Check Engine Light

For 97 Aerostar. While I'm looking for the manual, I thought I'd ask what is a common cause of the light coming on. I noticed it was flashing (never seen that before) then stopped flashing and from then on is on solid. Check all the sensors I could find and connections look OK. Oil, oil pressure, coolant, temp, trans fluid, PS, brake fluid all look OK.

Reply to
Guv Bob
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common cause of the light coming on. I noticed it was flashing (never seen that before) then stopped flashing and from then on is on solid. Check all the sensors I could find and connections look OK. Oil, oil pressure, coolant, temp, trans fluid, PS, brake fluid all look OK. You need to have the code pulled - could be anything from a loose gas cap to a bad cat to any of 100 or more other conditions in betwen.

Reply to
clare

a common cause of the light coming on. I noticed it was flashing (never seen that before) then stopped flashing and from then on is on solid. Check all the sensors I could find and connections look OK. Oil, oil pressure, coolant, temp, trans fluid, PS, brake fluid all look OK.

ummm - Flashing check engine lights are baaaaaaad.....as in stop driving immediately bad. A flashing light usually mean that you'll screw up your engine if you keep driving it while it's doing it. I had it happen to me....once....on my F150 and found it was a misfire on a cylinder. When I when and checked, I found the spark plug had backed out about 2 full turns. That could have been nasty.

I cut and pasted this which is a little more in-depth with other reasons....

During misfire, raw fuel is being passed through your vehicle?s engine. This fuel actually ignites and starts a fire in your exhaust manifold and catalyst. This drives the temperatures up in excess of 1000?C causing the ceramic in your catalytic converter to begin melting. It can crack your exhaust manifold, damage sensors, and much more. If you see a flashing check engine light, you need to act IMMEDIATELY to save your vehicle and a lot of money.

The second type of misfire is a Type-B misfire. This means that your vehicle is misfiring enough to cause the emissions from your vehicle to be over 1.5 times the emission standard. While it?s less severe than Type-A, you still need to address this failure quickly. Small misfire can lead to big misfire very easily.

Misfire is a very serious problem and one you should never ignore. The fault codes that you will see for misfire are:

P0300- Random/Multiple Cylinder Misfire Detected

P03nn ? Cylinder nn Misfire Detected where nn is a 2 digit number (01,

02?11, 12) indicating the cylinder in your vehicle 1-12.

P0313 ? Misfire detected due to low fuel level

P0314 - Misfire detected single Cylinder not determined

P0315 -Misfire Detected due to crankshaft position sensor

P0316 ? Misfire detected during engine startup

The most common method for detecting misfire is called crank pulse fluctuation. At an engine speed of 7,000 rpm, your vehicle?s computer is processing 2,800 crank pulses every second! The onboard computer works with the crank pulse sensor to look for fluctuations in the signal to determine if your engine is misfiring. It then triggers the check engine light if it sees a problem.]

Reply to
IYM

what is a common cause of the light coming on. I noticed it was flashing (never seen that before) then stopped flashing and from then on is on solid. Check all the sensors I could find and connections look OK. Oil, oil pressure, coolant, temp, trans fluid, PS, brake fluid all look OK.

Thanks. Tried to find a way online to read with a jumper and meter but no success. Heading to the local independent parts place who will read it for free. Autozone, Kragen/O'Reilly, etc. used to do it but not any longer. Pep Boys claims they do it for a fee, but the one here is dishonest.

Reply to
Guv Bob

ask what is a common cause of the light coming on. I noticed it was flashing (never seen that before) then stopped flashing and from then on is on solid. Check all the sensors I could find and connections look OK. Oil, oil pressure, coolant, temp, trans fluid, PS, brake fluid all look OK.

Type A

damage?

repair bills.

vehicle?s engine.

severe than

number (01,

computer is

Thanks. Is there a reason to run the engine at 7000 rpm? I think engine speed is around 2500-3000 at 60 mph.

Reply to
Guv Bob

I saw that, too, and would strongly advise you to NOT run your '97 engine at

7000RPM :-0 In my crystal ball, I see sudden expansion of the engine compartment, with lots of shrapnel following the loud bang :-(
Reply to
SC Tom

is a common cause of the light coming on. I noticed it was flashing (never seen that before) then stopped flashing and from then on is on solid. Check all the sensors I could find and connections look OK. Oil, oil pressure, coolant, temp, trans fluid, PS, brake fluid all look OK.

success. Heading to the local independent parts place who will read it for free. Autozone, Kragen/O'Reilly, etc. used to do it but not any longer. Pep Boys claims they do it for a fee, but the one here is dishonest.

You might live in one of the states that made it illegal for parts places to run those tests - the repair shops bribed the legislatures to pass a law outlawing it.

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

is a common cause of the light coming on. I noticed it was flashing (never seen that before) then stopped flashing and from then on is on solid. Check all the sensors I could find and connections look OK. Oil, oil pressure, coolant, temp, trans fluid, PS, brake fluid all look OK.

success. Heading to the local independent parts place who will read it for free. Autozone, Kragen/O'Reilly, etc. used to do it but not any longer. Pep Boys claims they do it for a fee, but the one here is dishonest.

With my 97 T-bird I got tired of guessing and bought the Actron OBD II PocketScan from Auto Zone (just under 50.00 IIRC) and it paid for itself quickly. The day before my smog deadline the engine started missing badly. I had no idea what it was. The scaner told it was the #4 cylinder. For the first time since I bought the car new I had somehow managed to go through a puddle or something and the whole area was wet. Easy fix saved me a lot of grief.

