| Author | Message | ||
     Dynasport |
I don't know, maybe my expectations are out of line, but my view of Chevy dealers is not too good right now. I have the use of a employer supplied Chevy Impala for work. It has been pretty trouble free and not a bad car at all. This morning the check engine light came on. I was really busy in the office until about 11:00 today when I thought I'd go get the car checked out. I realized I didn't have an appointment and might have to wait awhile, so I brought some work with me. That turned out not to be necessary though because the service department said they only work on an appointment basis. Then they told me I could not even make an appointment till Monday! Today is Wednesday. So I am to keep driving the car and call Monday to make an appointment for who knows when. Is that a bit crazy? On top of that, and probably part of the cause, two other Chevy dealers in the area have gone out of business, so I don't have many options here. Rant off | ||
| Scottykrein |
Auto Zone and Advanced Auto both check trouble codes for free. It could be something simple. | ||
| Harleyms |
Call Chevy customer service, tell them about this....let them call the dealer. They'll probably "work you in" if they get a call from corporate (Message edited by harleyms on April 27, 2011) | ||
| Strokizator |
Do yourself a favor and buy a scan tool that plugs into the OBD2 port. They're cheap and will tell you what trouble codes you're getting. In my case it showed a slow vacuum leak and when I changed the gas cap the problem went away. Even if it's not something you can fix yourself at least you can go to the mechanic armed with the knowledge of what the problem is likely to be. | ||
| Hybridmomentspass |
I agree with Scotty - go to AutoZone or Advance and have them scan it for free. And I also agree with the other poster about calling corporate. I dont understand why someone couldnt make an appointment until next week. They surely aren so busy that they cant talk to you for 15 minutes to plan out a time to come in and have the car looked at | ||
| Jb2 |
+1 Auto Zone & Advanced Auto Parts. However check your gas cap and make sure it's tight. If the system is open to the atmosphere it will trip the light. The most common reason we see check engine lights at our shop is for O2 sensors or loose gas caps. | ||
| 01_turbowolf |
ha the buell dealer i use is the same way. the dealer im a tech at takes in waiters and they are a bigger PITA than people realize. if its busy and you try to plan your day youll be worse off. it gets hard to keep loyal customers that do schedule when you push them back a couple days at a time just to take in waiters that had no fore thought and just show up wanting everything under the sun right now, and if they dont get their way they run to the owners, which makes it worse for us. not saying thats whats happening in your case, but once that door is opened you cant close it whenever you want. BTW I've learned most of the time 02 sensors are not the true cause of the concern. | ||
| Snp304 |
not 02 sensors, usually a lean condition caused by a vacuum leak...which only means something to the last two posters, not the original post. | ||
| Dynasport |
I don't think anything serious is wrong with the car. In fact, on the way home today the light was off. What surprised me was that I was told to call Monday to make an appointment. That seemed a bit excessive. They are basically running business to their competitors. I have had more experience with the Ford and Toyota dealers and both of them have been pretty easy to deal with. They have also told me that Wednesday is one of the slower days, so I guess I was expecting to be able to get the code at least checked, even if they didn't do the repair today if one was needed. I mean, it can't take that long to check the code and then we can make an appointment if something needs fixing. All in all, it is not a major deal, but I wonder if it would have been different if the car was not drivable. Would I still need to call to get an appointment Monday? That would be nuts. If they are that busy, maybe they should hire some more techs. | ||
| Just_ziptab |
My S-10 light comes on a couple times a year and goes away in a day or two. The 4x4 Sonoma light comes on and stays on. Local dealer (that was ditched by GM) still scans it for me... for free if I get there before they close for the day. It was the A.I.R. pump.Check valves burned out and ruined it.Got a bandy new genuine GM pump(near $400.00) on eBay for $68.00! BTW ,the check valves were a real "ass hander" to install. | ||
| Azxb9r |
Working by appointment is common, the shop I work in works by appointment. We are currently booked through the end of the week, and are scheduling for next week. Having said that, if someone comes in with an MIL illuminated the service writer will go out and scan the codes so we can advise the customer whether they can continue to drive it till we can get it in, or if they should be parking it. Autozone will pull your codes for you(unless you live in Ca.)but dont let them sell you anything. A code does not indicate a bad part, it indicates a problem in a circuit or system. Sometimes you can get lucky by replacing the part related to the code, but often times you will not. "I took my car to Autozone for a diagnostic and they sold me X part, but it didnt fix the problem" is something I hear regularly at work. If the car is still under factory warranty, just wait till the dealer can get it in. If it is not under factory waranty find an independent mechanic that you trust. | ||
| Tiltcylinder |
