My engine light has come on not too long ago. I think it came on after going over a small bump in the road. There have been a couple times where idle has been a little rough, the car will start to vibrate a little more than usual and the RPM needle will vibrate too. When I accelerate steadily up past 3,000RPM and then go into neutral to coast, there have been a couple times as the needle drops all the way down, the car shuts off. That's kind of a unrelated occurrence to the engine light. But what causes the engine light to go on?
Also, does I need to be worried that the maintenance indicator color is red? I've never really paid attention to it that much and figured it was just a way for the dealerships to get an unnecessary maintenance check.
My car is only a couple hundred miles away from 200K! '96 civic

 

1) Retrieve the CEL code(s) from the ECU as detailed at the CEL link in my signature. This procedure can be done at home. Post the codes to receive more feedback.

2) The maintenance light is just a friendly reminder to tell you when to change the engine oil. After changing the oil, push your key into the reset slot on the gauge assembly. This will return the indicator to the green color.

 

Yeah if you have a CEL, your car runs ruff and dies then you have a problem some where. Check the codes, a local parts store(Checker, Autonzone, Napa) can do this for you free of charge as well. Let me know what the codes is and what trim Civic you have ( LX, DX, HX, EX) and I can help you out with finding the problem.