Car felt like lawn mower with check engine light blinking, help?

(2011-03-11 15:20:21)

1. matthaumschild Says: I have a 99 Ford Taurus with 150,000 miles on it.

Most days, when I start the car in the morning, I see the muffler shake and the car shakes a little, then after I leave it running for a few minutes, it sounds like the whole car is running and it doesn't shake and neither does the muffler.

This morning, I didn't let the car sit, I just drove it, when I got down the street, it was still shaking and the check engine light started blinking at me (instead of staying solid like it has before). When I was about to make a u-turn to go home, I was at a red light for a minute or so, then it stopped blinking, and the car ran just fine.

Anyone have any ideas?

2. My two cents Says: Cody is right.
The Check engine light (MIL) is Blinking (Flashing) to GET YOUR ATTENTION. It is trying to tell you to stop and get your car repaired before you do more damage to it. With a missfire you are sending raw (unburned) fuel down your exhaust into your Catalytic converter. And one thing that is sure to make your Catalytic converter fail early is Unburned fuel getting into it. Just because the light stops flashing doesn't mean the REAL problem has gone away....it just means that the Missfire condition has stopped happening at that time. Since the MIL is on your cars computer has sensed (at least twice) a problem that needs to be diagnosed.

Get your car to a Skilled Diagnostic Mechanic. But you could start by getting the OBDII codes read at Autozone / Advanced Auto/ O Rielys (sp) and then repost here with the codes and some of the Mechanics that watch this site after work can give you some ideas what to look for.

DO NOT purchase parts based soley upon having the codes read at an Auto Parts store...they sell parts they do NOT diagnose the problem.

3. Cody Says: A blinking check engine light means there is a misfire.

*P0301 means that cylinder #1 has the misfire*

**Edited to answer additional details added by asker**

Tag: Car felt like lawn mower with check engine light blinking, help?

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