Flashing Check Engine

[Airgne]

so what would a flashing check engine light be. it came on for about 10 sec than stopped. no codes at all after.

[green97gt]

check engine lights flash to indicate a catalyst damaging misfire.

perhaps you had a spot of bad gas? or a temporary ignition issue..

keep an eye on it, make sure it doesnt come back.

[rudgers73]

In most cases a flashing CEL means "stop driving right now!". If you keep going too long with it you will have a cat full of moon rocks. Interesting that it went out after it got done flashing. I would have expected it to stay lit with an error code.

Like mentioned above, keep a really close eye on it; and if it starts flashing again pull over ASAP or at least take your foot off of the gas.

[Airgne]

so your saying internal engine fail, or soon to be?

[green97gt]

no, not at all, i mean MAYBE, but there are so many other things possible before worrying about that...

it could be as simple as a loose spark plug or something, tho, that should throw a code and keep the check engine light on, but not all the time 100%

the check engine light flashes when a catalyst damaging misfire occurs, this is when the spark plug diddnt fire at the correct time, or an exhaust/intake valve diddnt seat properly, or many other reasons that allow unburnt fuel to pass into the exhaust and richen/clog/heat up the catalytic converter and cause the insides of the cat to crack and break up and cause funky troubles

when it flashes, especially for a little while 90% of the time its just a "WARNING! BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN IF YOU KEEP DRIVING" light.

like my van has an issue every once in a while when it rains, moisture must get into a connector somewhere and causes an random misfire code and flashes the check engine light. park it, let it dry, it always goes away.

and on the other hand i bought a beater and drove it for 6 or 7 months with a flashing check engine light and never had a problem, untill the insides of the cat clogged the exhaust..then i just cut it off and kept driving it.

just keep an eye on it, if it comes back on turn your car off asap and get a scantool or something.

cheers

[itsmidge]

i've got the same problem with the check engine light, car runs fine right now but, when the car is off, in the start possition, there is a tickin noise from the electrical system in the engine bay, any ideas

[Airgne]

got a scangauge II so i can get the codes asap.

[JDM97LegacyGT]

i had this with my 97 LGT, turned out to be some green and white wires under by the pedals that got connected and shouldnt have been,

[Huffer]

i had this with my 97 LGT, turned out to be some green and white wires under by the pedals that got connected and shouldnt have been,

Those are the diagnostic connectors.

[1-3-2-4]

My Check engine flashed yesterday but I knew what caused it.. did not hold the key long enough went to release it and the engine must of at least fired off one cylinder before it died so I got a Misfire on Cly 1 CEL.. cleared it and that was the end of that.

But yes a flashing CEL is not good and it means you have a misfire going on and at the same time the engine would let you know as well.

[Airgne]

the car is running fine. i check everytime i get in for any codes. it hasnt done it again yet. i hope if it does it will do it before the 12month warranty on the heads goes out.

[chuckthefuk]

had this happen in my friends 2.2 Brighton. The motor leaked so much oil it clogged the cats which clogged the o2 sensors which in turn triggered the flashing engine light.


-Chuck

[Airgne]

hmm. that is intresting. i checked the oil before july4th and i was good. checked it again after the casscade loop run(next day), and i was about a half quart low. i had also put 600miles on the car in that time. alot of them were hard driving and engine temps of 216-218. normally around 178-190, but when it got up high it was very hot days.

[chuckthefuk]

Pull your o2 sensors and check if there covered in oil. disconnect your exhuast from the cat and check if the cat is leaking oil.. it is possible to have a slow leak from the oil seals over a long period of time.

- Chuck

[97legacygt]

I am having the same sort of problem. The check engine light started flashing on me after I had trouble with the alarm system that wouldn't let me start the car. I checked the codes and got two codes for the Neutral Position switch- P1101 and P1121. Also got a P0136, a rear O2 sensor code. I cleared the codes to see if they would come back and they didn't, but the CEL kept flashing. I then checked the vehicle data parameters, and everything was normal. The O2 sensors were toggling just fine. Still don't know why the light is flashing.

[massdrewski]

I wish my car could speak. PO302, PO304. Ive done everything from replacing both heads, timing, spark, plugs, coil pack, swapped injectors from 1-2, and 3-4.....Still the same codes. I have no idea. My friend did a compression test and it came up ok. 165 all around except #4, 135. He said that it is within range.
I just want this to work! I have spent so much money up to this point... :( I just don't know what to do.
the guy who did all of the timing/head install has gone all over this car and can not figure out what is wrong. the guy who did the head work internals heard about the issues and called me up. we spoke for awhile and He assured me that he did everything correctly on those heads. he said that he remembers them because the guy who did the install came in to his shop and let him know that he was the one installing them and to do a good job.

any Ideas?

[chuckthefuk]

Subaru Speak = viewtopic.php?f=11&t=13695&hilit=+obdii (http://www.sl-i.net/FORUM/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=13695&hilit=+obdii)
P0301 *Cylinder 1 Misfire Detected
P0302 *Cylinder 2 Misfire Detected
P0303 *Cylinder 3 Misfire Detected
P0304 *Cylinder 4 Misfire Detected

1) Timing belt installed incorrectly (Wrong position on crank pulley / timing wrong on cams)
2) Bad spark plugs/Wires/Coil Pack

It has to be one of those. This sounds identical to my friends EJ25D when we changed the head gaskets.

Get a second opinion. Sometimes people are so certain that they did the work correctly they tend to overlook the small things.

Good luck
-Chuck

[jey]

Maybe you have a bad cam sensor?

[anwieczo]

I wish my car could speak. PO302, PO304. Ive done everything from replacing both heads, timing, spark, plugs, coil pack, swapped injectors from 1-2, and 3-4.....Still the same codes. I have no idea. My friend did a compression test and it came up ok. 165 all around except #4, 135. He said that it is within range.
I just want this to work! I have spent so much money up to this point... :( I just don't know what to do.
the guy who did all of the timing/head install has gone all over this car and can not figure out what is wrong. the guy who did the head work internals heard about the issues and called me up. we spoke for awhile and He assured me that he did everything correctly on those heads. he said that he remembers them because the guy who did the install came in to his shop and let him know that he was the one installing them and to do a good job.

any Ideas?

Have you checked the plugs for any signs of lean or rich air/fuel mixture?

[massdrewski]

I pulled the plugs and replaced them with OEM from subaru ($41.00). the plugs I pulled out were clean and showed no issues. I did check the gap on them and they were all perfect. the first thing my friend did once they began the CEL's was to pull the timing cover off and double check his work. everything lined up perfectly and started it up again. Then he checked for a third and final time to make sure it was not an issue. I will look into the cam sensor though. that is one thing that he did not check.

[green97gt]

$41 for 4 spark plugs???? wow... talk about without lube..

[massdrewski]

OEM..... Called up a Subie master. He suggested I get the OEM for this car. he said that he found that some engines will act up and misfire if it is absolutely not perfect