Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Hi guys Need some advice

I know that there is already a post here with CEL questions, but mine is different I HOPE!!!! I am not looking into putting no $1000 into my car..
Again its a 1999 Mystique SE.. Problem, last week we hit
-35 degrees celcius here, I was told it was close to -40 with the wind chill, this was for like 3 days.. Now, every morning my car started and was great, except for day 2, on day 2 the CEL light started flashing then went out, day three it was just on. Today it is still on, has not flashed since.. The car seems to be running fine, the fluid levels are all good, one thing I have noticed which is very odd is the car is not moosing anymore, it use to have the moose every morning.. I guess the question I have for the board is this, any advice as too what I can do to attempt to solve the CEL without taking it to a dealer, secondly I am in Eastern Ontario so we don't have the fancy places that you US folks are talking about that will do free code reads at least I haven't found any here, I live in a small town south of Ottawa.. The car has 101367 km on it and has had all the required preventitive maintenance to this point, I am wondering and have wondered since it turned 100,000 if I should change the plugs and wires I am assuming that they are original ( could this be the problem)?. Also I am hearing alot about the O2 sensors could these be causing it, and if so are they cheap to buy and easy to install myself, I am somewhat mechanically inclined any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. BTW I finally got myself a Repair manual, problem is it only goes to '98 but I figured my car being a '99 was likely built in 98 anyway, all the pics and explainations are the same.. I think..
Thanks guys and gals for taking the time to read this..

Soon, everyone will need their own code reader.

Perhaps you can locate someone up there with one.
Post a request in the Eastern Canada forum.

A flashing CEL means one or more cylinders is currently missing spark. The exact cylinder is stored in a code.

Since a number of things can affect the Moose, we would only be guessing unless there were symptoms or the codes are checked.

Some "mom and pop" garages in CANADIA will run codes for free. My cousin lives in Maine, but works in Canada and takes his car to a shop that does this for free. You might just call around.