I saw this "99 Civic Ex for sale.The car is an automatic.When the car started up,the check engine light was on.The car was running for over 5 minutes,and then i noticed the check engine light flashing.I owned in the past,a 96 Civic,98 Prelude Sh,and a 96 Integra and none of the CEL's flashed while the car was running.The seller is only asking $1200.The body needs paint and is 3 colors and thieves stole the climate control and the radio.I know this question is kinda bird like,but any help would be great.Thanx...

 

A blinking CEL indicates engine misfiring severe enough to damage the cat.

 

run away

 

This is right.. On OBD2 vehicles, the ecu 'knows' when the engine is running badly enough to cause major damage (ie: misfire) However, this could be as simple as a tune-up

 

The flashing check engine light is indeed a catalyst damaging misfire, and would probably be accompanied by a p0300 random misfire code at the very least. It could be any number of things, ranging from the previously mentioned tune up stuff (plugs/wires/cap/rotor/fuel filter) or could be a bad o2 sensor and is just dumping fuel (just happened to my girlfriends EM1 2 weeks ago).

Unless you are prepared to spend some coin, i would stay away.

 

Thanks a lot guys.I'll stay away...