Did you fill the gas tank with the engine running last time? Seems silly, but that'll set the CEL on new cars. I think it may require three (key on/drive/key off) cycles to reset. Loose gas cap will set the light also. The systems do an automatic self check (monitors)and will set the light until it rechecks itself. If the light doesn't come back on, ignore it. If reoccurs and it's still under warranty... make the appointment. | ||
| Ourdee |
Steady on CEL is OK to drive with. You need to worry when it is a CEL that keeps flashing. This shows how important the dealer network is to how your company is perceived. My jeep throws a code every now and then. I just unplug the computer and plug it back in. Everything is great for another couple of months. 120,000 on the clock and now I make my payments at the pump. | ||
| Crackhead |
steady cel DOES NOT mean it is ok to keep driving. The guy next door though the same thing as you and is now putting in a new motor. You could be running crazy lean in one cylinder bc of a miss firing injector and F up a piston. You could be running crazy rick in one cylinder bc of a miss firing injector and F up a cat and cylinder walls. | ||
| Rwven |
The last vehicle I had with a recurring CEL I ended up removing the bulb...and continued to drive it for another 125K trouble free miles. | ||
| Dynasport |
Well, the light went off and I thought all was good, but it is back on again. I know about the gas cap thing, but don't believe this particular issue is gas cap related. I asked the service writer at the dealership, when they wouldn't even let me make an appointment, how I could know if the vehicle was OK to drive or not, and she told me I could drive it as long as the light was not flashing. As I stated, this vehicle does not belong to me, but I am allowed to drive it for work purposes. I am also responsible for making sure it is taken care of. I don't mean financially responsible, I mean it is expected of me that I will make sure the car is maintained and cared for. If I drive around a care with a check engine light on and it ends up needing an expensive repair because I ignored it, my boss will not be happy. So, since the light is back on, I think I will try to find someone who can check the code. It is probably something really minor, but you never know. Oh, and the car is barely out of warranty, of course. | ||
| Davegess |
My rule, is if it is flashing get in ASAP as my manual states this could be a badly overheating converter and could be a fire. If it is steady and the car runs fine you are OK for a while BUT always good to read the code so yo know what is going on. It could be serious. If you have a regular shop they should read this for you without charging too much. Mine currently is on, got it diagnoses as an variable intake runner issue. Cleaned and lubed the runner and it stayed off for a day or two. You can tell it is the runner, the car lacks low end but really comes on at the top like it should. AS soon as the weather is decent enough to ride my bike to work it is getting a new motor for the runner. | ||
| Azxb9r |
If the MIL is flashing it means "PULL OVER AND SHUT IT OFF NOW" When the MIL flashes it means that you have a possible catalyst damaging event happening. If you damage the catalyst and set a P0420 or P0430 you are looking at big $$$. Anybody that lives in an area that they need to pass a smog test to register their car is screwed. It is not worth trying to drive the car a bit further at the risk of ruining the cat. The cheap aftermarket cats dont work on OBDII cars. They are not efficient enough, and will not pass the catalyst monitor after a few months. If the MIL is on steady it might be okay to drive, but it should be checked to make sure. Have the codes pulled somewhere and post them. I can give you a SWAG (Scientific Wild Ass Guess) as to a possible problem, and whether or not you should be driving it | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Check with your company if they own the car or if it's rented/leased. If the latter, call the leasing/rental company. If you start tinkering with it, you could end up in more crap than you need, for a car that's not yours. | ||
| Preybird1 |
There are plenty of comparable auto repair shops. Find one you trust and stay there. I have my customers cars fixed in a few hours (same day). I can have parts delivered in 30 minutes to max 1 hour. I hate appointments and could never run the shop like that. I just use color and number coded hat\cones on top of the car to keep track of who is next for what. Keep it local and stay out of stealerships. The obd2 tool is like $75 bucks! | ||
| Rt_performance |
Blinking CEL Means the engine is missing. Steady cel for anything else. Like others said swing in autozone or advance and have them scan it. Then you will know how searious this is. Dam so busy they can't schdule an appointment what dealer is this? i want a job there! I run a small auto repair shop and been burried with big jobs as of late. I am shocked anydealer doesn't have time to atleast scan it usally the oil change kid or service writer will do it just to get an idea whats wrong and how searious it is. | ||
| Ltbuell |
Too bad you don't live near me,i'd have you come over and i'd scan it for nothing(was a tech/manager for 30 or so years and have diagnostic tools at the house...Snap-on scanner"The Brick" as its called and other assorted tools of the trade).+1 to that whole deal sounding screwy.The shop that i was a manager at,at Lake Tahoe,we'd get customers with the same scenario and we'd scan and tell them the situation and whats at stake and let them make the decision to either leave it with us or bring it back to leave it to further diagnose the actual cause and the repair costs.Most places i worked at did that..don't know what else to tell you. |
