Hi guys,

Over the past two months, every once in a while I'll get a random CEL that lasts for about 5 seconds and then goes away. At first, I thought it was only happening on cold mornings occasionally at start-up, but it happened twice on my way home from work last Thursday in 80 degree weather. It doesn't affect how the car is driving, and there aren't any weird noises or anything. I even thought it was maybe my gas cap, but that doesn't seem to be it either. I'm just under 80k miles right now, and it's a 2004 MT, built in June 2003. This might have happened about 6 times over the past two months now.

I have searched and searched on here, but I can't find anything that really resembles this..am I just missing other threads? If so, can someone point me there? Or does anyone have any ideas about what this might be? Should I just suck it up and take it to the dealership?

 

Common one is misfire - could get Autozone to pull the code for you (even though light is still not on, it may be stored in the ECU) and see where you go from there.

 

Yes, most likely a missfire caused by an ignition component. Plugs, coils or plug wires.

 

I was hoping you guys would say something like that- thanks

 

I thought a misfire caused a flashing cell? And no performance issues... Is it solid for a while then goes off? I would go to Autozone and have it pulled, just make sure they don't clear it. That way you can research it before you go to the dealer.

My non-expert-totally-just-posting-for-my-2cents-guess is cat converter.