2001 Alero

2001 Alero service vehicle soon light comes on occasionally, the book says it has to do with the DRL. I checked all the lights, all working, changed the DRL relay. Light still on. Now sometimes the dash lights and gauges won’t come on until after the engine is started and there is a delay of about 3-5 seconds before they come on. Everything else seems to be working fine. I called the dealer and of course they want to see it and charge $115.00 to just check it out. Any Ideas?

Tom

Diagnostic charges in the neighborhood of $100 are the norm now. Shops finally got tired of tying up their bays and techs doing the diagnosis, and then having the customer decide they cannot afford the repair and them having to do battle with them to get just compensation. The charge is only fair. Most shops apply it to the bill as a seperate charge if you have them go ahead with the repairs.

Service vehicle soon lights are generally triggered by miles driven sine the last oil change rather than the DRL. Since this one is lighting intermittantly, and your dash lights and gauges are also opt coming on correctly, I’m wondering if you have a wiring problem. You may want to try removing the cluster and cleaning and resetting the contacts that connect the wiring harness to the cluster. (typically it’s a ribbon wire)

I assume you’ve tried resetting the service engine soon light?