Why does your gas light and temperature light come on in your 1998 Pontiac Transport when it is full of gas and is not overheating?

Answer 1

Once the computer has set the error codes, the engine has to be started about fifty times before it will learn that the correction has been made. You can also shut these off after the conditions have been corrected, by using certain scan tools that have that capability. Or you can disconnect the neg battery cable for a minute, but this procedure, can cause some loss of learned information, that has to also be relearned by the powertrain control module. The theft deterant capability of the radio if equipped will render the radio inoperative until you get the code to reset that feature from a dealer. So it is actually better to be patient and wait out the fifty or so starts and stops. You could just sit there and start and shut off the engine, but that's not that good to do either. The scan tool reset method is probably the best, because you can see more readily if the system needs some work to correct it. It is quite probable that the gas was allowed to go low enough, and the engine hot enough to have initially set the error codes, and then these conditions have been since corrected, but because it takes several restarts to automatically shut the lights off, one has to be patient. Having said all that I have to correct myself because the gas light normally resets as soon as you fuel up. Never the less the gas and temp indications are probably unrelated, although they could point to control module problems or act engine problems. The Gas indication could be a problem in the gauge sender unit inside the gas tank, but that is all something that has to be checked and reasoned out. If the gas gauge is accurate, then it's probably safe to ignore it as much as possible, but it could be an indication of troble to come. There are other more expensive possibilities, like the body control module, or the Power train Control Module.