protege3745
Member
- :
- 2003 Mazda Protege 5
Greetings,
I bought my 2003 Protg5 about 3 months ago, haven't driven it much due to an unfortunate Bambi incident though, so I'm about 1,000 miles in.
A few days ago, my CEL came on. It had been on before, but had gone away on its own as they often do, so I didn't think much of it. Then, after being on solid for a day, it began to flash. It flashes constantly with no pattern. From what I've read on here, all reports of flashing CELs are written of as "severe misfire, replace ignition coil". But I've had bad coils, and plug wires and various other misfires before and the misfire is always apparent. The engines especially didn't idle smoothly with bad coils, and they seemed to bog down a bit on my old Saturn. My Mazda is still running smoothly. No noises, no lumpy idle, no shakes, no quivers, nothing. If not for the flashing CEL you wouldn't think anything was wrong.
So my question is this; is there another common cause for the CEL to flash rather than stay on? Do these cars have severe misfires without exhibiting any of the typical symptoms? And the x-factor here, could driving through the recent extreme cold here in Minnesota without a grill (thanks Bambi) have fouled a sensor, causing the issue? Any ideas are welcome. This is my first Mazda and I've never owned a Japanese car before, just GM, Ford and SAAB.
Thanks
I bought my 2003 Protg5 about 3 months ago, haven't driven it much due to an unfortunate Bambi incident though, so I'm about 1,000 miles in.
A few days ago, my CEL came on. It had been on before, but had gone away on its own as they often do, so I didn't think much of it. Then, after being on solid for a day, it began to flash. It flashes constantly with no pattern. From what I've read on here, all reports of flashing CELs are written of as "severe misfire, replace ignition coil". But I've had bad coils, and plug wires and various other misfires before and the misfire is always apparent. The engines especially didn't idle smoothly with bad coils, and they seemed to bog down a bit on my old Saturn. My Mazda is still running smoothly. No noises, no lumpy idle, no shakes, no quivers, nothing. If not for the flashing CEL you wouldn't think anything was wrong.
So my question is this; is there another common cause for the CEL to flash rather than stay on? Do these cars have severe misfires without exhibiting any of the typical symptoms? And the x-factor here, could driving through the recent extreme cold here in Minnesota without a grill (thanks Bambi) have fouled a sensor, causing the issue? Any ideas are welcome. This is my first Mazda and I've never owned a Japanese car before, just GM, Ford and SAAB.
Thanks