Hyundai Repair: Santa Fe idiot lights, hyundai santa fe, jumper cables

Question
Over the weekend our son borrowed our 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe AWD 3.5 liter with 80k miles. He left and interior light on for approx. 4 days and ran the battery down. He had the car jumpstarted but since then the check engine light and the 4 wheel drive system warning light have both been on.
Thank you,
Mark

Answer
While it's possible these lamps were caused by the lamp being left on, it's not likely.  The more likely scenario is that there's an unrelated problem (or that the jumper cables were hooked up backward and the main fuse was blown causing the system voltage to be low).  If you've checked the main fuse in the underhood fuse block and it's okay, then your choices are as follows:

1.  Disconnect the battery to clear the check engine lamp.  If it doesn't come back on, there is significant likelihood that it was related to the lamp being left on.  This also erases all diagnostic information from the engine control module (ECM), so if the code doesn't return, you'll have no way of knowing what it was.

2.  Take the car to a shop capable of reading the engine and ABS codes and diagnosing them.  Make sure they're aware of what happened with the lamp and the jump-starting.  If there is no real issue, the diagnostic charge should be minimal.  If there is an issue, you probably will need to repair it regardless.