NEED HELP QUICK!!! CEL light on need to fix now!!

Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives

last night on my way home, my Check Engine Light came on, it was flashing (with about a second in between the flashes), the light was yellowish (i don't know if it lights up different like the coolant light does, but it was yellow) and then i noticed major hesitation in acceleration and revs in neutral. When i had my resonator removed it was clamped on and not welded in, but that was a year ago and it's been fine, it's just now starting to get surface rust on it. anyway, i haven't changed the plugs or wires since i had the car (i know i know) but i don't think that would cause the check engine light to come on would it? Is it a bad plug or wire you think? Oh, and when i rev the car, you can hear exhaust gasses escaping out of the section with the pipe that is replacing the resonator. would that cause the major hesiation, it's taking off as if it's not hitting all 6 cylinders, probably not even 5, it puts and shakes from the puts that it does from acceleration, sorry if this doesn't make any sense, but i'm in a hurry typing this and need to have this fixed by tonight or sunday the latest. This morning when i started it up the light didn't flash it just stayed on, and it was the same color still.

i'm thinking it could be one or some of the following:
*plugs
*wires
*cap
*pipe that replaced the resonator that wasn't welded in, just fitted and clamped with the "U bolts"
*God getting me back for something i did that i shouldn't have done.

Oh and the engine seems pretty hot, hotter than normal lately, but the temp gauge reeds between the O and the R on the gauge. And when i listen to the engine from under the hood, it sounds fine, but when i rev it, it sounds like it's more from the exhaust and it kinda vibrates (a loose vibration, or a shake if you wanna call it that) Need help soon, sorry to put the pressure on but i need some advice quick.

My Fellow CEG'ers please

me

Rahmel

I believe the owner's manual says that if the CEL is flashing, it indicates a misfire; one or more spark plugs has been detected as not firing properly. How many miles to you have on your plugs? It could be bad plugs, wires, or coil. The CEL light is yellow; it doesn't change color.

Go to an Auto Zone and have the CEL read...that will point you in the right direction more than a bunch of guys tossing "fix-it" ideas at you....

there are a number of CEL codes..much more than a single misfire...

Originally posted by Beachboy:
I believe the owner's manual says that if the CEL is flashing, it indicates a misfire; one or more spark plugs has been detected as not firing properly. How many miles to you have on your plugs? It could be bad plugs, wires, or coil. The CEL light is yellow; it doesn't change color.

thanks for the reply Beachboy and mcgainer. Beachboy, i have 52k miles on the car, and when i got the car, it had 33k but i don't know when the owner replaced them or if they have been replaced ever, the wires are dark grey and look like they could be OEM (factory). We have a Autozone, Advance Auto parts and NAPA all within one mile from eachother and it's right around the corner from my house, which one should i go to? Should i go to all 3? and final question, is this "check" that they do free? if not how much?

Auto Zone doesn't charge you anything for diagnosis so if I were you I would take it there. Good luck man.

AAP and AZ do this as a free service. They plug the scanner in and read the codes. Try to get them to give you the exact codes numbers. These will be in the format of of PXXXX where XXXX is a 4 digit number for all 96 and newer cars.

As far as which one to go to, it's your choice.

Write down the exact code numbers (this is important, not just the descriptions of the codes) and post them here for analysis.

Do not purchase any parts from the store unless you are convinced that the parts store person knows what he/she is talking about. An ASE Certification badge is a good hint of what to look for.

The exhaust leak is not the cause of the CEL or any drivability problems.

Check BOTH cooling fans for operation with the AC on.

Steve

Wouldn't CEL be triggered by just being low on gas ?

Originally posted by Kirill:
Wouldn't CEL be triggered by just being low on gas?

No. Your CEL is not a gas gauge. Although it might be triggered if you run OUT of gas.

ok, well, i'm gonna go up to both places, they are right next too eachother, and see if they come up with the same thing. So when i go up there just keep note of what the PXXXX code is right, just that nothing else? What could be the cause of this just by guessing? So far i've come up with maybe it's a fuel pump (where is that by the way?) or plugs, or wires. Cause it feels like i'm only on 4 or 5 cylinders, i was low on gas when it happened my gas light was on but i don't see why that would cause the light to come on and the car to stutter (hesitate) in accelerations. I didn't drive it to work today just for safety reasons but all together i drove it about 5 miles (happened half way home) and haven't drove it since.

Don't bother guessing, just go get the codes read.

Chances are, the first store will reset the codes anyway, so only go to one.

Steve

ok, i went to Advance Auto Parts to get the check done, they said they don't do that anymore cause someone broke the machine to do it with, so i go down the street to Auto Zone and the guy had it checked for me in less than a minute, the code for it was 0302. So i guess that means it's P0302 and the machine said that it was "number 2 cylinder misfiring" so i go to buy some OE plugs and they only had 5 so i got them cause money is kinda tight at the moment and get them all in so far except for the #1 plug. and i got to start the car and see how it runs but, it still does it, so i start to get angry and then calm down and look over everything, i look at the #2 wire and it looks as if it may have been a spot for some arcing or burned from the UIM (which seems really hot for some reason since i changed my thermostat) so is it my wire, the number one wire looks to be burned from the intake manifold the plastic wrap around it is melted

Didn't I tell you to POST the codes BEFORE buying anything??

