Flashing check engine light?
 

Today I fired up my 96 Miata and as I drive down the road something seems odd right away. I hear what sounds like a faint clicking noise and on acceleration, it seems like it would stumble/bog down. Then as soon as I know it, I see a flashing check engine light. Obviously this worries me and I turn around and park her right back in the garage.

The same thing happened the other day, but with no CEL. But then it went away until now again. Hopefully this doesn't have to do with my cutting out the old alarm system that didn't work anyway.

Can someone help me out here?

I dont no what it is but when the light flashes its not good.

Lol, I already assumed that.

Yes, nearly any auto parts store can. Tell them you want them to plug in the scanner and give you a list of the stored codes. Most shops will do this for free.

I planned on doing that, but I'm worried about driving ~3 miles to the closest one when the car runs like crap and has a flashing CEL. After doing a little browsing, I've seen things such as plugs/wires/coilpack. And if I drive the car as it it can burn up my cat. Ahh, this isn't looking good, especially since I'm a poor college kid.

Harbor Freight sells scanners for 30 bux. Get one

Flashing CEL is usually a "misfire" code. It does so to indicate that it is a severe problem and you need to stop before you destroy your cat converter.

Misfire, I'm going to use my ouija board and guess bad coilpack.

Anytime you get a flashing CEL you have BAD mis fire Dont drive long with it mis firing if you have a cat or you will need a new one.

My car just likes to fail on me all at once. Everything just needs fixing. Anyone know where I can get a new coilpack for a 96? Hell, anyone in the area that wants to help out, please feel free. I'm stuck right now and I'm just getting sick of alla this.

And if my cat dies, I'll probably replace it with a 2.5" test pipe for ~$70.

These guys are guessing.

Walk to your nearest autoparts store (3mi?).
Rent (buy) the scanner.
Walk home, scan car.
Report back with findings.
Fix issue.
Drive to Autoparts store.
Return scanner for full refund.

No guessing here. A flashing CEL is a misfire.

Yeah, Martinez et al. are correct. I just checked the FSM, and the only five DTC that are listed as flashing the MIL are Random Misfire plus the four specific misfire codes.

Might be as simple as a fouled spark plug or an old plug wire.

Has this happened before? a 3 mile trip isnt going to wreck your cat.
Scan it. the flashing is usually multi misfire. Its an easy fix.Get codes and come back here.

When I was younger and more foolish, I drove my randomly misfiring NB for about 10k miles. Replaced the coil pack at the end of that stupidity, car has been running well for the past five years.

96 model car could possibly be OBD I? Didn't they change over around 96 to OBD II? If you have an OBD I car, scanner may be different/not so cheap.

:lies::youwish::asshole:

Yes it has I have had to do cats in car before mostly audi as the coils would go bad people would drive with the mis fire and blow there car apart from driving with the mis fire. SO YES IT CAN HAPPEN. GOOGLE IT!!! here is what you get.
http://www.villa-automotive.com/Reas...terFailure.htm
Federal law mandates that all car made from 1996 and up must be ODBII compliant. So yes a 96 miata is OBDII also some old cars have a OBDII connector.

Yeah, I'm pretty much positive that it's a misfire. I hope it's a bad spark plug or wire, but I'm not really sure how to test all that stuff. I can take a peek at the plugs myself, and look for anything suspicious on the wires. But if that stuff doesn't fix it, I'll probably look into replacing the coil pack(s?).

So, anyone know where to get a coil pack for a 96 with the best pricing?

It happened a few days ago, and then went away after I unhooked the battery. Now it's back again even tho the car worked just fine for a few days. I sure hope that it's an easy fix tho.

Like I said, I'll look at the plugs/wires, then look into getting a new coilpack.

But it's an OBDII, so I'm good there.

If the cat goes bad, chances are I'll replace it with a 2.5" test pipe anyways for ~$70. But you're right, it is an OBDII.

If you have a bad coil pack you wont have spark for 1&4 or 2&3 as one coil works two cylinders.

Since he doesn't know the code, that's still a possibility. Could be "random misfire" or a combination of two cylinder-specific codes.

_spyder, if you're looking for a new coils, they're $125 at Rosenthal: http://finishlineperformance.com/sto...8&cat=0&page=1

RockAuto is only $4 cheaper, so I expect this is as low as it's going to get for a new part.



I'd also advise at least inspecting the plugs and wires.

Well if I had to guess right now, I'd say just one cylinder isn't sparking. If it were two, I think the car would be running a lot worse. If your information is correct, this would leave me to believe that it's a plug or wire. I've heard you can go through wires on these cars pretty quick.

I might buy a new set of these:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NGK-S...Q5fAccessories

But I also want to put some new plugs in as well. What do you guys recommend on a turbo 1.8 @ ~10psi? And what gap?

Thanks for link, if I end up needing to buy a new coilpack that's where I'll get it from. I'll be inspecting/replacing the plugs and wires before I bite the bullet on a new coilpack though. I just don't know what kind of plugs to get and what to gap them at. Maybe some NGK V-Power's or NGK Platinum's with a .041-.044 inch gap?