Hey, I know this is JBO but I'm not on another forum and I thought I'd ask anyway here. This may be common to all cars.
I had my "service engine soon" light come on a couple weeks back and nothing was wrong with the car. There was nothing showing up on the diagnostic so the guy reset the computer and told me to keep an eye on the car.
So, everything's fine until I leave to go on a trip and the same "service engine soon" light comes on after 20 minutes on the road. It ran fine until I went to get on a highway onramp and the light comes on, but this time it is FLASHING.
I know now my trip is postponed so I turn around and the car starts to bog down as I stop at the light like it wants to stall. The light on the dash basically flashes like 4-5 times, goes off for 10 seconds, and flashes again. This is combined with the car running really badly as in delayed acceleration and feeling like it's going to stall when I come to a stop.
I haven't tried to start it since I went home and I don't know if it will make it to a shop (or if I should even attempt to try). Whatever happened, happened in the 20 minutes I drove it today. i don't know if it was related to the light 2 weeks ago but the guy at the shop said he wouldn't charge me for another diagnostic if I brought it in again.
At least this didn't happen in the middle of the boonies!
man that sucks...GL with that! If i had to guess...maybe a cat? Hard tellin without the diagnostics. You'll definitely get the best answer from there, just have it towed to the shop to be safe, 50 bucks towing might save you 500 in shop labor
Rent a code reader from your local parts store and read it at home.
Sounds to me like it you need to get spark plugs check, check the spark plug wires and the coils. I would check those three first
i know on cavs that blinking light means misfire. sounds like ignition related to me.
Vincent Morris wrote:i know on cavs that blinking light means misfire. sounds like ignition related to me.
I was thinking the same thing too. Seems like it's misfiring, and the computer is cutting back power to prevent any further damage, if that's possible?
Quote:
Watching you parade around my bedroom in a thong was a little like watching sea lions mate.
I started it up after letting it cool down and it starts and idles fine. I don't know if that will continue if I drive it. I'll give the shop a call early tomorrow and see if they'd recommend a tow. If it is misfiring I don't think driving it would be a good thing.
Any other ideas?
limited data man....blinking lights really don't tell much
you'll find out far more with a 2nd diagnostics, and i'd recommend against towing
blinking light tells me a lot.
Blinking light = catalyst damaging misfire. Means your car is missing so bad, and sending so much un burnt fuel into the cat, that it can/will damage the cat if you conitnue to drive it.
That means get a tow.
well, it told me less...but we gave the same advice
DroptopPaul wrote: and i'd recommend against towing
I think you meant to say recomend against DRIVING then...lol
Yeah, bottom line is your car is messed up, get it towed and taken care of.
Good luck
wow...i wasn't thinking! i recommended TOWING! lol towing is too cheap to risk driving a car lol
well, I brought it in with no problems... the drive was only like 10 minutes with traffic. The car idled fine but the "service engine" light came on within a few minutes. The light immediately went to a solid light (no blinking) and sputtered a little at low RPM's while stopped in traffic. It did not stall.
After I brought it in they ran the diagnostic and found that the 6th cylinder was misfiring. The bad part is that they cannot get the car to misfire again to be able to find the cause of the problem! It was doing it this morning so I said drive the thing around to try and get it to do it. I will get a call tomorrow morning from them. i have to drive up to PA from SC so I really want them to nail down and fix the problem as I can't afford to break down with all my crap in the car and my cat.
I really don't have a clue what's going on because the light is not blinking today, but solid. I hope they can find the problem because I have no Plan B here.
Just because the engine light is no longer blinking....does not mean it is ok to drive. The blinking light only occurs on the 1st time the car is driven that the catalyst damaging misfire occurs. after that, it remains on constant, until it is reset.
Good luck, but be careful until it is fixed.
well, this morning they isolated the problem and it turns out the spark plugs need to be replaced. They said the coil was also a potential issue for the future and they recommended it be replaced. Should I do that or are they trying to jerk me out of more money??
I have a 800 mile trip both ways this week and I can't afford this to recurr.
small enough...have em do it
