My CEL has been acting weird lately too. It doesn't ever light up completely, but it kinda of flickers faintly. Sometimes it goes all the way off, some times it will flicker on and off (still only dimmed) and some times it just stays on but dimmed.

 

We had one come in to the dealership with a blinking cel and the converter was glowing red hot. This car was running really really bad and it turned out to be a spark plug had gone bad. If your car feels like it is driving normal I wouldn't call a tow truck, but i'd still get it looked at under warranty. They can pull codes and data from memory and figure out what's going on.

 

i have the same problem. i took it to the dealer and they said its not throwing any codes. they couldnt duplicate it at their shop but said it could just be the bulb. i doubt that now that i know others have had the same problem. what COULD it be tho!? it really bothered me when it first did it and now i just kinda let it go since they said there is nothing wrong with it

anyone have any ideas?

 

What were your engine temps like?

 

We had one come in to the dealership with a blinking cel and the converter was glowing red hot. This car was running really really bad and it turned out to be a spark plug had gone bad. If your car feels like it is driving normal I wouldn't call a tow truck, but i'd still get it looked at under warranty. They can pull codes and data from memory and figure out what's going on.

Hmmmm, now that I think about it, this may have been the hardest I have driven it since I changed my sparkplugs to the autolite 104's gapped at .060". So maybe it has something to do with that? And the car was defiantly hotter then usual, but it was expected with how I was driving. I think I'm going to ignore it for now, and if it comes on again in any fashion then I'll have it looked at....

 

What were your engine temps like?

The temperature gauge read normal, but I don't really see that gauge moving unless the car is overheating. Speaking of which, I've been meaning to hook up aa oil temp/pressure gauge ever since I did the Balance shaft delete, just as a safety precaution...

Kaminari, yours kinda seems like its probably just a faulty light if its dimmed.

 

What were your engine temps like?

The temperature gauge read normal, but I don't really see that gauge moving unless the car is overheating. Speaking of which, I've been meaning to hook up aa oil temp/pressure gauge ever since I did the Balance shaft delete, just as a safety precaution...

Kaminari, yours kinda seems like its probably just a faulty light if its dimmed.

I'm guessing it is something to do with my 2 amps. Just started recently though. *shrug* I'll take it in I guess. Oh and my temps are normal.

 

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If the light stops flashing after restarting the car, and the engine runs normally, check the crank pully/trigger ring that hey are secure. If you have a FC UDP, this is critical that you check the trigger ring. Also, a quick plug check won't hurt. Depending on fuel quality on your area, you may need to decrease the plug gap to .045".

My CEL stays on (dim) even after the car is off, and fades away slowly.

 

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I'm having the same problem as Kaminaricroc. When I took mine in a couple months ago FORD said it was because I had both the zx3 and sedan keys on the same ring and the chips were interfering with eachother. They reset the something or other and it went away for a while. Now and again it does it still and the keys have been seperated. Mine also does the weird thing where the light is dimly on when I shut the car off. Does'nt seem to be affecting the car at all though

 

I'm having the same problem as Kaminaricroc. When I took mine in a couple months ago FORD said it was because I had both the zx3 and sedan keys on the same ring and the chips were interfering with eachother. They reset the something or other and it went away for a while. Now and again it does it still and the keys have been seperated. Mine also does the weird thing where the light is dimly on when I shut the car off. Does'nt seem to be affecting the car at all though

That would have absolutely nothing to do with a cel. Possibly a blinking theft light, but not check engine. I think they couldn't find anything solid and brushed you off. Bring it back and complain.

 

If the light stops flashing after restarting the car, and the engine runs normally, check the crank pully/trigger ring that hey are secure. If you have a FC UDP, this is critical that you check the trigger ring. Also, a quick plug check won't hurt. Depending on fuel quality on your area, you may need to decrease the plug gap to .045".

The car does run normally now, and it was only flashing at the stop sign. No restarting of the car was necessary. The light stayed off as soon as I started going again.

 

If the light stops flashing after restarting the car, and the engine runs normally, check the crank pully/trigger ring that hey are secure. If you have a FC UDP, this is critical that you check the trigger ring. Also, a quick plug check won't hurt. Depending on fuel quality on your area, you may need to decrease the plug gap to .045".

BTW, if i check my plugs, what visible clues should I be looking out for?

 

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i have the same issue - i was driving the car hard for the first time since owner ship (1200 miles on it) and the engine light came on with a rev limit from the CPU (driving 80/3800rmp) i shut the car off while roling and restarted it no light drove nice for a bit then pulled it back up inthe 4k's and 100mph no light

i did notice that my car when shut off woudl go "chunk-a-chug" like a old pickup, also when cold it will need a extra crank to get going.

gonna dealership it tmro since its only 2 weeks old - but anyone have any imput on that?

 

gonna dealership it tmro since its only 2 weeks old - but anyone have any imput on that?

Mass air flow sensor.

 

thats what i was sort of thinking but was thrown off by the exaust temp idea, i didnt get to the dealer today, but drove it similar this morning- had the light come on i let off the gas and drove slower and it went away (light) then i went back to 100mph and no issues for the rest of the trip. woudl this still fall in line with the flow sensor, or a exaust temp?

 

my brother is a ford teck and he suggested that it might be traction controle that since i had it enabled that it was the engine slowing me down because of it - i jsut want to havea solid guess walking in the dealer for this warentee work so that i dont have to dick with them about "two keys on the key ring"

 

The type of maf used with the duratec is a fairly new style and it does have problems.

 

maf? = traction assist?

 

MAF is the Mass Airflow sensor. It's housed in the narrower black tube of your intake system, and measures how much air is coming into the engine by taking a velocity measurement. The engine uses this info to calculate how much fuel it needs.

Traction control is a computerized system to help keep the car under control. AFAIK, this was only available on Euro Foci. But I could be wrong.

 

cool i just wasnt familear with the acronym for the unit, also i thought the SVT had traction control, the 2005 zx4 ST also has it

 

You're right. I was thinking of a different system that's optional on Euro Foci. ESP, I think? I don't know what it does, but we can't get it.

 

It's a coincidence that this thread popped up again yesterday, cuz my CEL started blinking again yesterday. This time while I was going up an on-ramp, I noticed it at about 4k rpm in third gear when it cut my power. So, I stayed off the gas, and rolled to the next off-ramp and the light disappeared when I came to a stop.

Now, I'm definately taking Walters advice. And I'm going to regap my sparkplugs back to .045 from the .065, I'm running now.