'service engine soon' light is on and has been for two months. the car is perfect condition and no sign of any problems. it came on first when i ran real low on gasoline and then pumped gas into it. when i turned on the engine the light came on and has been with me since. i took it to autozone and the guy told me it was probably just a dirty fuel injector which i doubt since my car has less than 50k on it and i regularly use higher grade gasoline (93 v-power from shell) even though i dont need to. no acceleration issues, so iam thinkin it only came on after than one time when i ran low on gas, even though the car did not sputter or shut off at all so i guess there was still enough gas in there. any ideas how i can get rid of the service engine soon light? i know the car is in good shape so i wont waste team at a shop, but iam wondering if i can reset it and get rid of the light, i thought the autozone guy would do that when he gave me a reading but he proably forgot to reset it.
you are basically asking a doctor to diagnose symptoms over the phone....... you didnt even mention what type of car, year, engine size etc.......not that it would matter. btw....why use 93 octane gas when it's not necessary? might as well light $20's on fire and laugh.....
i agree totally. we need some specifics on the car. for example on my honda accord, theres is a fuse which if you remove for 5 seconds the light turns off.
it very well could be dirty injectors. did you continue to drive on a near empty tank when the gas light came on? If so, how long? Running near empty means your car is using up the oil thats collected at the bottom of the tank, and that dirtier oil gets run through the engine. There are usually inline filters, but that might not be enough. Also the gas is used as a cooling medium for the fuel pump, so depending on how empty you were, it may have done harm. Have another Autozone guy reread the codes. If you can, stand behind him and see what codes pop up, then look it up online later. I dont really trust what they say to me either, and sometimes I see the OBD reader display "1 of 4" or something like that, but then the tech will say theres only 1 problem. Also to reset the light, you could probably remove the ECU fuse for a minute and it will drop the ECL, though it will pop again if somethings really wrong.
If it happened right after refueling on an empty tank, you probably got some air in the tank which could cause the light to turn on.
On my Camry 06, there is a counter of sorts in the car, it will flash the service engine light if it not reset after 5000 miles or something, the dealer is suppose to reset it after oil change. If your car have a similar device, ask your dealer to reset it for you, it should be free.
Jeez, people. Am I the only one who knows this? "Service engine soon" is NOT the same as "check engine." It's a ploy done by the auto manufacturers to have you take it into a dealership. It flips on after whatever suggested mileage the owners manual says to do maintenance. Take it to an Autozone to be sure, but there is nothing wrong with your car. Finding a place that knows how to reset it can be a pain in the ass, though.
I was going to post something similar. There is a possibility something is wrong, but I know we used to own cars where the "Service engine" light came on after X number of miles. Have you googled your make, model and service engine light to see what other owners post about this?
Take it to a dealer or something. Also go to a forum that revolves around your car and ask your question there. "Service engine soon" could be anything. On my car, a "service" light comes on as a reminder to change oil, change transmission fluid, etc. at regular intervals, but this light is accompanied by a code. But this is only if it's a maintenance reminder (not sure if 2002 Galant models had this or not, to be honest). This may be the OBD-II sensor being tripped, too, though. Sometimes if you disconnect the battery terminals for a while (hours), it may reset this. If it comes back on, I'd take it to the dealer. Disconnecting battery terminals can be a pain, though, because in some cars the stereo may not function after you do it without you calling them up, giving codes on the stereo, etc. to reactivate. I'd just take the thing to a dealer or somebody that can look at OBD-II codes if you're not sure if it's a maintenance minder or an actual service warning...
