Check Engine Light

[Robert Stamps]

Yesterday my check engine lite on my 02 started flashing (and still is!) and the engine is now idleing a little sluggish. Any suggestions as to what might be my problem?

Thanks



Bob

 

[EddieS'04]

Go to a parts store and get your codes read. Report the cade numbers back on here.

Also the codes are in the FAQ section.



Still post here. Many experianced folks on the site.

 

[Steve McKellop]

If the check engine light is flashing you're in immediate danger of destroying your cats . You must have a dead miss, plug or wire usually!



Edit: corrected my big mistake!

 

[scott degroot]

A flashing check engine light means that you are experiencing a misfire so severe that it can damage the catalytic converter..not really anything to do with the O2 sensors

 

[Steve McKellop]

I believe I covered the cats.

 

[Kevin Lang]

A flashing check engine light means that you are experiencing a misfire so severe that it can damage the catalytic converter..

I had this for a while, and it turned out that somehow my #4 plug had gotten cracked



The thing was, that the light really only flashed under hard acceleration or hills...which for where I was driving my ST at the time, didn't happen often. I just forgot about it until I tried to drive across I-68 (Appalachia) in western MD, those mountains were murder on my ST. 3000 RPM max on the hills, and the only way to climb the hills was to flagrantly speed on the downhills, and then crawl up the hills, flooring the pedal to even get close to 55 mph. It sucked, and it's not an experience I'd wish on anyone. It's embarrassing to be getting passed by 18 wheelers going uphill.



I also had the infamous PCV elbow crack at the same time, and naively thought that the PCV elbow crack was also throwing the 4th code I was reading, and when I replaced the elbow with heater hose & still had the error I thought it was the heater hose. When I replaced the heater hose with the real Ford hose, and I saw the error still on the scanner, I realized I was wrong, and that the code was for #4 misfire



My ST still runs well, and I still get decent MPG (for a truck), so I doubt I damaged my catalytic converters, but I'm not an expert on it. Though I drove with that occasional blinking light for a long time, so there's a pretty good chance I'd say of a speedy repair now not causing any real damage.

 

[scott degroot]

The flashing check engine light doesn't mean that you are actually damaging the cats, it means that the conditions are right for catalytic converter damage to occur.