check engine light flashing?

Question

i have a 2000 chrysler cirrus.
the check engine light came on earlier today.
i found out what was wrong (spark plugs misfireing)
I haven't gotten it fixed though.
now the check engine light flashes sometimes.
it will flash for about 30 sec then just stay lit for 1-10 min then flash for 30 sec again.
why would it flash???

Answer 1

you can get a special key from AutoZone(free, I think) stick it in the ignition and it will flash a code for problem area. your owners manual will tell you what the flashing codes mean

Answer 2

Nothing to do with fluids. Flashing means you are misfiring and that's something that may be serious. A scan of the code at this point will just tell you what cylinder is misfiring and I bet there's more than one. Did you put lower grade gas? That and the heat could cause this. It could also be a bad fuel filter, bad spark plugs or bad injectors. Happens a lot as the weather starts to get hot out. I would go have the car checked out because there are many possible causes and it could get costly replacing parts that may not fix the problem. You might get lucky but it's best to have it taken care of and stop driving if it continues as misfiring can damage the engine easily.

Answer 3

Mouse is so dumb! A flashing CHECK ENGINE light means you have a misfire so severe it can damage your catalytic converter. Lights don't just come on just to come on. You have a problem and you need to take care of it. And forget auto zone, they don't know nothing. Any idiot Can plug a scanner and pull the code but it takes years of experience and proper equipment to interpret the code and finding the root cause of the problem. It might just be spark plugs misfiring or it can be the ignition coil boots arking as well or maybe the coils themselves that are bad? Maybe your tune - up is expensive if the upper intake needs to come off to replace the back plugs but that is cheaper compared to replacing an OBD2 catalytic converter. So have it diagnosed right before you really mess something up. As for little mousy her car may run o.k. now because the computer is making the adjustments so that the vehicle will run o.k. but in the long run she is gong to have more problems

Answer 4

I had a flashing check engine light and it was because the head gasket had had burned up from a burned valve. Was loosing compression I'm cyl 3 and 4 and that was causing bad misfire. I'm hoping for your sake it's not that, but that's what happened to me

Answer 5

flashing check engine light means that the misfire going on is damaging your catalytic converter. By all means get the catalyst damaging misfire fixed A.S.A.P or spend lots more money replacing the destroyed catalytic converter after you fix the cause of the misfire.

Answer 6

take your vehicle to a auto zone and they will for free see why the check engine lights on. Most of the time they say its the o2 sensor, thats because the machine is not sure. Mine has been on for 4 months and has nothing wrong with it, sometimes them lights come on for no reason. good luck to you. But really go to auto zone and tell them you need your check engine light tested. also you can take the battery cables off for 10 minnutes and then put them back on and see how long you go b4 the light comes back on. Sometimes you have to reset your light by doing this!

Answer 7

If the check engine light comes on the best thing for you to do is to call a mechanic.... It may be nothing or it can be a huge problem.....

Answer 8

I agree with magikmann and j00lsoils 100%.

Answer 9

most likely various kinds of faults are being sent. If you are SURE the problem has been corrected, you can often reset the light by disconnecting the battery, and then reconnecting it.

Answer 10

COMPUTER SENSED MISFIRE, NOW CLEAR CODES.