did valero brand gas make my check engie light come on?
 

hi, everyone. i just bought my first boxster (02) last week and filled up with 91 grade that contains ethonol(california grade). later that evening my check engine light came on and started flashing whenever i was at about 4k rpms. i know that this can damage my catalitic converter. the check engine light is now solid, i have about half a tank left. what should i do?

Even though I would let my Boxster run out of gas before using Valero Gasoline, I
doubt that is the problem.

Typically a blinking CEL is bad.....when it stays on its worse. I would be best to have
the car flatbed towed to a Mechanic that can pull the codes for the car and do a
proper diagnosis.

Could be a smoked MAF sensor or a motor getting ready to destroy itself. Good Luck!

Anything is possible but its not likely that the gas caused the CEL. More likely is that you purchased a car with an issue known to the previous owner (who ignored it and cleared the CEL long enough to sell the car).

Owners manual says that a constant CEL is driveable, flashing CEL is not driveable (pages 78/79). Since you got both, I'd go with the more severe (not driveable).

If you have a code reader (or can borrow one), use it to read out the codes and post here for further advice.

If you don't have a code reader or can't borrow one, then I'd trailer it to a local shop for diagnosis. Driving it further at this point could create more damage.

Just a shot in the dark here but did you turn your gas cap till you heard it click?

I'll leave it garaged until i can pull the codes and go from there. also just ordered a front motor mount that I'm planning to install myself, wish me luck. thanks again.