Reply to
Socrates

Yea - Missed that as part of the cut & paste or I would have omitted it....lol Just wanted to capture the misfire info and missed the last paragraph...

They used to do that at the junk yards by me when I was a kid. Some of the guys during lunch would take a clunker that came in, where they weren't going to get anything for the engine, jack up the back and put a brick on the gas pedal. Then they would place bets on how long it would last before a piston shot out....Loser would have to buy lunch the next day. lol

Reply to
IYM

is a Type A

?mechanical damage?

four-digit repair

vehicle?s engine.

severe than

vehicle?s computer is

LOL!! I miss the good old days.

Reply to
Guv Bob

what is a common cause of the light coming on. I noticed it was flashing (never seen that before) then stopped flashing and from then on is on solid. Check all the sensors I could find and connections look OK. Oil, oil pressure, coolant, temp, trans fluid, PS, brake fluid all look OK.

Welp! The code was P0300 -- Random Misfire. No other info. Once the code was cleared is has not yet returned. Auto parts dude recommended checking connections, and then if it comes up again, change spark plugs and wires.

Another mystery solved.

Reply to
Guv Bob

a common cause of the light coming on. I noticed it was flashing (never seen that before) then stopped flashing and from then on is on solid. Check all the sensors I could find and connections look OK. Oil, oil pressure, coolant, temp, trans fluid, PS, brake fluid all look OK.

was cleared is has not yet returned. Auto parts dude recommended checking connections, and then if it comes up again, change spark plugs and wires.

That doesn't sound "solved" to me. It sounds like you simply removed the visible symptom and are hoping it doesn't come back. It likely will.

Reply to
Tim J.

ask what is a common cause of the light coming on. I noticed it was flashing (never seen that before) then stopped flashing and from then on is on solid. Check all the sensors I could find and connections look OK. Oil, oil pressure, coolant, temp, trans fluid, PS, brake fluid all look OK.

the code was cleared is has not yet returned. Auto parts dude recommended checking connections, and then if it comes up again, change spark plugs and wires.

Yes, it would be nice to know the cause of the misfire. I'll check the gas mileage next time I fill up. Any suggestions how to go about it?

Reply to
Guv Bob

is a common cause of the light coming on. I noticed it was flashing (never seen that before) then stopped flashing and from then on is on solid. Check all the sensors I could find and connections look OK. Oil, oil pressure, coolant, temp, trans fluid, PS, brake fluid all look OK.

code was cleared is has not yet returned. Auto parts dude recommended checking connections, and then if it comes up again, change spark plugs and wires.

mileage next time I fill up. Any suggestions how to go about it?

Take it to a professional mechanic, not to some guy at a parts store. His "throw this at it and see if it works" attitude is typical of many of the parts counter crowd. Most consumer model code readers just pull the codes in memory but don't display the real time performance data from the onboard computers. That's where you need to start. Anything else would just be guessing, and you don't need any more of that.

Reply to
Tim J.

is a common cause of the light coming on. I noticed it was flashing (never seen that before) then stopped flashing and from then on is on solid. Check all the sensors I could find and connections look OK. Oil, oil pressure, coolant, temp, trans fluid, PS, brake fluid all look OK.

code was cleared is has not yet returned. Auto parts dude recommended checking connections, and then if it comes up again, change spark plugs and wires.

mileage next time I fill up. Any suggestions how to go about it?

Did the engine get wet? Was it foggy? Did you run the tank very low on fuel? Whatever caused the misfire was generalized, not specific - so we are not looking at a bad spark plug, a loose plug wire, or a bad injector

- and most likely not a swirrel or mouse chewed wiring harness.

Damp wires can cause it. Water in the fuel getting into the injectors could do it.This can be due to phase separation of alcohol blend fuels due to temperature, and can also be made worse by running a tank too close to empty.

There are apparently other conditions OTHER than an actual engine misfire that can trigger the 300 code. Things like a chattering lock-up converter on an automatic, or serious problems with accessory drives that throw harmonics into the crank. - or a bad crank or cam sensor.Or possibly a loose timing chain or bad chain tensioner.

The code is thrown when the computer senses a jitter in the signal from the (usually) cam sensor that does not co-incide with the firing of a particular spark plug.

Reply to
clare

ask what is a common cause of the light coming on. I noticed it was flashing (never seen that before) then stopped flashing and from then on is on solid. Check all the sensors I could find and connections look OK. Oil, oil pressure, coolant, temp, trans fluid, PS, brake fluid all look OK.

Once the code was cleared is has not yet returned. Auto parts dude recommended checking connections, and then if it comes up again, change spark plugs and wires.

the gas mileage next time I fill up. Any suggestions how to go about it?

Thanks. No water or dampness here, but I have run the tank nearly dry a couple of times in the last month. It's past due for a tune up - will take it in and let them check out this stuff.

Reply to
Guv Bob

Thanks. Tried to find a way online to read with a jumper and meter but no success. Heading to the local independent parts place who will read it for free. Autozone, Kragen/O'Reilly, etc. used to do it but not any longer. Pep Boys claims they do it for a fee, but the one here is dishonest.

{{

They still do it here in DFW. Might call the home office and ask a few pointed questions. My guess is someone local is playing game.

BTW where is 'here' as I know a few folk that are regional manages for several of these companies.

Reply to
NotMe

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