left lights on over night now ses light is on.

[godzillaman]

I left the headlights on overnight on a 2002 sl1. (Wifes car I have an ion and not use to her car.) I jump it and works fine now. I get 12 volts when engine is off and get 13 volts when running. Car runs fine and starts fine however the service engine soon light comes on. I am aware of the gas cap issue and was an issue in the past. Is it possible that letting the battery drain trip this off or is it the gas cap?
We are lucky if we fill up the tank 1 a month and we just filled it last week. she drives the car maybe 1 mile a day to and fro to work and maybe 40 miles on the weekend.

sl1 2002 45k miles
ion 2003 60k miles

Both are kick ass cars.

Any suggestions? Thanks .
This forum has help and save me money and very sad that Saturn made such a reliable vehicle that its going under

[onefunkar]

maybe battery isnt charged enough

[fdryer]

Guessing about the SES light is similar to palm reading......................

If the SES indicator is still on, try Autozone for a free reading and write down any error code(s) displayed, not what the clerk tells you. Then post the code(s) here. You can also find the code list in the How-to library on page 5 titled OBD II Powertrain Codes for some idea of what they mean.

[finder216]

+1 on fdryer's advise.
I had a "catastrophic battery failure" and after that it threw all kinds of codes and warnings. I went to AutoZone and they had me push the button on their scanner to reset the computer, but that was 2-years ago and haven't had a problem since.

[s3nfo]

Just of note, your wife's car is an S series car, not an L series car.
L's computers are very sensitive to input voltage and low volts will set codes. Last time the battery died on my LW I had over 30 codes set. Usually clears up after the battery is charged, codes cleared and several start cycles.
Don't know if this works with S's though.

[born again]

Try just pulling out or disconnecting the battery and charging it overnight. Having the battery disconnected for a period can reset many codes (after reconnecting it). Be sure to write down your radio station presets, you will need to put them back.