it went off on its own and seems ok now. Any advice would be very welcome!

thanks!

What does the car manual say?

The engine just needs a good blast - I live on a small island and a lot of cars have this problem as they only do short bursts and very few long drives - it may just be a clog in the engine which will clear when driven.

That if it stays flashing the exhaust system needs checking but it doesn’t say anything about it going off on it’s own.

Mine did this intermittently on an old Vauxhall and it needed a new coil pack. But really the engine management light comes on for all sorts of reasons and the only way to tell is to get the diagnostics run at a garage.

Possible oil warning light if youre low on oil and been parked at an angle for a long time...

check your water and oil levels that’s what caused it with mine

The oil light isn't the engine light.

Is it petrol or diesel? Orange or red light?

Petrol. The light was orange.

My engine management light came on. Had it looked at and couldn't find an issue. My friend bought me a gadget that reset it. So I did that before it's MOT as they would charge £50 to do it.

I think pp talking about giving it a blast was referring to firstly cars with the particulate filter. It's good that it's orange not red, if you are really worried you could take it to a garage who can plug it in to the diagnostic software, or do you have breakdown cover?

If you look online you may be able to access the code. On my car (Zafira) you press down hard on the break and accelerator at once and click the key two turns so the engine doesn't quite come on. You then get the error codes up where the mileage is normally.
You can then google the error code and see how urgent it is.

Tbf with the engine light, ours is pretty permanently on except for about a fortnight after we've done a long journey. I check the error codes haven't changed about once a week and make sure I do a long journey just before the MOT.

Brake not break. Oops!

There are many reasons the EML will illuminate, the only way to find out is to get the codes read. Even then, there are often multiple reasons for a specific code to be set.

When mine did this it was a small tube connected to exhaust had split so when the car needed more power like hills etc it couldn't pick up.
Part cost about €10 but the whole exhaust had to be removed so ended up costing €250

This exact same thing happened to me.
With a stupidly steep drive that took three attempts to get up! In my head you’re at the same cottage in Cornwall.

An amber light is a warning (which light was it?), if it’s gone off just drive as normal and get the car checked once home.

My light stayed on until Gloucester services, but caused no issue, and no problem was found.

Possibly an O2 sensor on the exhaust system.
Get a local garage to check fault codes.

@JingoBongo we’re in Wales but circumstances sound similar! I really hope it’s nothing. Do not want to break down on the way home!