Had a momentary flashing CEL... any thoughts

Reply Subscribe

Thread Tools

Search this Thread

Apr 16, 2009 | 06:39 PM

vellnueve

Thread Starter

Audiworld Junior Member

Joined: Aug 2008

Posts: 37

Likes: 0

Had a momentary flashing CEL... any thoughts

I've had the constant flashing CEL before, back during the summer, and had to have plugs and coils replaced to deal with it. Tonight, I was just pulling into school and heading for the parking lot when the CEL started flashing for about 5 seconds before stopping and going dark. Any thoughts on what this could mean? Is there a serious problem going on that I should get looked at? Or does a flashing CEL happen if there's just some sort of momentary screwup?

Apr 17, 2009 | 08:00 AM

SloopJohnB@mac.com

Tech Guru

Joined: Oct 2002

Posts: 8,010

Likes: 192

From: Olney, MD

Expect your CEL to come on and stay on.
Flashing CEL generally means stop the engine asap (if it stays flashing) because there are bad things happening, misfires, leads to cat overheat/failure, etc. However, just because the flashing CEL went out doesn't mean a code wasn't set...there's probably one in there. Get the code read and go from there.

Apr 17, 2009 | 08:39 AM

4Driver4

Tech Guru

Joined: Oct 2002

Posts: 34,430

Likes: 130

Pull some codes. I suspect you will see multiple random misfire. It this happened right at start up, I'd start by changing the coolant temp sensor.

Apr 20, 2009 | 05:30 AM

Rich Sperry

AudiWorld Member

Joined: Mar 2003

Posts: 107

Likes: 0

From: Eldersburg, Md

The evap purge valve is pos too... It seems to be a 60K mile replacement item... The original one welt out at 13K miles, and was replaced under warranty, it started going out again at 70K.

The only way to know it to read any codes. Make friends with someone that has a VAG-COM...

Apr 20, 2009 | 09:06 AM

Jefflafleur

AudiWorld Member

Joined: Oct 2007

Posts: 112

Likes: 0

After consulting with my crystal ball, it showed me some horrifying images. Definitely check the engine, not trying to scare you, but there is something wrong with your engine.

Apr 21, 2009 | 11:30 AM

vellnueve

Thread Starter

Audiworld Junior Member

Joined: Aug 2008

Posts: 37

Likes: 0

I'm in the car ight now with VAG-COM open - The only fault codes I got were 01274 - Air Flow Flap Positioning Motor, and 01592. Doesn't seem to be a misfire codes. BTW, this momentary flashing happened again just before I got home and ran the scan, and it went away again after a few seconds.