Originally posted by projectSHO89:
Didn't I tell you to POST the codes BEFORE buying anything??

i know i know, but it's ok, my friend works there and i got them with his discount so it wasn't anything to break the wallet. Did the guys in the "which spark plug is better" ever figure out what spark plug was the best for the svt's yet? i'll be getting some soon but dont know which ones to get. i think i'm gonna go with some ford motorsport wires also, what mm are the guys with svt using? 8? 9? i think the FMS wires are 9, i'm not sure, but i'm gonna use those till i get the money for the magnecore wires.

You said OEM plugs which ones did they give you?
Note here on the CEG bang fo the buck the Motorcraft double platium. "AGSF 32PPM or the Autolite equivilent. sorry brain lock. I know the Motorcraft cause I keep the one of the empty boxes on a shelf above the computer.
Anyhow I know for sure the plug works. My Ole laptop with www.obd-2.com software and have found misfires on new OEM plugs after a few thousand miles and not the misfires that would be bad enough to cause the CEL light to flash.
What this is is a test that is part of the OBD II mandate that monitors all the time and logs into the history. You can actually have misfires and not even tell it driving.
Anyhow after replacing OEMs, Bosch Platiums 15000 ago everytime I run the test not one misfire. The mileage on a trip went from 29.8 to 30.5 - 31.8 mpg. Which reminds me time to get the laptop out again the around town mileage is dropping time to run some tests.

Paul
98 Mystique LS (07/97)
DMD

hmm ok, well check this out, i got plugs and wires yesterday, and today i went to go start it up and see how it ran BIG MISTAKE!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know what's wrong with it now, the plugs are Autolite AP764 and the wires are Autolite 96644 I tried starting the car 4 times all together, the first time, it felt like it was running on about 2 cylinders, and the second time it wouldn't even turn over, the third time, there was a lil pop out of the exhaust, and the last time it wont even turn over now, almost like the battery is dead, but it's not. I have the plugs gapped at .054 I need to have this fixed asap, someone please help!!!!!!!!! i'm pretty sure i have the wires ran right.

I'll go out on a limb here and postulate that your plug wire connections at the coil are wrong.

Another limb, maybe - hydro lock?

I had a problem in a car a few years ago where a couple injector drivers in the PCM went full on all the time and filled 2 cylinders with fuel real fast. Engine won't crank no how under those condix + you can mess the engine's bottom end up BIG time if you continue to try to start it.

soooo???? I have the wires plugged by what the pack says, and i have the two grounds that mount with the pack also, i don't know if i'm thinkin to hard on this and overlookin a simple mistake but i'm really getting frustrated with this, i don't know what it is. If the part of the engine you mentioned is filling with fuel what will happen if i start the car? will it ignite or no? I wanted to have this done by friday night, and it's turned into a whole weekend just to change plugs and wires, i don't know why it's taking so long for this, i'm gettin tired of just lookin at it now.

Since this particular symptom developed immediately after you changed the plugs and wires, my previous comment stands as posted.

If you have not consulted a correct wiring and coil layout diagram, do so.

If your wire installation proves to be correct, start swapping old wires back in one at a time. You may have a defective wire in the new set.

Hopefully, you did properly gap the plugs before installation.

ok, i rechecked the wires and gap size again (.054) and started the car up, it's running but it's back to how it was again when it started missing, it's not as bad as it was when it was first missing but, it's missing, i checked the vaccum lines and i also put in some fuel injector cleaner and it still misses. i'm gonna do the individual wire swap projectsho89 and see if that's it, thanks for your info so far, i really appreciate it, is there any way i can take it back up to auto zone and see if they can do it really fast by testing the wires while the car runs? I seen it done before on Crank and Chrome (mechanic show on tv) and they took some tester device and touched it against each wire as they were lookin for the bad one and found it, would auto zone have this or no? I'm also thinkin it's the wires cause the boots on them are funky, they don't go right in like the motorcraft or even the factory wires did, you gotta wiggle'em around and then push and feel for the snap instead of just pushing them right in and getting the snap right away.

does anyone else have some ideas? cause i gotta get this done by tonight the latest, I have a E0 SVT and it's missing somewhere, i bought new wires and plugs (some supposedly OE replacements by Autolite, i know iknow, but money is tight now, this is just temporary) and it's running but missing, i put in some injector cleaner and that's it so far, only ran the car for about 10min. altogether since it's been acting funny (missing)

oh, and when i slightly rev the engine from the engine bay i hear a weird almost clicking noise from what i believe is the EGR valve, i can't really describe it but it sounds just like the noise a metal detector makes but without the high pitched noise. You know how the metal detectors that you walk around with kinda like a weed wacker sound? well, it is just like that, but like i said, no high pitch noise that it makes when you found somethin. Ok i just read what i put back to my self and that was the dumbest comparison i have ever made in my life but, it's all i could think of lol, anyway, someone help a brotha out please

nothing huh??

i need this fixed tonight.

Funny, I am having the exact same problem, just with cylinder #4 instead of #2. I can't come up with [censored].

Help?

Ok i figured it out, it's my coil pack, after spending the money on plugs and wires, i tested the pack and it was the pack. So, thanks for the help guys