Q: Engine won't turn on, all light on

asked by on November 24, 2016

Thanksgiving day at the in laws and Had to make an emergency trip to the vet that was 45 mins away and drove like a maniac. Realized on the way home it was on 'special programs--snow mode'. 20 mins from home check engine light started flashing. Couldn't stop, in the middle of no where with no phone service.Made it home and car died and battery light came on. Now all lights are on and car won't start. Everything is abnormal. 70 miles away from home/dealership. Any help would be appreciated

My car has 48000 miles.

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There is a console switch that activates the different traction modes.You probably banged into it in your understandably agitated state and changed the setting. But that shouldn’t have caused any problems. What may have caused problems would be driving the car really hard for an extended time. It’s possible that you overheated the catalysts and that is why the light was blinking at you. The Check Engine Light cones on when the ECU detects a fault. It starts to blink if it is a fault that can cause more damage by continuing to drive the car. I didn’t get enough details to say why the car doesn’t start anymore, but we can be sure there are some stored codes in the ECU that need to be read to get on the right track. Try contacting Your Mechanic to have a technician come out and look at your car there may be a technician even in your remote area who can tell you if this can be fixed on the spot or if it needs to be towed to a workshop.

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