Help: CEL on a roadtrip!

Discussion in 'General Community' started by Berzerklo, Dec 29, 2007.

  1. Berzerklo

    Berzerklo Active Member

    Yeah, as the title states I am in Raleigh NC and I just threw a CEL. The car was running fine until this evening. I started the car on a slope and it started pretty rough, but I figured it was just cold. I drove maybe a quarter mile and stopped at a friends house. When I stopped the idle was weird - it would go from about 1600 RPM for 5 or 6 seconds then drop down to 1100 RPMs for 5 to 6 seconds and then just keep going between those two idle speeds. During each cycle between the two RPM speeds the headlights would dim a little. I turned the car off for awhile and then I restarted the car about 15 minutes later. The car started and the CEL turned on. Unfortunately my AP is in Atlanta and it is now Friday night before new years. I was hoping to drive back down on Sunday but that my not happen now. I guess I can go get the code read at Advance Auto tomorrow. Any ideas of what this could be? Thanks in advance!
     
  2. Weapon

    Weapon 90lbs of dynamite Supporting Member

    Its hard to say. I would head up to an autostore and have them pull the code for you.
     
  3. DustySTI

    DustySTI Member

    My old 96 prelude did this for a while. It would rev from 800-2500 rpms constantly when i came to a stop. Sometimes it would do it, and sometimes it wouldn't. Check the vacuum lines, i re-routed some of them and it helped for a while, then it came back. I finally took it in to be repaired, and they replaced my intake manifold gasket. Ran perfectly at idle after that. I would check the your vacuum lines for a quick fix. Dunno if this helps or if it is related. Good luck.
     
  4. BrianGT

    BrianGT Banned

    Mere had a P0420 code come up on a long drive to south georgia, but we reset it and it hasn't come up since.
     
  5. scooby_snacks

    scooby_snacks Active Member

    If you really can't get anything done about it, you could try resetting the ecu by just unplugging the battery for a while. That would make the cel disappear for a bit, not sure about the symptoms though. Sounds semi similar to when I was having problems with coil packs and cylinder misfire.
     
  6. miloman

    miloman Retired Admin

    Because you have AP, before reseting it, make sure your car is OK to run off the base map only. My car needs a real time map dropped after a reset.
     

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