Hey everyone,

I did a relatively hard pull/acceleration when getting onto the highway yesterday and noticed the check engine light flashed on an off afterwards for about a minute.

I also noticed the car seemed to be running a bit rough at idle. A lot more vibration than normal. I only drove it another minute or two before parking. When I came back a few hours later and started it back up, there was no check engine light and it seemed/seems to be running normally.

Anyone had a similar experience? I figured it may have been a misfire during the hard acceleration? I don't have an OBD-II reader so wasn't able to read the code (if one was stored).

Thanks!

 

You can get a basic Bluetooth OBD2 dongle on Amazon for $10 and use it with the free version of TorquePro to read and erase codes. I would start there if you don't want to layout $40-$100+ for a more capable model. Or, there is always autozone or similar that will read your code. That said some Fs seem to have an allergic reaction to some readers, so if you have it read out, be sure to shut the car off an on a few times incase you need to clear a new code to restart the car.

If I had to guess blind, I'd say a weak ignition coil or marginal spark plug causing a misfire would be high on the list.

 

Also, I believe the manual says that for a blinking CEL, don't continue to drive the car. Does sound like it cleared itself.

 

When the MIL is flashing, catalyst damage is occurring. Find and correct the misfire(s).

 

If the dealer isn't too far away, just call them and ask them if they can read the codes. If it's a good dealer, they won't charge you for just pulling the codes. They'll also make sure to use a OBD reader that won't mess with the car (and cause battery drain).

 

+1.

 

That's not enough to get rid of the "allergic reaction" (I still contend it's a software defect that will never be addressed). The battery module needs to be reset by disconnecting the battery for 15 seconds or so and reconnecting. Multiple stop/start cycles won't do it. The system won't go to sleep on shutdown and will drain the battery.

 

Two maybe three times now when I turned out of a particular petrol/gas station I used to use onto a semi-blind bend, and I sunk the right welly, the car suddenly went into "dynamic mode unavailable" mode. Never happened any other time, only ever at that particular gas station after filling up (with 100 octane), and no CEL flashing or otherwise that I can recall. The only way to invoke dynamic mode afterwards was to stop the car, turn it off then restart. Who knows what was going on, it has me stumped.
I stopped using that particular gs station some months ago as they stopped selling 100 octane, I got the impression I was the only one who ever used that pump, maybe there's the answer - old/stale gas!

 

QOTD?

 

Assuming you mean "question of the day", it means in Murican "I put the pedal to the metal".
It's a Pommy term but as I frequent the Pommy Jaginfo forum I use a few of their idioms.

 

Multiple on/off cycles aren't meant to to clear it, but to trigger it if its going to be triggered. Hopefully. Before you are stranded on your way home or in your garage without an easy way to reset the car.

 

I meant it as "Quote Of The Day" because I liked the turn of phrase. Not sure about Pommies but it amused me, and that's pretty much the highest praise I can give.

 

I'm not sure what you mean.

The OBDC issue is that when some (most?) OBDC devices are plugged in to the port, the system will never properly shut off, even after multiple on/off cycles.

 

Thanks for the responses everyone!

Like I mentioned, the CEL blinker on and off for a minute and then went off before turning the car off. Once I turned it off and back on a few hours later, the CEL was still not appearing and seemed to be driving normally.

I’ll definitely plan on stopping at the local dealer to have them see if a code shows up.

Also, as someone mentioned I did stop and get some gas earlier in the day at a station I had never been to before. Seemed like the pump was having some issues staying engaged and as though there was a lot of air coming in with the gas from the pump if that makes sense? Anyway, I don’t think I’ll be filling up there again anytime soon but also not sure that has anything to do with what I experienced.

Will post an update if a code shows up at the dealer.

 

Wouldn't amuse us PBs as it's part of "normal" colloquial speech over here. Though "give/gave it some welly" is the more usual form.

 

I was with my Maxicom MK808BT never having the problem that car was not going into sleep mode.
But with a cheaper Handy thingy also not. So I think that they resolved this problem on later versions,
as I have an MY20. Perhaps even on MY earlier. So people from 17-18 on could perhaps confirm ?

 

Yes this has happened to me. I would say in your case, you had an injector stuck open, then became unstuck. In my case the injector stayed stuck, was misfiring horribly, my CEL never went out and I didn't drive it, other than to get off the road to a safe location.

 

Well, was driving it into work today and noticed it seemed a little off (seemed normal on the drive home the day the first CEL flashes on and off). Seemed to be vibrating more than usual during acceleration.

About 20 minutes into the drive on the highway, CEL came on and stayed on on and started to run noticeably rough. Pulled over at the first exit, turned it on and off and the CEL stayed on. Seemed to run a little better after the restart so I drove it over to the nearest shop which is fortunately across the street from my office.

They are going to diagnose and let me know. Hoping nothing major 🤞

 

Make sure you ask to see the CEL OBD code. Something as simple as a weak coil or increasing spark plug gap can drop a cylinder and run rough. These are cheap easy fixes for which they can charge thousands of dollars if you make it clear you are not going to check and confirm their path foward.

 

I knew exactly what it meant but had never heard it before, hence my amusement.