Blinking check engine light

[MuddyREX]

Soooooooo, who can tell me what a blinking CEL means.

Hit max boost (15psi), CEL starts blinking, and now the car is sputtering like mad. Really lumpy idle and it revs very poorly. If I try to accellerate at all, the whole car shakes and it feels like there is a 5,000lb trailer I behind my car.

Any reccommendations?

I'm at work, and I'll try to check this thread periodically. Thanks.

[mr_eh]

usually a misfire when it's blinking... sounds like it from what you described too

[D Money]

Misfire I think.

[RayArroyo]

i would start by checking your plugs and wires

[Orbit]

I second that. check plugs and coils.

i would start by checking your plus and wires

[TROLL]

i dont know if its been said, but it might be misfire.


haha jk... yeah flashing cel is bad.

[MuddyREX]

Thanks.

I tried up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-B-A-start, and it doesn't go away.

[BroomallSTi]

Thanks.

I tried up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-B-A-start, and it doesn't go away.

HAHAHA, wow you are such an a**hole but that is funny!!!:rotfl: :rotfl:

[wgknestrick]

Thanks.

I tried up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-B-A-start, and it doesn't go away.

No stealing my lines.

Doesn't the UTec flash the CEL for knock too? My Hydra does that, but I think it was stolen from the Utec (I've never used one).

[Intercooled T]

are you leaking coolant? start pulling plugs, if you pull one when the car is running and there is no difference in idle, you found your misfire.

i'm willing to bet you blew a headgasket, and you don't have to be leaking to have a blown one. just my opinion

lots of knock (if u had it) at full boost = possible hg

[MuddyREX]

No knocks, pings, or other engine noises that I don't hear every day.

Here's the deal. I just drove home from work, and experienced a few things along the way.

1. Turbo seems WAY loud. As soon as it creeps past 1psi of boost, the turbo seems to be making an audibly loud "fluttering" noise. The whole car shakes as soon as the turbo tries to make boost.
2. The BOV is venting a LOT more air than normal. The BOV that I have is 50% vent and 50% recirculation. All it wants to do is vent.
3. When I got home and opened the hood, the turbo was glowing RED hot. Keep in mind that I was babying the car the entire ride home.

Blown turbo?

[Ender81]

If you have the Utec and it's flashing I am pretty sure it's Knock.

[Renegade_]

Check your entire ignition setup and your injectors.

If your turbo is glowing red hot something has to be happening inside the motor. The coldside won't get hot from just pulling **** in because the air coming in is well... cold. Maybe your engine isn't detonating all the fuel and it gets shot out into the manifold detonating in the turbo (or at least burning... kind of like ****ty anti-lag). Maybe you have a cracked injector where it's running uber rich in one cylinder causing it to bog when you gun it, or your coil pack/wires/plugs are fried where it won't detonate properly causing a mis-fire and shooting excess fuel into the manifold.

Why would your BOV want to vent more anyway? Check all your connections, maybe your BOV is stuck partially open. And what does the fluttering sound like? Compressor surge?

This is just a guess, I really have no idea.

[sisforsurfing]

No knocks, pings, or other engine noises that I don't hear every day.

Here's the deal. I just drove home from work, and experienced a few things along the way.

1. Turbo seems WAY loud. As soon as it creeps past 1psi of boost, the turbo seems to be making an audibly loud "fluttering" noise. The whole car shakes as soon as the turbo tries to make boost.
2. The BOV is venting a LOT more air than normal. The BOV that I have is 50% vent and 50% recirculation. All it wants to do is vent.
3. When I got home and opened the hood, the turbo was glowing RED hot. Keep in mind that I was babying the car the entire ride home.

Blown turbo?

Everything else sounds like a misfire, but what you describe there sounds like a leak between your turbo and t/b. Loud turbo noise is the air escaping, etc, my car did that when I forgot to tighten the bolts on my bypass valve:(


Regardless, good luck.

[teh DIRT]

chris,
a glowing turbo could definitly caused by the misfire. High EGT's caused by a misfire could do tihis. Also unburnt fuel can be entering the turbo. Either way it isnt good. Blinking check engine light means misfire for sure.

[UnderPoweredRS]

i would start by checking your plus and wires

:ROFL:

[sisforsurfing]

chris,
a glowing turbo could definitly caused by the misfire. High EGT's caused by a misfire could do tihis. Also unburnt fuel can be entering the turbo. Either way it isnt good. Blinking check engine light means misfire for sure.
I should think more before I post, I didn't even pay attention to the glowing turbo part, just overspinning/loud.
My fault, carry on.

[grimm]

yeah flashing cel is bad.
Yea I would try not to drive it, but could be something as simple as a loose connector on a coil pack, to something as bad as a HG.

glowing turbos may look cool, but I don't think thats a good thing, whatever it is if you keep driving it that way, it's going to make beigger problems.

[Intercooled T]

i had the fluttering problem when my stock turbocharger seal on my grand national went. I couldn't build boost at all and past 5psi the whole car would shake and had the engine light on. did you notice any oil in the exhaust?

if your turbo went bad, and you're trying to build boost, you could be spiking without knowing it and causing the knock people are speaking of. that may explain why your turbo was glowing red, just a theory. check for oil in your dp or exhaust

[Renegade_]

I wouldn't be surprised if it started with something as simple as a plug/ignition wire going bad, leading to a rich condition causing excess fuel to burn in the turbo. If it is red hot I would get it checked out professionally as all the seals are made to hold up to high heat, but normally turbos that are red hot are operating outside of parameters. This could fry a few things. If you turbo was red hot and you shut the car off, you could have killed the turbo by just doing that (really, really hot turbo could burn up the oil inside thus killing it).

Other than fuel burning inside the turbo I don't know of anything that could make it glow that hot other than if all of a sudden an oil line cut off and all the friction just killed the compressor.

[MuddyREX]

Hey did anyone say misfire?

Cyliders 1 & 4 are misfiring. Will be replacing plugs and coils.

You guys are so smartly.

On a side note, who wants to help me install an up-pipe?

[mr_eh]

Hey did anyone say misfire?

Cyliders 1 & 4 are misfiring. Will be replacing plugs and coils.

You guys are so smartly.

On a side note, who wants to help me install an up-pipe?

before replacing anything i'd recommend switching injectors 1 & 4 with 2 & 3 and see if you misfire in cylinders 2 & 3...

i say this because i told my mechanic it was a clogged injector (just a hunch, told him to check), after he replaced my coils, spark module, plugs, etc... he checked the injectors and it was clogged

[MuddyREX]

Hmmmm. I'll do that.

[Buster]

I wouldnt put a glogged injector past it, with this new crap gas. Check your tubo hoses also, if the turbo is loud like that than it could be open. If not, Ivan is selling a quite nice VF30.

[MuddyREX]

OK, to finish the thread.

Replaced plugs and coilpacks. Car works great again, so thanks everybody.

[JoeScooby]

What kind of plugs did you stick in dere?