Check Engine Light on after battery drained

[kfinto]

I left my radar detector on for almost a week in my 2004 5.3L 1500 Chevy Silverado. Of course that drained the battery.... Anyway, I used a Vector Jump Starter to start the truck. Now the check engine light is on. I drove the truck 10 miles and the light never went out. Is it normal for the check engine light to stay on after the battery is drained on these new trucks? Did my Vector Jump Starter do something to the truck?

[mmmikkke]

I left my radar detector on for almost a week in my 2004 5.3L 1500 Chevy Silverado.  Of course that drained the battery....  Anyway, I used a Vector Jump Starter to start the truck. Now the check engine light is on. I drove the truck 10 miles and the light never went out. Is it normal for the check engine light to stay on after the battery is drained on these new trucks? Did my Vector Jump Starter do something to the truck? 

 

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Sounds like a perfect time to remove the negative battery cable for 10 minutes, then hook it back up. This will clear any "codes" in the computer.

 

If there really *is* something wrong, the code will set itself again. If that happens, it'd be time to take it in for service.

[mudbug660]

if you jumped the truck off by hooking it directly to the battery then that could have been your problem. On these trucks your supposed to hook the positive cable to the cable in the red box, I'm guessing to protect the computer. but I would do what mmmikkke said.

[seadoons]

The above post is correct - you are not supposed to jump start these trucks directly to the battery, rather use the positive hook up in the little red plastic box between the battery and motor and hook up the negative up by the A/C compressor where there is a big area that says "ground." Either way, this should not have caused your SES light to come on. Try disconnecting the negative cable for 10 minutes, and like the above post states, if the light comes back on the truck really is throwing a code and needs to go in. Just don't mention the dead battery problem!

[99-2door]

if you jumped the truck off by hooking it directly to the battery then that could have been your problem. On these trucks your supposed to hook the positive cable to the cable in the red box, I'm guessing to protect the computer. but I would do what mmmikkke said.

 

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They say that in the manual, but what is the difference? The engine is directly grounded to the battery and that red box is a direct cable to the battery. The only reason I use that red box is the pos. cable is so stinking close the fender.

[mudbug660]

if you look at the cable running from the positive post on the battery, you can see that it y's and one cable runs to the red box and the other runs to the fuse box. Gm might be worried that a surge can damage the fuse box or computer if jumper cables are atteched directly to the battery. But I could be wrong.

[kfinto]

if you jumped the truck off by hooking it directly to the battery then that could have been your problem. On these trucks your supposed to hook the positive cable to the cable in the red box, I'm guessing to protect the computer. but I would do what mmmikkke said.

 

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Yep! I connected the cable directly to the battery. That's what I get for assuming that the positive of the jump starter would go directly to the positive post of the battery.... I wonder what other surpises are in store for me? Quite a change from my old 1993 truck! I had fun the first time I drove it at night and the high beams wouldn't stay on but that is another story....

 

Anyway, I was going to remove the negative cable that was suggested here but I decided to start it first to see what would happen. Guess what? The light didn't come on! Now how did the dang computer decide there was not problem since I didn't run it since yesterday?

[mmmikkke]

Anyway, I was going to remove the negative cable that was suggested here but I decided to start it first to see what would happen.  Guess what?  The light didn't come on!    Now how did the dang computer decide there was not problem since I didn't run it since yesterday?

 

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Some codes clear themselves if the designers of the ECM decided that the problem might be transient. Whatever code you had "set" is apparently one of these codes.

 

Other codes will not clear themselves.