engine light Flashing!

my orange engine light is flasing at random ....i seen it turn solid before, but i never seen it flashing. So now it is solid all the time but once in a while it flashes and somethings it flashes for a long time while at other times it flashes only for 10 sec or so.

i drive a 96 ford escort 1.9L engine. The engines also shakes abit while it idles(sometime it wont). I am guessing one of the cylinder is having problems. I am just worrying that it might be something that is VERY BAD! like the engine valve droping into the cylinder( which i read from the escort forums that this is not uncommon to escort). So are there are experts here that can tell me if i can keep on driving until next week . becuase the car seems to be ok other than its shaking a bit at idle and flashing engine lights.

Also, if a Valve REALLY droped into the cylinder, i wont be able to drive it and the engine would not turn over right? becuase i been driving for 1 week now with engine light on.

THANK you for helping .

flashing engine lights usually mean something is FUBAR....

on the bright side, you didn't 'drop' a valve, if you did that then you would know right away.

You could probably drive until next week...this is one of those things where you must ask, "how much do i care about this car?"

Actually you would hear a loud ding sound like a hammer hitting a piece of metal since the valve would be in the cylinder and the cylinder would be smashing the valve into the cylinder wall. I would believe the car would still turn over but your fuel levels would drop extremely fast.

On OBD II systems which your escort is, a flashing engine light usually means a misfire had been detected. I would check the plugs and wires.

Thanks for reply i feel a little better while i drive now knowing that i am not killing the car.


BTW, What is FUBAR?

essentially....really screwed up

It stands for F*d up beyond all recognition

thanks...i've only had 2 experiences with flashing CE lights and neither of them ended with my car running 10 minutes later...

It stands for F*d up beyond all recognition

or, (expletive removed) beyond all repair... lol

essentially....really screwed up

is my car going to die soon??? or were you kidding around? dont scare me plz also if my car is really has HUGE problems, i probably couldnt drive it everyday like i do now right???

Sorry to get so far off topic, cavaturbo... Stop by any major chain parts store and ask if they'll read your codes. Most of them have invested the $200 in a code reader assuming they'll make it back on the sale of an O2 sensor or something. Most will read the codes for free.

Most of the time the employee will know how to operate the machine, but not know what the codes mean. If that's the case, make sure to write down the number code and its description. You'll get info like "0103; maf high input". If you or the employee can't pinpoint it, post the codes here and someone should be able to theorize on what it might be.

I dont know if this is true for this car, but on some cars i thought that a blinking engine light meant soemthing for each blink? Like on my fiance's old aspire i believe it was like that. In fact, her engine light kept blinking once turned on and then blinked the amount of times saying it was an oxygen sensor and the would just remain on but not blinking.

I dont know if this is true for this car, but on some cars i thought that a blinking engine light meant soemthing for each blink? Like on my fiance's old aspire i believe it was like that. In fact, her engine light kept blinking once turned on and then blinked the amount of times saying it was an oxygen sensor and the would just remain on but not blinking.

yes, but it's been my experience that once the light starts blinking then something imperative has stopped operating correctly.

Just follow Curtis's advice and get the codes pulled. It's free at the advance auto stores here in Florida.

i live in Canada BC. I dont think i have any free code check services here. But i did order a coder reader from Ebay 4 days ago it should be here very soon. I will post the code once i got the scanner thanks everyone for your help.

Do that....i'm going to place a bet on 1 of 2 things...

IAC, or O2 sensor...be sure to post what the codes are.

I believe the flashing CEL indicates that there is raw fuel going to the catalytic converters (Usually due to a nonfiring cylinder). The flashing is to alert the driver not to ignore it and that damage to the cats can occur if the problem is not corrected. Personally I think you should fix it and not drive it or you may end up replacing the cat(s) too.

I just used my scanner and it printed out 0304 i check the manual it saids Cylinder4 Misfire Detected. Any ideas where i can go from here now?

Start checking the maintenance stuff. Pull the plugs and check them for obvious problems. If they all look the same, try rotating them around (remembering where the plugs went) and see if the code repeats itself on #4 or if it follows the plug. Test the plug wires looking for cracks, excessive resistance, etc. If you can find someone with an ignition oscilloscope it will work wonders diagnosing ignition problems.

In all truth I just suggest replacing plugs, wires, cap, and rotor. Those parts should be under $50 and it can't hurt to replace them every few years anyway.

If you check and/or replace all that stuff and it doesn't fix the problem, start looking to fuel issues. Its quite possible that the #4 injector is failing causing a misfire. A competent shop with a fuel pressure gauge can test injector leak down rates and compare. Using the above technique to keep things really cheap you could switch the injectors and see if the misfire follows the injector or stays in #4.

If its none of the above, start thinking about how much oil your car burns. If it burns a noticable amount you may have excessive blowby in the #4 cylinder. A compression test will help diagnose that. If that's the case, drive it with the light on until it dies.

But don't worry. My bet is either a bad ignition component or injector.

When you're trying to diagnose this further, think specifically, not globally. Its probably not the coil, fuel pump, sensors, or fuel pressure regulator since they would apply to all cylinders. OBD2 has a code for that called "random cylinder misfire" when its more than one. Think something that has an isolated event for cylinder 4; cap, plugs, wires, injector, injector wiring, etc.