SES light on after disconnecting battery for a day

[Carl Santiago]

Hello all,
I have SES light on after disconnecting my battery for a whole day while replacing my door latch on my 2000 Chevy K3500 with the 7.4 Liter V8. I did not work on the engine at all and now I have this warning light go on. Does disconnecting the battery for a long time cause this?

Appreciate any answers out there. I will got to Autozone tomorrow and have them pull the code.

Thanks,
Arly

Topic

[Carl Santiago]

Hi All,
I have a 2000 Chevy K3500 with the 7.4L V8. I replaced a door latch and to not run the battery down, I disconnected it for most of the day. Well, latch replaced and now I have service engine light on. No idea what caused it. I appreciate any ideas and answers to this.

By the way, replacing those latches from Chevy that vintage are a pain. Figured out a easy way after hours of fiddling.

Thanks,
Arly

[Andrew Phillips]

What is the code that caused the light to come on? If you don’t have a scanner, most auto parts stores will read the codes for free.

[Carl Santiago]

Thanks Cap,
I do not have a scan tool. I am planning on going to Autozone to have the code read. I wanted to see if anyone out there has had this issue with disconnecting the battery for a long time. This truck is a gas hog and should get 11 mpg, but I have been averaging 9 mpg. Might be an O2. I just had the mass air flow replaced that caused the last SES.

[Andrew Phillips]

Cool. Get the code(s) read and let us know. Remember also that a code doesn’t indicate a bad part, just that there was an error in that system (which can be caused by a bad part but not always). In other words, don’t buy a part just because you get a code. Nearly all parts can be directly or indirectly tested.

[Carl Santiago]

I was reading somewhere that I should have waited 30 minutes after I connected the battery. This would have given the ecu time to reboot and then start the engine. Oh well, I will see tomorrow and get the codes checked and reset.

[Carl Santiago]

Drove to Autozone to get the code pulled.
They got a P0102 code.

MAP/BARO or MAF/VAF(Vane Air Flow) sensor condition Explanation
Vacuum hose off, cracked, or pressure blocked-Engine mechanical timing condition.
Throttle body intake tube loose, off, or cracked
BARO/ MAP defective
VAF MAF sensor dirty or defective

The kicker is that as soon as I started the truck to go home, the SES light went off. I did an initial check of any loose or missing hoses and vac lines and saw none. I did replace a tube that the dealer lost when they replaced the intake manifold gasket. This was a tube that connected the valve cover to the the intake manifold. During the time that this tube was missing, the truck did not show an SES. They also replaced the MAF when the SES light went on last.

[Andrew Phillips]

It may have been just a fluke due to the battery disconnection. Wait to see if the code returns before worrying about it.

[Author]

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