helicopter | DashboardSymbols.com

Check Engine

These are all versions of the dreaded Check Engine Light symbols, some of the oldest and easily the most common and recognizable of the symbols that you may see. The word “Check” may appear inside the image, or below, or not at all.

Before continuing, is one of these truly your symbol?? If yes, read on below.
Otherwise, you can return to our main Picture Symbols page orText Symbols page and scan again!

The main image is that of an older style engine seen from the side. It includes a fan blade on its front and an air cleaner looking like a helmet mounted on the top. This arrangement is rarely seen in modern automobiles and hasn’t been seen in decades.

Where the word “Check” is missing, descriptions can be all over the map. We’ve heard it called a movie camera light, a personal underwater exploration vehicle, where the fan becomes a propeller, and a helicopter, where the fan and air cleaner both become propellers or blades.

We’ve also had it described as “three elongated circles with some lines connecting them.” We can’t see that no matter how hard we try.

More Versions

The possible reasons for it coming on number in the hundreds and only your dealer or authorized service center can properly address them. However, remember that a loose or missing gas cap will cause the light to come on. This is the only solution available to the average driver, so do check that the gas cap is installed and properly tightened (make sure it clicks at least once).

In older vehicles, this Text version, the Service Engine Soon Indicator, indicates a fault in an emissions related electronic system. The Picture Symbol with the lightning bolt in it means the same thing. Your dealer will be needed to properly assess the problem. Some version of the Check Engine Light is now universal and covers these and other engine-related faults.

Symbols with lightning bolts, while still being basic Check Engine Indicators, also are meant to convey a likely issue with the engines electrical system. The symbol featuring a drawing of a car with an X through it, is specifically meant to be an Electrical System Fault Indicator. A visit to a qualified service shop is in order.

This oddity, a System Check Indicator, makes little or no sense, as it simply adds an exclamation point to the original Check Engine Light. It may appear in yellow/amber, as shown or in red. Seen in yellow/amber, a minor engine fault has been detected. Seen in red, a major engine fault has been detected. The recommendation in when seen in red is to stop the engine and get help immediately, which may be the most useful advice available. In truth, any of the these symbols require attention as soon as possible to prevent real damage.

If other symbols are also active, note that the Check Engine is your first concern. In some cases, other systems in the car may be shut down until the reason the Check Engine light is active is addressed, and the symbols associated with those symbols may be activated. Be sure to check our Multiple Symbols page for more information.

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Remember that only proper service and repair procedures will ensure the safe and reliable operation of your car. In addition, proper safety procedures and precautions, such as the use of safety goggles, the right tools and the equipment should be followed at all times to eliminate the possibility of personal injury or improper service which could damage the vehicle or compromise its safety.

These posts are for information sharing purposes only, and should not be used in lieu of an OEM service manual or factory authorized service procedure. We are not in the auto repair business nor do we publish automotive service manuals. Nothing we include on these pages and posts has been reviewed, approved or authorized by any vehicle manufacturer.

Technology is always changing and what is current and accurate today may be literally out-of-date and inaccurate tomorrow. And when it comes to the current state of flux in the auto industry, nothing is more true.

Marc Favreau

The author has 25 years of automotive experience and has assembled the most extensive collection of symbols and warning lights anywhere (over 1,000!) and can help you open and start any keyless start car with a dead key fob battery. BA, St. Joseph’s College, ME: MS, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY

There Is Little Logic In Warning Lights

We’ve taken thousands of calls in service departments over the years and there is nearly no end to the way drivers describe the various warning lights that pop up on their instrument panels. These, of course, are not car people, just average every day drivers trying to describe a symbol that was presumably designed to be universally understood around the globe.

The Best Example

The Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) symbol is the least understood of all and sees the greatest variation of descriptions. It is also what prompted us to pay attention to and collect more descriptions of other symbols. The TPMS light is supposed to be a slice or cutaway of a tire. In all our years in the automotive industry, we have never actually seen a tire slice or met someone who has seen one. How are average, every day drivers supposed to recognize it the first, second or even the third time they see it?

Some TPMS warning light description are:

An exclamation point in parenthesis
An exclamation point in brackets
An exclamation point in a horseshoe
Flames – destined to be a classic
A wishbone
An exclamation point in a fish bowl
An exclamation point in a cup
And, a real favorite, a candle in a glass!

Other Examples

The descriptions fall out of each person’s life experiences. So take the example of a recent call from a lady who was driving at the time (which is important to the story) who said there was a flashing red light on her dash. When asked to describe it, she said, “well maybe a man riding a horse”.

So, imagine someone who perhaps breeds horses, or simply rides them as a pastime. She’s driving and cannot actually stare at the warning light. Plus its flashing, which can give the illusion of movement. It turned out she was not wearing her safety belt and the Seat Belt Reminder light was on!

The example that really told us we had to post these, was a call that described a red warning light as a Genie’s lamp! We love it, and can only imagine the driver had just watched a favorite cartoon with her kids! It is, of course the Oil Pressure light. Most vehicles simply don’t go through oil like they did years ago, so seeing this light is actually quite rare, but no less important than it ever was. More to the point, the old style oil can image is completely missing from recent generations’ day to day experience. Thus it gets interpreted as something that actually is familiar.

This one was described as a “green dot with a line through it”. The driver was at the wheel at the time, which is the only explanation for that description for this Cruise Control symbol.

You’ll love this one. We’ve had a number of drivers call this one a “P with a sailboat next to it”! How a sailboat could ever be associated with a car is anyone’s guess, but this Park Assist symbol includes what is supposed to represent a radar signal bouncing off an obstruction. The obstacle looks just a bit too much like a sail.

This version of the differential lock symbol has been described as a letter H with an X in it. Some manufacturers include a tell tale with Os in it to indicate free wheeling. We await a tic tac toe game description from a driver!

This is easily recognized as an image of an automobile. However, it has eyelashes! Of course, the eyelashes actually represent light beams emanating from from lights. Tailights in this case. A light out indicator in fact.

Sadly, we’ve heard a dozen descriptions for the Check Engine light that have nothing to do with an actual engine seen from the side, and never thought to save them. We do remember one customer who called it a fan. At least there is one in the image!

Since first running this article, a customer called to talk about the movie camera light on her dash. We’ve also heard of a driver who thought it resembled a “personal underwater exploration vehicle”! The fan becomes a propeller. That light did not have the word “Check” embedded in it. And we just heard from a man whose son described what eventually turned out to be the Check Engine light as “three elongated circles with some lines connecting them.” We can’t see that no matter how hard we try!

Most recently came the possibility that it was a helicopter! Again, a version of the light without the word “Check”. Now, we can actually see this one from both the fan on the left and what is supposed to be an air cleaner at the top but how a driver in an automobile comes to think of a flying machine remains a mystery!

We’ll post more as they come up, for any and all symbols.