Service Engine light on 2000 LW2 Wagon

I have have a 2000 LW2 Saturn Wagon. The "service" light has been coming on
regularly when I drive, but then goes off and stays off when I turn the car
off and then restart it a few minutes later. The dealer says there are no
codes left in the computer, so he cannot tell what is wrong. Each time the
service light comes on, the transmission starts slamming into gear and the
car becomes very difficult to drive. This makes me think there is really
something going on with the car.

Again, the dealer cannot see anything on the computer codes, so he is not
sure what to do. I have searched the newsgroups and web for something
similar but have not found anything close.

Has anyone else seen this issue? What did you do to fix this?

Thanks

d

 

I have the 2001 LW300 with 100K and have had some similar experience.
The Evap canister vent solenoid caused an intermittent SES light but also
threw a code. The solenoid located behind the gas fill neck was sticking
open and would sometimes mimic a gross leak in the evap canister system.


Also had the MAF go a couple of times on me. A low signal caused the SES
light to come on. Once reset, the light stays off until the next time the
engine is started then it comes on. Again throws a code.
I had just had the timing belt replaced a few weeks back and was getting on
the highway when there was an awful shudder and the car lost all power. For
a moment I thought that the timing belt had failed and my 24 Valve quad
overhead cam was now a paperweight. Coasted to the shoulder and made the
sign of the cross as I turned the key again. It started but the service and
SES lights were both on. TRAC light was off and the car shifted like
<expletive, deleted>. I put a diagnostic tool on it the next day and found
that the MAF had failed.

Seems that many of the conditions that cause the SES light to come on will
totally mess with the shifting.

I rarely bother with the dealer anymore. I have a good relationship with an
independent mechanic. He doesn't have a tech-2 which is needed for some
operations but does have a decent Snap-On tool that reads codes and the live
data. There is also a provision to have it monitor codes as your drive to
log intermit tents as you seem to have. The problem is always to first find
a technician that actually cares about getting it right and not just the
hourly rate...

Oppie

 

Thanks - this was very helpful.

I live out in the country a ways and getting any auto service is somewhat
tricky. Getting quality service is not an option without driving into town,
60 miles away.

Reading between the lines, it sounds like I will be ok driving the car as
long as the light is not on. So, I guess I will do that until something
happens that is actually findable.

Thanks again

d

 

Glad to help.
IIRC, if the SES light is not flashing, the car is still driveable. If it is
flashing, it means a misfire or something that may overheat the cats.
Flashing SES = have it towed! On steady, it may run poorly but it's in
limp-home mode.

To reset the SES lamp, pull the Controls B+ fuse from the under hood fuse
panel. I believe this works on all L series cars.

Oppie

 

interesting, I did not know that. Thanks again.

d

 

There's a bit of non-intuitive information included in the owner's manual. I
read it three times cover to cover over the course of a couple of weeks (but
then again, I'm dyslexic) and picked up a few useful tidbits. When I read
the section about the dash indicators, I realized that the ABS check light
was not coming on at start-up. Complained to the dealer while my (previoulsy
owned) car was under dealer warranty. They were not happy about loosing more
of thier profit margin but did wind up replacing the body control module and
re-programming it.
I also have the shop manual in print. The original was available on CD and
the print version has pretty poor organization and almost no indecies. Guess
that when you have it in CD version and you can search by keyword, an index
is not all that important.

Information sometimes is expensive but often a lack of information can cost
you more.