Please Help! CEL Flashing and then Steady On

[Protege__Owner]

I'm driving a 2001 Protege ES, currently 90,000 miles on it.

Recently, within the past two months or so, my CEL light would start flashing as I'm driving on the highway (about 10 flashes) and then it would stay on steady. At the time the flashing CEL came on, I would notice a sudden decrease in power, but once it stopped flashing and stayed steady, the car would lurch ahead a little and regain the power again? After the light was on for about one day, it would disappear. And somewhere down the line, it would come back again flashing and then steady. I've noticed that it usually happens when I'm below half tank of gas. Has anyone experienced this before? Should I worry about this? What could be the problem?

[mickeyreategui]

maybe, could be injectors dirty????

[CrazyCaker]

It's most likely your EGR valve sticking open, or your coils could need replacing.

[terbow]

flashing MIL is bad. it usually means whatever is happening needs immediate attention.

[Protege__Owner]

Should I continue driving the car now? How safe is it to drive the vehicle? I filled her up with full tank of gas and CEL goes off. When the light is off, the car runs fine. Don't feel any rough idling, bogging, or stutter. Usually, when the gas is below half a tank, I'll start getting the blinking CEL to steady CEL and it would stay on for about a day or two and disappear. Will I do any damage if I continue to use the car?

[patsfan4life]

Take it to autozone or discount and get them to read the OBD code. find out what it is and take it from there. I'd do that first thing in the morning.

[Mr. 4500 RPM]

it means your fucked! lol jk good luck though

[kudakev615]

the cel will flash when the cats reach 2500 degrees. at that point you risk melting the honey comb mesh of the cat solid. id get this checked out ASAP and not dirve it anymore

[terbow]

a good rule of thumb is if its flashing its bad. i woudlnt drive it. could be misfiring bad, could be the cat, but either way its not good. find out what it is.

[Herkie]

My car did the same thing. I needed to replace my #2 cylinder wires and coil and my valve cover gasket. Oil was leaking into the cylinder and causing the misfire. About $600 (and My 01 only has 70K miles). The mechanic said the Mazda dealer had a lot of coils in stock so this is a pretty common repair (but that doesn't mean I liked paying for it!). Good luck. I was able to drive it to the garage w/o any problem but I did have the wife following in case.

Funny enough, the next day the CEL went on steady again. My mech checked the computer and said it was catalitic converter but it might just be the change in weather. He reset it and said it might not go back on...it did. Oh well-it's just money right?!?!

[Kansei]

don't drive with flashing CEL, don't do it! DANGER TO TEH MANIFOLD!! (like the caturday pic haha)

but yeah, flashing is bad bad bad, so if you can at all avoid it don't drive the car. It's more than likely a coil pack or plug wire issue.

[red95_240sx]

yeah flashing= misfiring