Service Engine Soon

[vip3r87]

Hey guys. Car is a 1994 Saturn SC2. Was running fine, and still is, but the light came on. It happened one night after work(-20*C or so, worse with wind). I went to the car at about 9:30pm, and started her up. My god was it a hard start. Took about 3-5 seconds for it to finally kick over. Then I notice, about 20 seconds after the hard start, the "Service Engine Soon" light came up. So I drove it home and let her sit, thinking it might be because it was ice cold. Today I start her up at around 9:30am. A little warmer out, light comes up 20 seconds after start again.

I checked the gas cap, changed oil and oil filter(was due for it, oil was fairly low and black). Car has just over 220k km. Still runs nice and shifts good. But light is on. I am going to get her to a mechanic by end of this week or beginning of next.

What could the problem be? It only arose after a hard start in frigid temperatures.

Thanks alot

[new_vr]

Hey guys. Car is a 1994 Saturn SC2. Was running fine, and still is, but the light came on. It happened one night after work(-20*C or so, worse with wind). I went to the car at about 9:30pm, and started her up. My god was it a hard start. Took about 3-5 seconds for it to finally kick over. Then I notice, about 20 seconds after the hard start, the "Service Engine Soon" light came up. So I drove it home and let her sit, thinking it might be because it was ice cold. Today I start her up at around 9:30am. A little warmer out, light comes up 20 seconds after start again.

I checked the gas cap, changed oil and oil filter(was due for it, oil was fairly low and black). Car has just over 220k km. Still runs nice and shifts good. But light is on. I am going to get her to a mechanic by end of this week or beginning of next.

What could the problem be? It only arose after a hard start in frigid temperatures.

Thanks alot

You really have to get it scanned...it could be anything. A lot of the times, it's emissions related, so no biggie

[sunnybono]

Hey guys. Car is a 1994 Saturn SC2. Was running fine, and still is, but the light came on. It happened one night after work(-20*C or so, worse with wind). I went to the car at about 9:30pm, and started her up. My god was it a hard start. Took about 3-5 seconds for it to finally kick over. Then I notice, about 20 seconds after the hard start, the "Service Engine Soon" light came up. So I drove it home and let her sit, thinking it might be because it was ice cold. Today I start her up at around 9:30am. A little warmer out, light comes up 20 seconds after start again.

I checked the gas cap, changed oil and oil filter(was due for it, oil was fairly low and black). Car has just over 220k km. Still runs nice and shifts good. But light is on. I am going to get her to a mechanic by end of this week or beginning of next.

What could the problem be? It only arose after a hard start in frigid temperatures.

Thanks alot

Is this the engine light coming on or just a service reminder light?? If its the engine light, then you need to get the car scanned to read the trouble code. One mechanic once told me to make sure that it is the trouble code is to disconnect the battery and then start up the car. If the engine light comes back on, then your computer will save the code until the problem is fixed.
If this is a service reminder light, then I usually just ignore it as I usually do more work on the car than what the mfg recommends.

sk

[vip3r87]

well it is a saturn...and the light which came on is "service engine soon" light. I am not sure if there are 2 different lights.....

[MrDisco]

the service engine light means the computer has triggered fault and its calling for your attention. no one can possibly guess what is causing it without having the diagnostic code, which in turn can only be obtained by hooking up the scan tool, which in turn means a visit to your mechanic.

and for the newbies out there, if the service light is flashing it means stop driving and get it checked immediately as the issue is pretty serious. if its a steady light it means a sensor is out of whack somewhere but you'll still be able to drive it to your mechanic.

[DragonZealot]

Your car should be OBD-I so you should able to retrieve the code yourself.

Try this.

[vip3r87]

haha, dragon, I found that like 20 minutes before you posted. I got code 26:


Any of the quad-driver module circuits had an open or short for 25 seconds.


I've been reading up on it. All the interior lights work. When I try to use my high beams, only 1(passenger side) works, and the little light in the dash cluster doesn't show up saying the high beams are on.

Hmmmmm