Ever have the service engine light flash at during driving?

[jmgtp]

I'm asking this for someone else... not my car

its a 96 GP DOHC
SES was flashing while she was driving. I told her to have autozone check the code for her but I've never heard of the SES flashing before? An OBDII thing?

The ONLY time mine flashed was when I started the car with the aldl shorted (like when you read codes) and I believe the flashing I observed was the o2 signal.

[JasonZ34]

If the SES light is flashing i would shuit off the engine right then. Its usually VERY bad. I would see if someone has an OBDII reader. If she has to drive it do not drive it far.

Addly if your ABS light is flashing it's not bad but if it stays on then its a bad issue.

[BowtieKid79]

On some of the OBD II cars, the light will flash if the problems gets worse. Was it on before? Usually they will stay on when there is a problem and then start flashing if the problem gets worse or if the problem has not been corrected in a long time.

[Streetrodder83]

When the light is flashiing it means you have a misfire on a cylinder, if you have access to a OBD II scan tool, you can find out which cylinder it's on. Jason is correct in that it is very bad and if the car has to be driven it should be driven less than 5 miles and that's to the shop. And it is an OBD II thing.

[BowtieKid79]

Other problems will also cause it to flash. not just a misfire, but if it wasnt on to start with and then it started flashing, that is the most likely problem.

[Streetrodder83]

The MIL will only flash for a Type A Misfire, and it will flash about once a second. It will go off when the % of misfires in a 200 rev period have been met that will cause catalyst damage and is a 1 trip monitor. The type B misfire the MIL will iluminate steadily. The type B measures the % of misfires in 1000 revs, and is a 2 trip monitor. All other monitors illuminate steadily. The only thing that I can say I even remotely like about OBD II is that it can it can single out systems on its own to find the malfunctioning part, otherwise it's a PITA. Not that there is really much we can do with OBD II on our cars, but it might be nice to have something up on the site with general info on the monitors.

[bud36light]

This happened to me(actually my wife) while on a trip. She failed to notice the ADD COOLANT light displayed in front of her but did notice the flashing SES right away? Anyway short story is leaky head gasket fouled a plug. Changed plugs no no flashing SES. Added coolant , no red light. New heater core and head gaskets, no leak no more fouled plugs or lights.

[Green96GTPchick]

Hey, I am the one he posted who had the flashing SES light, I had it diagnosed as a code P0302, Cylinder misfire. The guy at Autozone told me to change the plugs and wires, check the core and distributar. However I did not think that the DOHC had a distributor or am I wrong? Anyway, anything else that I need to check or look after please let me know. Thnks for all your help.


Jackie

[SappySE107]

Probably just plugs and wires then, the coil packs generally dont go bad but it does happen. No distributor to deal with, its all electronic.

[Streetrodder83]

You should find the problem on the #2 cylinder.

[jimmy91444]

why #2????
funny !! when my engine broked down #2 was defective

[Streetrodder83]

Because the code tells you it P is a powertrain code 0 means its an SAE controlled code, 3 means ignition, then 02 means the 2 cylinder. 01 would be 1, 03 would be 3, and so on and so forth.

[jimmy91444]

make sense when you know it

[Homer]

SES light only flashes under conditons that will harm the engine. Such as Type A misfire, or a few type Bs in a row, or even the cooling fan not turing on when its commanded to(that happened to me before).

[Green96GTPchick]

Thank you. Next how hard is it to get at the back of the engine?