service engine soon light...help!!
 

so today was on the freeway for abt 35 min drive and wen i exit the service engine soon light turned on then parked for about 30min never happened to me then turned on and still on got back on freeway 5 min. later turned off..when i exit again was drive on street couple of min. and turned back on..disconnected the negative from battery for about 30min and since then just got back home about 45min drive and hasnt turned on since...what could it be???has me thinking..85,000 miles on the G

Get a code reader and find out what code its throwing.

Tighten your gas cap.

more than likely you have a "Small Evap Leak"

nothing serious just make sure you closed the gas cap right. (click it a few times to be sure)

thankx for info ill see if turns on again tommorow when head back to los angeles if it doesnt turn back on u think i should worry still or forget abt it

If it blinks = serious trouble.

Regardless I would check vitals in the morning before turning the car on.


Check oil, water.

when it came on lst time just popped on no blinking then turned off and wen turned on just popped out no blinking at all..ya im gng to check liquids in the morning ill let it sit over night so can get oil level right because hate that dip stick...

happened to my sentra.. turned out to be the gas cap.. hope this is the same for you.

blinking = mis-fires then it goes into limp mode.



But no solid could be a sensor.

If the car isnt acting up chances are it's just the gas cap.

^ what does limp mode mean?
if light blinks is it serious?

Limp = Car will only let you rev to like 3k or less

Blinking means its a "EMERGENCY" and to pull the hell over and turn off the engine asap

LOL! ok good to know that. loved how u explained it :bowrofl::bowrofl::bowrofl:

The Screen Was Savers :)

Next time it comes on, go to auto zone and have the code read. More than likely it will be stored as a "pending dtc" if the light isn't on at the time.

Get the code number and then you can accurately diagnose the issue.

i would do thanx for the advise... im going to take off in a bit just checked water its good oil missing about half a quart stop by auto zone and buy a quart and put half...hopefully stays off..if it doesnt turn back on u think i should still worry?

I've never heard of any SES lights being triggered by having low fluids. If it happens again, go to autozone and have the codes read by an ODBII reader like someone said earlier.

thankx hopefully dnt come out again

Ses light is usually triggered by faulty engine sensors, emissions codes and sometimes transmission faults.

Your oil may not have been low at all... how long did it sit? The VQ takes a ridiculous amount of time for all the oil to drain down and get a accurate reading. (At least 30 mins, sometimes more)

You just need to get the codes read and report back.

It's funny to me how some cars will set the SES for anything...
The 96 suburban goes from no light at all, to light, no light, blinking, light, no light... and always runs the same... it's been doing it for months. I have the software and cable to read all the codes and sensor data and I'm still to lazy to check it out :bowrofl:

I recently changed my oil after recieving a SES light for overheating (my fan shroud jammed the fan which made it overheat) I reseted the light, changed my oil and only about 2 liters came out which was crazy lol. I haven't changed my oil in about a year mainly because I only put less than 10k miles on the car. Anyways, I changed it only 2 liters came out but I did get the oil light at heavy breaking which was caused by the oil tipping and the sensor etc etc. So it really does take a lot for the VQ to realize there is no oil lol. My dipstick wasn't accurate at all, which is another reason why I never changed the oil.

I don't think it was that serious for him if he turned off the car and the light went away.

^Which is just one of the reasons my G gets an oil change ever 3-4000 mi.

so just got home the ses light didnt come on till around 4 today as soon as came on headed to autozone guy told me that they dont do the code reader since 1 year ago so i headed to pepboys and were charging me $89 + tax so when i left turned on the car and light was off again bt i notice that it happens when engine gets really hot could it be overheating???bt gauge shows it normal..should i take it to the dealer dont have warrenty anymore??any advice im off tommorow anything i should check???

Try Advanced Auto, I've never had them try and charge or say they don't do it... but I have been there when they're reader was broken or the guy didn't know what he was doing :mad:

ALRITE WENT TO A LOCAL MECHANIC AND DID THE CODE READER AT NO CHARGE AND CAME OUT TO BE HIGH RPM'S BECAUSE OF MAF..K&N FILTER OIL GOT IT SUPER DIRTY SO GOT IT CLEANED WITH MAF CLEANER NOW SES LIGHT OFF AND NO CODES ON READER...:biggthumpup:

damn, and it wasn't acting up?

When a maf throws a code it usually has fluttering since it cant really detect how much air is going in the engine so it cant calculate how much fuel to compenstate.

well wen i stopped my rpms were between 1 and 2 pretty high and yesterday turned off on me at the stop light

Yeah, MAF would do that.

Code readers aren't that expensive either. I have an actron 9180 which is a higher level basic reader and it only cost me about $120ish. There are others for 50 or less.

Well worth it if you plan on working on your own car

I think I only paid like $80 or less for my OBD-II to USB thing, and I can pull codes, sensor values, and even datalog with it.

Yup. Great tool if you understand how to use it.

^I need to get a better one. The one I have only runs a 9600 baud rate, so I can't really get into the advanced stuff like monitoring the CAN bus.

Mine just came on after 107K. Is the Service Engine Soon light the same as the Check Engine Light on other vehicles? So I should be able to pull codes for it? Tightened gas cap so we'll see what that does.

Yes, SES is the same as a CEL

Thx. Checked for any codes and found none; tightening the gas cap must've fixed it. Reset and so far no more light. Hope it's nothing, because I have to get it smogged this weekend.

Light went on, my gas cap was loose. love this forum.

So, mine came on today but i filled up on Sunday and driven many miles. Could it be the gas cap?

^yes it could be...


...or possibly something else entirely

I will recheck today.