Service engine soon light

[Kingsrings]

I am wondering if any other Saturn owners have had this problem, as I am totally stumped. My Saturn has 55,000 miles on it and had the 30,000 mile tune-up last summer. No engine problems what so ever detected and nothing appearing wrong at all until last Saturday night. I was idling at the light when suddenly the car ran rough and then stalled. It took me a few seconds to start the engine and we were off as normal again. The same thing happened when I came to the next lights. The ‘check engine soon’ light came on and stayed on the rest of the way home. I took the car out again yesterday and today and no problems, it is not doing it at all now and is running just fine! I don’t know whether to take it to a mechanic or not. The thing is, they will have to run a diagnostic on it, and in order for anything to be detected, the problem has to reoccur and it isn’t so far! I don’t know what to tell the mechanic to do now. I don’t want to just let this go as I don’t want to end up stranded somewhere! Anyone have any ideas or experience in this area?

[Douglas007]

I have had the same problem this week. It was runing the same way and the light came on I took it to the local auto parts store and the checked it and they said it was either bad gas or a bad fuel filter.

[snugerud]

i have one two. coming on
dont worry about it too much usually if you arent noticing a difference in the way it runs its nothing serious. it could be something as little as a sensor

[Spinnin_fo_sho]

Hmm, this seems funny, but im the only one that probably happens to know the trick. Here is how this works.

Saturn is a smart company. They dont wanna screw themselves or thier customers, or the cars. So what do they do? They make the Service Engine light come on in a timley interval. Here is how it was explained to me by my Auto teacher at school.

Lets say you purchase a new Saturn. You get all excited because there is a 80,000 mile warranty lets say, and its inexpensive as well. So since Saturn gives thier customers 80,000 of warranty....they dont want thier customers to screw there own cars (by not maintaining it or etc) So they make the Service Engine light come on every 20,000 miles. Now on ur side of the story. "oh, i just purchased the car, why did this crap come on...but oh well, it has 80,000 warranty so im going to take it to the Saturn dealer".....and that is exactly what they want you to do. So you bring in the car, and they act stupid and examine it, and they say "oh, all you need is a Oil change and a Tune up and a engine check up, and they clean it out. They inspect your engine and make sure everything is working properly. If anything minor is wrong, they fix it , turn off the Service light, and you go home happily cuz they did the job for you.

Now how does Saturn benifet? well, lets say they dont play around with the Service Engine light. How many customers do you think would be less "careful" about keepin the car well maintained and oil changed and tuned up and stuff. ALOT! ...so in the end, when the car breaks down at 50,000 - 60,000 miles because one customer forgot to do an Oil change, then who gets screwed? Saturn!!...because they have the 80,000 mile gaurantee. So the reason why they have the 20,000 mile light come on every 20k miles, is because they will take care of your car throughout your mile AGE. They do not want to replace engines in the future for ya...cuz that will end up costin them $$.....

If you dont get it, then thats fine, but see, Saturn is smart. They make you buy the car because of the 80,000, and they keep thier own cars runnin good because of those oil changes and tune ups and check ups.

Hope this clears things out for yall......just keep ur cars runnin good and if u dont have the 80,000 warranty, it has to do with "come to our dealer and we'll fix it" so they dont get screwed in the long run.

I had a freind who had a saturn since 1998, and he told me at 21,000 miles, the light came on. AT 41, the light came on, and just the other day he passed the 61 mark and it came on. He has a programmer so he can turn it off himself.....but see, he takes care of his own cars. He knows the trick too.....I give props to saturn

[bowtiebandit]

You bring up a very good point. That is exactly wht that is done but let me clear one thing up. Just because you have a 80,000 mile warranty does not mean your car will be covered!! You fail to maintain the vehicle no manufacturer has to honor the warranty. You don't change oil and have no receits you pay not the manufacturer. You have no idea how many times this happens. Just last week we had an 01 IMPALA with a blown engine and a cracked trans case. Dumb ass left the nitrous bottle in the trunk to a tune of a 8600 dollar repair.

[Spinnin_fo_sho]

You got a point there. I forgot to mention it.....but oh well.....now they know why the light comes up........lol

[sickcallawayc12]

you guys know where you can buy a programmer for the saturn computer (if possible)?

[slammed4door]

my light comes on to as well as the service light. i have a ad water pump and that is why the service light is on. i never put two and two together on the check light though. if i get on it the light blinks though it is kinda odd.

[Lucas1]

you are completely paranoid and dilusional. that is the most retarded thing ive heard in a long time..............seriously if you beleive that you shouldnt be allowed to breed

[Lucas1]

just to expand a bit here...............first off, saturns warranty is 36months/36,000 miles. yes there are extended warrantys available, but the cost money. with modern technology, auto engineers have no problems making a car, even neglected cars run for that time frame. i work at a saturn dealership as a tech, i think i would know by now if there was a timer or mileage monitering devise on the car that would turn on the light. THERE IS NO SUCH THING!!!!!!!!!!! first off it is illegal for them to do anything like that. all of the right to privacy advocates would be up in arms about it if they found out about it. it would be cheaper for saturn to pay any warranty claim, than to pay settlements in class action law suits! not only that, but that "SATURN" reputation that they have built, the whole "people first" thing that sells millions of cars is gone. and obviously you and your shop teacher know nothing about OBDII, which by the way is a federally mandated system that every car sold in the US built after 1996 must have. that system is what turns on the light not some mileage monitor........so like i said you are paranoid and dont know wwhat youre talking about

[sickcallawayc12]

wow

[SabreKhan]

Yeah, I've had my Saturn for 100,000 miles now, and I've never thrown a CEL at all, except when my sparkplug wires needed changing (now riddle me this: why does Saturn change the plugs without changing the wires?!? I had assumed that they had changed the wires, too, so I didn't worry about them 'till they were worn out). Anyway, I've never thrown a light except for that one time, and I've done almost all my own maintenance since the 36k service plan ran out.

[Lucas1]

thr plugs that come in saturns last 30,000 miles. the wires last alot longer. that is why they dont change them when they change the plugs.