I have a 2004 Saturn Ion 2.2 eco tech, 4 door, manual, that had a dash cluster going out. I replaced the dash gauges and everything works great! However l, where I would normally see mileage I see a service vehicle error. I reset the oil life, disconnected the battery for a good while and followed scotty Kilmers tip of shorting the battery cables together through a 10 ohm 1 watt resistor. Plugged the battery back in and same error. There are no codes when I check with my code reader. I initially had one code for the old bad dash gauges but I cleared it. Anything short of going to the dealer that I can do? I love this car but cant sink dealer money into it.

 

I ran into this issue a couple of years ago (although I hadn't replaced the instrument cluster). If your odometer shows "SERVICE VEHICLE", press and hold the odometer reset button. The light should go away until the next time the error occurs. If you read the codes, you may have the P0520 code. As far as I could determine, this is the only code that will give that message, although it doesn't illuminate the CEL/MIL. If the SERVICE VEHICLE message comes back, you probably have a bad oil pressure switch. The switch works properly in monitoring the engine oil pressure, but after shutting the engine down, the switch doesn't always return to a 'zero' pressure position. As soon as you turn the ignition switch on to start the engine the next time, the ECM checks for an oil pressure indication, and if it finds an oil pressure indication before the engine starts, it will trigger this alert. In my situation, replacing the switch resolved the issue.
See this thread for a discussion of the research I did to discover this. SERVICE VEHICLE message

 

I should state that the error did not happen with the old gauges. I could see my total mileage, plugging in the new guages brings up the service vehicle error. I have held the mileage button down until I got the ding ding ding and same error. I have read the codes with my code reader and nothing is currently present. I bet if I put thw old gauges back in then the error will go away.

 

I'm not trying to convince you of anything, just letting you know what happened when I had that message. And my Ion is identical with yours (except I didn't replace the instrument cluster).

 

yea yea I appreciate it! Im just adding information I forgot to add originally. I dont know if adding a new cluster makes the car freak out or what. The old cluster was going south. The turn signals would only work when the steering wheel was at certain positions but not others. I thought it could be the turn signal lever, or a bad wire or connection. Come to find out it was infact the cluster. I also had verious dash lights stop working. Some lights have bulbs you can replace but the warning lights seem to be non replaceable ie the check engine light.

 

Because it's programmed to the vehicle it was originally in. Tech2 can't reprogram either. Your stuck with that message

 

DD,

I know the ion cluster is married to the car it came with. But you are saying not even a GM dealer can re marry the replacement cluster to the car?

 

oh wow, I wonder what the point of pairing them together is? and I wonder what part in there is actually what gets programmed. Perhaps I can use the original cluster and move alot of good parts over.

 

Maybe the mileage is literally stored in the cluster and not the BCM? If true, it has to be VIN matched to something in the car. My guess would be the BCM. The VIN is likely hard coded (write once only, like a music CD).

So if I'm right, the thin programmed into the cluster would have to match the fan of the BCM. So you would have to move the right parts over to the new cluster to make it look like the old cluster as far as the BCM is concerned

OR

pick up a working cluster and a working BCM from the same donor car. It doesn't care what the VIN is, only that they match.

I think you would need to try the BCM first to see if it will run your car with a minimum of problems. Then put in the cluster.

It's quite a bit more work than just dealing with it the way it is.

Again the above is just a guess. At your own risk.


PS I'm going to guess that the memory chip on the cluster sits in a socketed chip holder and the chip holder is soldered to the board. That would be the intelligent way to design it., but would also make it easy to f with if you figured out how the chip was encoded. I'm also going to guess there's only one circuit board in there, which is why having the socketed chip matters. It's the only part of the assembly that would differ between vehicles.

If this is what you find, please post a picture before continuing, especially if no background in handling integrated circuits.

 

https://www.redlineforums.com/thread...5#post-1318765

Similar convo going on over on RLF