For the first time ever last night I got a flashing CEL while doing about 70. Anyone ever got that before? The cel light is now off but I wonder why it came on at all.

 

If you were at high rpm, it could have been a misfire. If that's the case, it may come back. Check the ECU for error codes if you have that ability. Otherwise, take it to a dealer.

 

Mike,

a Flashing CEL is usually not a good thing.
Did it stay on for quite a while? Were you revving the engine pretty high?

Oh oh, might be time to visit our friends in Tustin or HB...

 

misfire mike

 

well I was driving fast
it has not come back on
i dont know
sometimes my car drives well and other times not so much

 

that's the Nanny-CEL telling you

 

well i dont care as long as the CEL stays away

 

if it happens often enough within a specific period/cycle it will latch on full time

 

Is the misfire caused by the fuel cutoff when it hits 10,500 RPMs?

After it hits the 10,500 RPM cutoff when does fuel kick back in?

 

I dont know but my AT doesnt rev that high

 

if youre lucky its just a bad spark plug. thats what happened to me.. same symptom

 

you could be right
but the dealer just changed my spark plugs about 1k miles ago

I wonder why they keep going bad

 

10,500 rpm?????

whachatalkinaboutwillis???????

fwiw, flashing CEL is typically the PCM detecting occasional misfires, but not often enough to trigger a full-on misfire CEL, it's mentioned in the service manual

 

If you're having plugs replaced often, they may be fouling from carbon. How often do you take in into the upper rev range?

 

Fuel cutoff is at roughly 9500 rpms, the tach's in most cars are generally off by a could hundred rpm's, which can make you think the cutoff is much higher.

 

I guess not often enough

 

I thought I had seen fuel cutoff at 10,500
must be wishful thinking.

 

and I swear I had gotten it to 10,500 before realizing I had to shift.

Don't have that problem now that I have the high flow cat and Greddy SP2

 

i had the same problem with flashing cel. its caused by a misfire. my misfire was caused by an arching spark plug wire which gave a weak spark that caused to plug to foul out and make the cel stay on eventually. take it to the dealer and have it fixed. my car runs awesome all the time now, no "bad" days anymore.

 

I think its the spark plugs but I just got them changed about 5k ago
they keep going bad
what causes them to go bad

now the cel light is on and flashes at high rpm's

 

"now the cel light is on and flashes at high rpm's"

Failed catalytic converter!

 

that was the exact problem i had. it prolly feels like its hesitating a little bit as well at high r's. go get the plugs and wire changed. its under free, and you'll be happy with the results. i was sooooo sick of the problems with the car and was dying to get rid of it but after that fix i'm in love with the car again.

btw its prolly the arching wire that is causing the plugs to go bad. it took my tech three tries to get it right.

 

I think you guys are right
whats a arching wire

 

A bad spark plug wire.

If it has bad connectors or a small break in the wire when it is pushing all those volts for the spark plugs it arcs like a spark plug does but inside the wire or connector.