Something as serious as a misfire can also cause the check engine light to flash.
Why yes, I did once lose a whole-ass cylinder in a 4-cylinder, manual transmission car. While a couple hours from home! It broke a freaking exhaust valve while we were just cruising along, and the light started flashing immediately with a code for cylinder X misfire.
Funny enough, other than the loss of power it drove alright while in motion, including on the highway. It would immediately stall if left to idle at a stop light, though. I think I ended up using the hand brake to hold still while keeping my foot on the gas to keep the revs up. Fun.
Kintarian@lemmy.world 1 day ago
My check engine light came on and freaked me out. Found out the code was P0171: Bank running lean. I currently have a mix of gas and E85 in the tank and the computer doesn’t like it. Nothing is actually wrong.
SeeMarkFly@lemmy.ml 1 day ago
Mine was a loose gas cap. I’m not paying $300 to a dealer to turn that light off.
chiliedogg@lemmy.world 1 day ago
You can buy a cheap Bluetooth OBDII scanner online and use a free phone app like Torque to read and clear codes.
5in1k@lemmy.zip 2 hours ago
I hadn’t bought an odb2 scanner in decades. I didn’t realize they have gotten advanced like that. I guess I should have.
SeeMarkFly@lemmy.ml 1 day ago
I did get a cheap one but I work on my own cars so I now bought a much nicer one that has dealer level access.
MOST of my cars are too old to have OBDII. 35 years and older…NO CUP HOLDERS.