Service Engine soon light?
 

My light has come on, sometimes it goes on and off if the road changes incline.
I just had an oil change and I checked oil it is fine
radator fluid is fine
added power steering fluid
What else could it be? What should I look at next?

light
 

Pull the codes by jumping the A B terminals.

Luckily, with our cars we can scan them without a scantool. All you need is a peice of wire or paper clip or something to that effect.

Refer here for the procedure. Then tell us what code you get and we can go from there.

Thank you I had no clue you could do this. I will try it or have hubby do it. THANK YOU :clap:

Well, finally someone in the same boat as me. I too have that problem. The problem is, you won't get any code [other than code 12, which means everything is fine], unless the SES light is ON. I have been able to catch mine a few times, and all it would do is make my car stall [never has it done that in the past]. I'm thinking it is my ECU failing, but I have yet to actually get the code.


-justin

codes
 

Yah those codes leave a lot to be desired on these ECM's.
When my crank sensor went out the car would stall with a chack engine light and No Codes!

Actually justin, our cars can display a code without the light on. I have/had an intermittent EGR problem, and the light would come on, say, on the highway, and it would go off back in town, and when i got home and checked the codes (light off) i would get the code 32 out of it. It may not ALWAYS store the code, but they do have somewhat of a history memory.

SES light is not just set by sensors, sometimes other things (no oil pressure, no charge) can also turn it on. In those cases generally another guage or idiot light will be indicative.

That said if the problem is electrical, it will set a code providing the engine will run for a few seconds. Bad crank sensor won't start so will not set code either.

Most codes take certain engine conditions and a duration to set but if a sensor condition turns the SES light on it will set a code that will last until cleared or the battery is disconnected.

I haven't had a chance to check the code. I am moving this week. once I find the code and fix the problem do I need to disconnect the battery to get the light to go out? If I don't fix the problem, if I disconnet the battery will that turn the light out? It is hard driving at night with a big orange light on, it sure is bright. You guys are really great and I really appreciate you answering all my dumb questions.

Well yes and no, resetting the computer (disconnectiing the battery for 5 minutes) will TEMPORARILY turn the light out. It will not, however, fix whatever problem the light is trying to inform you of. If it REALLY bothers you, put a piece of black electrical tape over it and forget it.

It isn't difficult to extract the codes. Just short to terminals, then count the number of times the light flashes. I do know the stress you are under, since you are moving.. but just be careful how long you drive like this, because it could be something serious.

Disconnecting the battery will CLEAR the code.. however if the problem is not fixed, the light will come back on shortly thereafter starting the car.

alec: sometimes our ECUs will set a history code, or something like that. This requires the battery to be reset. I think this is only on more serious codes or something, because that has never happened to me. Mind you, I have only gotten the SES light when I disconnected something, and knew I was disconnecting it. In the majority of situations, once the error that the SES light was triggered by is corrected, the light will go out. If the error comes back, the SES light will illuminate again.

First things first.. extract the code[s] and go from there. Chances are, you will only get a code 12 if the light is off, but the real code when the light is on. FYI: Code 12 means everything is working fine. I think it is mainly used to tell you that when you are shorting the terminals, that you are doing it right [a lot of mechanics are complete idiots].


-justin

Yes justin that's what i was getting at, if the problem triggered the light but then was remedied in time (such as my EGR) then the light will go back off but it will keep the code in memory so you can see what the fault was. I'm sure the system is far from perfect though.

It should always be the case that when a code is set, it is stored in the computer's memory, provided there is no loss in power to the ECM (disconnecting battery, removing fuse, etc), as mentioned. So even though your light isn't on, the code itself is still there, waiting to be retreived. And also as mentioned, CODE 12 merely indicates that you're in "Diagnostic Mode", and should always be the first number that flashes each time you try to retreive codes. To get the codes, all you need is a paperclip (or if you have an AutoZone in your area, most have the little key thing for free that serves the same purpose), and bend it to look like the shape of the red lines, sticking the ends of the paper clip in the terminals shown in this photo:

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...rconnector.jpg

This is what's referred to as "shorting/jumping the terminals", as opensourceguy mentioned. Your fan will more then likely kick on. Don't let this startle you, it's normal. Look at the service engine soon light. It will start flashing in what appears to be some random, martian Morse code, but fear not. There's a method to the mayhem. Each flash is trying to indicate a number for you. Each pause is indicating that it's moving on to the next number in the code. Each larger pause indicates it is moving on to the next code itself, like so...

FLASH *pause* FLASH FLASH *pause* *pause*
FLASH *pause* FLASH FLASH *pause* *pause*
FLASH *pause* FLASH FLASH

*pause* *pause* *pause*

FLASH FLASH *pause* FLASH FLASH FLASH *pause* *pause*
FLASH FLASH *pause* FLASH FLASH FLASH *pause* *pause*
FLASH FLASH *pause* FLASH FLASH FLASH *pause* *pause*

If we look at the first example, the SES flashes once, then pauses for a second. This is our first number (1). After the pause, it flashes twice. This is our second number (2). So we have a 1, and a 2. This is CODE 12. Each code will repeat the same way 3 times before moving on to the next. Looking at the second example after a longer delayed pause (indicating it's moved on to the next code), we have 2 flashes before the pause, equalling number 2. Then 3 flashes after the pause, equalling number 3. So we have CODE 23. Each time you do this, CODE 12 will be the first code you srtart with, and the code it starts all over with once it's gone all the way through the stored problems (so if you see CODE 12 again, you know you're done retreiving the stored codes). If you have no stored codes, CODE 12 will just continously repeat.

Once you're done retreiving the codes, it's just a simple matter of looking them up on the link that captainmiller provided (or any service manual, or Haynes/Chilton's manuals). Easy enough? :mrgreen:

Wow great directions very easy, thank you