Why did my CEL light just blink at me?
#1
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Why did my CEL light just blink at me?
Heres the story, I was driving home from work on a rural back road, speed limit is 25, so I was driving around in first gear at around 7k rpm, keeping it constant. I haven’t done this for about a month so I figure it’s due for a little high RPM action. Suddenly my Borla exhaust (the only mod on my car) starts sounding a little funny, like air is rushing out of it. Next thing I know I'm having a hard time keeping it at 7k rpm and the rpms are dropping due to loss of power.
So I stop, and try again, it does it again and this time the check engine light starts flashing and then goes away. At no point did the car stop, or slow down too dramatically, you could just feel it wasn’t right and was loosing its power. I decided to stop playing around and then out of curiosity I pushed it again on the highway ride home, taking it slowly to 7k rpm, and this time no problems, in fact I drove out of my way home today to test it for an extended period of time. No problems.
Should I be concerned?
So I stop, and try again, it does it again and this time the check engine light starts flashing and then goes away. At no point did the car stop, or slow down too dramatically, you could just feel it wasn’t right and was loosing its power. I decided to stop playing around and then out of curiosity I pushed it again on the highway ride home, taking it slowly to 7k rpm, and this time no problems, in fact I drove out of my way home today to test it for an extended period of time. No problems.
Should I be concerned?
#3
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I checked the temp on gage, which I know is pretty useless, but it looked normal. Plus it was only 45 degrees out. Maybe your right, a misfire, but it did sound like a lot of it had to do with the muffler…like a whoosing sound of air out the back, at first I thought it might have been fire (because ive seen the video ) but it wasn’t.
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My dealership isn't open until monday, and it's about 15 miles away. I wondering if I should drive it there, or get it towed...I don't want to do any additional damage.
#7
This just happened to me! I was pushing it on a highway, slowed down on the exit, shifted hard to 2nd gear then pushed it again. Then the CEL started blinking and I just went into cruising. After a bit it went away. No problems
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Most probable is you overheated the cat. It has a sensor and the PCM gets worried when it gets too hot. 7000 RPM and not moving fast will overheat it. You would notice a slight drop in power because the PCM switches you to "safe mode" and at 7000 RPM and 25 MPH the drop in power wouldn't be dramatic. At 60 MPH+ you would really notice it "throttle you back". It's hard to maintain 50 MPH in this state.
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It went on again and this time it stayed on. It happened when I had just started the car and started pulling away. So I decided to take it in, thinking it would take a long time to fix, i was amazed to receive a call 3 hours after dropping it off that it had been fixed. Their diagnosis? A new flash update....
Seems hard to believe that something that was casuing the kind of problems I was having was due to a past date flash on my car. Oh well, all I can do is hope they fixed it right.
Seems hard to believe that something that was casuing the kind of problems I was having was due to a past date flash on my car. Oh well, all I can do is hope they fixed it right.
#11
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man, that's pretty scary man. something very similar happened to me about a couple months ago. though, when it happened to me i was passing a few people up on the freeway pulling like 8k RPMs. i looked down at my gauge cluster and saw my CEL light blinking at me. soon as it happened, i upshifted to 6th and kept the RPMs under 4k. it didn't happen anymore after that, but i think it was due to my gas cap not being securely tightened (i thought it could have been the problem after a girl brought in her mazda 3 to the dealer with her engine light flashing. turned out her problem was the gas cap wasn't on tight enough). ever since then it hasn't flashed back at me, so i'm assuming that was the problem.
#12
It happened to me again... I was stuck in a lane and decided to pull into the other lane but had to gun it. Had me and 3 passengers, I don't know, it just seems this engine is tempermental and you can't push it too hard .
#14
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Originally Posted by xrider01
man, that's pretty scary man. something very similar happened to me about a couple months ago. though, when it happened to me i was passing a few people up on the freeway pulling like 8k RPMs. i looked down at my gauge cluster and saw my CEL light blinking at me. soon as it happened, i upshifted to 6th and kept the RPMs under 4k. it didn't happen anymore after that...
Weird... The EXACT same thing happened to me today. No other noticeable effects; just the light blinking for about 10-20 seconds. I've not seen it before or since. Hopefully it is just a cat-related issue... Guess I'll find out after I take it in next week.
#16
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Originally Posted by vectorwolf
Weird... The EXACT same thing happened to me today. No other noticeable effects; just the light blinking for about 10-20 seconds. I've not seen it before or since. Hopefully it is just a cat-related issue... Guess I'll find out after I take it in next week.
#19
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^^^What he said. If it is a misfire, the dealer will be able to tell that by pulling the error codes from the ECU. Again, if it is a misfire, they will likely replace the spark plugs, maybe update the ECU and send you on your way.
You could actually read the error codes yourself if you had a CANbus-compatible, OBDII scanner. However, they are not cheap. Do a search on the forum for Hymee to see his device.
You could actually read the error codes yourself if you had a CANbus-compatible, OBDII scanner. However, they are not cheap. Do a search on the forum for Hymee to see his device.
#21
RX8 and a Truk....
Old thread - but +1 for the blinking CEL...mine happened today. Downshifting from 6th to 4th, preparing to exit the freeway. Blinked 20? times...went away. I didn't feel any power loss/safe mode.
#22
Originally Posted by xrider01
something very similar happened to me about a couple months ago. though, when it happened to me i was passing a few people up on the freeway pulling like 8k RPMs. i looked down at my gauge cluster and saw my CEL light blinking at me. soon as it happened, i upshifted to 6th and kept the RPMs under 4k.
Well over 100 eh?
#24
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Originally Posted by Captain Amazing
RX-8s love to throw CEL's. I have been driving with one for like 3 months on and off! ahahahahaha
beers
#25
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Originally Posted by Razz1
8000 then shifting into 6th! that's pretty fast for driving on the freeway.
Well over 100 eh?
Well over 100 eh?
i'll find out later today and post back