What does the service vehicle soon light mean on Pontiac aztek?

Answer 1

"service vehicle soon" commonly known as a "check engine light" indicates that the car's computer has detected something out of the ordinary. Because this Computer Monitors all of the variables related to engine function it's impossible to say without a scan tool. You can go to a mechanic and pay him hundreds of dollars to plug your car into a small handheld computer and read the error codes, or you can take it to an auto parts store and borrow their tool to do it yourself. Advance Auto and Autozone usually have them, not sure about other parts stores.

Until that is done it's hard to say. When the codes are read, copy them down, or get a printout, that will give you clues to make an educated guess at what the problem is.

Unfortunately error codes can be a sign of engine trouble, bad gas, or sometimes they're simply the result of the little car gremlins getting bored. I recently drove my Aztec with an "Emissions controll error, evap circuit malfunction" error for about 6 weeks, resetting it a couple times a week, but never keeping it off for more than a day. Then about a week ago it went out on its own and hasn't come back...

After scanning, reset or clear the codes and see if it stays off, or if the same codes reoccur. It may have been a one time, or short term problem.

**- The answer that was given is related to another indicator called "Service ENGINE Soon". I believe the question was specifically asked about the Service VEHICLE Soon".

For Pontiac these are 2 different indicators and as you might have guessed the Engine light has to do with drive train components, fuel system, exhaust sensors etc. The Vehicle indicator has more to do with body components such as light bulbs, braking systems, traction control etc.

I would agree with the original answer that the best thing to do is call around to the parts stores such as Autozone and see if they do free code scans and get the diagnosis. Then you can decide if you want to tackle it yourself or take it to a shop with specific details about what has to be fixed.