Service Engine Soon light on...no code

[ruralways]

Hello,

My 1996 3.1 V6 (74,000 miles)Corsica had the service engine soon light come on after a minute of driving. This had never happened before so we had it in the shop and he told us that there was a vacuum leak...but gave my husband no code to type in here at the automotive forum. I asked about it and there was no code in the machine that was used to check out my car. I have continued to drive my car without any going wrong with it...it drives fine. I'm tempted to place a post-it-note in front of the service engine soon light...I've done that with my ABS light on my 92 Lumina when that was my everyday driver with over 300,000 miles.

I need to know if the vacuum leak is a serious problem. Can I do damage? It is my job to find out what we need to check. We usually do the work ourselves so any starting point would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Mary Jo

[inafogg]

hello rural,vacuum leaks usually cause no serious problems.high/low idle maybe a stall etc.if the cel came on then there should be a code stored in memory.go have it ck. auto zone does it free.the repair shop could have erased it but maybe not.Good Luck & let us no

[Blue Bowtie]

Knowing the trouble code would help substantially.

There are some common places for vacuum leaks on the 191 V-6. The fuel pressure regulator line, the PCV line, and the grommet on the throttle body are the usual suspects. That grommet hides under a metal bracket where the PCV vacuum line connects.