Flashing CEL then stopped?
 

I've experienced most Boxster moments over the years -- but had a new one on my way to work.

It's a tired old 3.2S that I beat the snot out of -- has nearly 106K miles -- the last 6K miles are me torturing it either on the street or on the track.

I've been driving my track/street car the past 5 days because the weather here has been awesome -- been running like a dream.

On my way to work today I was pulling about 2.5K RPMs as I accelerated to 3K RPMs and changed lanes. I felt a slight studder and a flashing light on me dash (pretty sure it was the CEL). I thought about pulling off the side of the road immediately and
shut it down, but it otherwise was running fine, oil pressure was fine (I have an aftermarket gauge), temps, rpms, etc were fine. No unusual noises.

I decided I was only a few miles from work -- so I keep the RPMs below 3K, turned off the radio and AC and kept a diligent ear for any odd noises and continuously scanned the gauges.

After maybe 10 seconds the CEL light went out.

When I got to work -- I checked oil levels -- everything was fine, idle oil pressure was fine (as was revving pressure), no noises, no leaks, coolant was perfect.

Note I have an IMS retrofit.

I didn't have my duramatic or scanner -- so I couldn't check for codes.

Very odd -- my initial guess is one of the vario-cams briefly "stuck" maybe throwing off one sides readings relative to the other.

Otherwise no idea -- but that's definitely the first time I have personally seen a blinking CEL that wasn't a complete christmas tree (yes I have seen that twice!)

Mike

Doing a little reading --

I'm going to guess coil paks or something similar.

Where I tapped my oil pressure sender -- I get a small oil leak and it probably
is dripping down on my #2 /(or #5) coil pak. It's one of those -- when I get around
to it -- that I might need to get around to.

I'll still check codes -- but I'll let folks know what I come across.

M

Misfires will cause a flashing CEL that goes away when the misfires go away. I had a flashing CEL at the track when my oil was slightly overfilled and I blew a giant smokebomb at the track. When the smokebomb cleared the flashing CEL went away. It was very scary and the power dropped out for a second, almost like when the TC comes on. I think you are on the right track.

I've got an extra new in box (well new in little cardboard panel/bag thingy) VDO dual oil pressure with the right threads (M14 x 1.5 I think) if you think it might help solve your leak. Also I think you might be able to get a wrench on it by removing the panel behind the seats instead of going in from the top with a crowfoot wrench (which is a major hassle... :) )

I had something similar happen Stopped at a light and all of a sudden started running rough and flashing CEL. Went away in 10-15 seconds.

I pulled the codes and it was a misfire.

If you clear the codes, it will reset your readiness monitors. The evap monitor is a PITA to reset The rest will reset fairly quickly. The evap monitor takes a few driving cycles of starting from cold and maintaining rpm between 1400 and 1800 for at least 10 minutes and repeating several times..the hassle is the car has to start from cold and you need to have between 1/3 and 2/3 tank of gas

The code will tell you which cyclinder was misfiring. Check the coil packs and if you want to replace them check out warehouse33auto.com . That is where I bought mine and if you put renlist in the discount code at checkout, you get an additional 10% off

Happened again on way home -- then continuous CEL

Pulled my scanner...
misfire for banks 2 and 3...

Cleared codes -- nothing has come back.

Will check the paks and change the oil pressure sender setup (this is an Speedhut sender).

Mike