check engine light flashed

[bills]

Hey all, on a cross country trip here and the check engine light turned on for about 10 seconds then off then back on again for about 10 seconds and then off again. I pulled over over and checked it out, and couldn't see any problems.

Got back on the highway and it did it again about a half hour later.

It happened when we were going about 70 mph on route to asheville, NC.

Any places that will check the codes for me? How about code checkers any good deals on them around like walmart? or autozone?

Im thinking of doing a tuneup and changing the fuel filter cause we still have a long way to go till the pacific....

any advice?

 

[aldive]

Some auto parts stores such as Autozone, will do a code check for you.

Good luck ........

 

[00XLS]

a flashing check engine light usually means a misfire in the engine and yes autozone will check the codes for free. let us know what you find out. i see your from state college, you live there or going to school there?

 

[bills]

I used to live in state college. Im in the process of moving to cali.

I hooked the ground up and attempted to read the codes.

I think Im getting the following codes if I reading them correctly:

118
217
112?
172
173
111
117

Im not sure if Im reading these correctly. Ill try again later.

Much thanks for any responses.

We were driving for about 8 hours when this happened and were going up pretty good in altitude...

 

[MrShorty]

Try reading those codes again. Most of those are valid codes, but they don't seem quite right. You can't get a 111 pass code in the same set as you get other codes. Also, each set of codes (KOEO, CM) should repeat itself once, with a separator pulse in between the KOEO and CM codes.

 

[bills]

I got the codes checked at autozone. When they checked it they got codes 172 / 173. Bank 1 O2 sensor rich / lean.

Whats that mean?

Why isn't the light staying on all the time?

While I was there I picked up the hayes manual and a set of plugs and a fuel filter.

 

[MrShorty]

'm going to assume that the folks at Autozone didn't bother to perform the KOER test, and therefor assume that those are memory codes. Can I also assume it passed the KOEO test?

CM 172/CM173 is a very interesting combination. 172 points to a lean O2 sensor signal, 173 points to a rich O2 sensor signal. An interesting contradiction. Is the O2 sensor really sometimes getting stuck indicating rich and other times indicating lean? Here's what I'd do.

1) Be sure to do the KOER test and report any codes. KOER codes are real time "here and now" codes rather than some time in the past, which can make them easier to diagnose. Be sure to preheat the O2 sensor so you don't get a false KOER 172.

2) Clear the CM codes (pull the jumper wire during KOEO/CM code output) and see which one comes back.

3) In the spirirt of preliminary checks, it wouldn't hurt to make sure there are no obvious electrical faults between the O2 sensor and the computer.

 

[bills]

I beleive they did both they test. He had me run the car for about a minute while his computer was checking the codes.

Perhaps the o2 didn't have time to heat up so thats why I got the codes???

I changed the plugs, they definatly needed. This seems to have fixed a stumble / hesitation / miss I was seeing at lower RPM while under low throttle.

I also ran a bottle of fuel system cleaner / treatment through a tank of gas.

The light flashed on and off, and then has been off since Asheville, NC. I'm in St. Louis now and will be on my way to Kansas City later today.

As far as I can tell the flash on and off is gone.

It only seemed to happen after 70 MPH, after many hours of driving.

Im thinking the sensor may be getting ready to die, but if anyone has any more thoughts I would appriciate.

Ill let you know how It goes.