Help....engine problem.
 

I have a 2003 with only 7,000 mi. (owned for 3 months)
Last Sunday after slowing down coming up to and then accelerating thru a green light on a US hwy I reaching nearly 60 mph I noticed the engine light flashing. Then noticed the engine was sputtering.
I immediately pulled over and shut it down.
I was only 1/2 mi from home, so I fired it back up, light continued flashing, and was on the entire way as the engine continued to sputter.
The diagnostic code read p0306 which said there was a mis-fire in cylinder 6.
What should be my next step?
Have it towed, or try and drive it to the dealer? (15 mi. away)
Has this happened to anyone out there?
Help!

A flashing CEL(check engine light) means that the engine is being harmed,DO NOT DRIVE IT!

Tow it to a shop and have it diagnosed.

Please tell me you have some sort of warranty on the car?!

So.....have it towed?
I bought it from an individual, and He stated that there is a full Mfg. warranty
until Spring of '09.

Yes have it towed to the nearest dealership.

Find all your warranty paperwork,I think this is gonna be expensive otherwise.

I'm sure it could be a number of things, but what do you think it is?
Have you had this problem before?

I'm not sure,but from what I've seen over and over on 00'+ 986 engines is an IMS(Intermediate Shaft Failure).

As for myself,nope I haven't had that problem,I have a 99'.....(we have different issues)

Thanks for the info.

Sadly that's the price you pay for getting such a low mileage car. It's nice when a car has 20 or 30k on the clock so someone else had to deal with any resident engine issues that will eventually spring up. Let us know what it ends up being, seems like it will be covered by the warranty.

-David

I know of no data that would suggest that low mileage cars are more prone to engine issues.

Leaks, MAYBE.

:)

I just mean if there are going to be engine issues due to fundamental flaws with the build, buying a car with that few of miles means chances are you are going to have to deal with the inevitable. For example, RMS/IMS fixes that typically already cropped up (and were subsequently taken care of) on a car with 30k or more miles.

And yeah, there's always the pain of garage queen-dom...

-David

This certainly does not sound like typical IMS failure issues, so I would discount that. Every IMS story I hear disables the car within 15 seconds.

Question - Flashing CEL = very very very bad and a solid CEL = maybe bad, maybe meh?

That's how I understood the manual.

My 03 is in the shop for engine issues right now as well. I didn't get a cel though. I should hopefully know what happened when I go home tonight.

That's pretty much the way it goes.. For example, I have a check engine light that I haven't gotten to take care of yet. It's steady. The reason for mine is (most likely) the check valve for the air pump that kicks in air to the catalytic converter when it's cold. So it's for emissions.

The way that I've always heard to read check engine lights:

Flashing = DANGER DANGER WILL ROBINSON! ENGINE FAILURE EMINENT!
Solid = Expensive emissions component isn't responding. Probably dead. Probably expensive.

About this specific one: I don't know what else can cause it, but I got this error after changing my spark plugs 3000 miles ago. The cause of it was that the connector came off of the coil, essentially, the spark plug wire wasn't connected.

I hope yours is that simple! :cheers:

Generally, CELs are OFTEN triggered when there is a fault on emmision related components on ANY type of gasoline car (fault on components dealing with fuel/air mixture and electrical). Your problem could be a bad Spark Plug/or wire, faulty electrical coil, MAF sensor, 02 sensor, vacuum leak, etc..etc. Anything that would affect fuel/air mixture, electricals (it could even be caused by a seeping spark plug tube-oil can seep in the spark plugs causing a misfire.)
No biggie...Definitely NOT an IMS issue.
Good Luck :cheers: