War Eagle

what does it mean when my check engine light blinks/flashes in my 2000 xj?
it was already on due to overheating, then overheating it again made it blink?
it started running "funky" like there was no fuel in the rail due to heat and a leaky injector maybe, making it lose pressure, then i disconected the neg. terminal and the light went away and she ran fine....is it some kind of ECU override?

25Quebec

You probably cracked your head. Same thing happened to my 98 cherokee sport.

Fsher21

erasing the code will keep it off for a short while, and if the problem persists it will come back soon. It looks like a flashing check engine light is very serious if google isnt lying to me. Maybe a bad misfire or something in the emission control system. Probably shouldn't drive it until that code is pulled lol

War Eagle

drives fine, it had the #3 cycl. overheat issue i am sure of it, if it had a cracked head ive have bigger issues, it only does this on the trails after i let it sit with the engine OFF, which means it cant cool itself properly, which leads to the #3 injector building up fumes, making it misfire....just wondering how to go about this?

EDIT: im gonna try and change the plugs to see if that helps and make a heat shield for the injectors

89Laredo

I dont feel like looking through my fsm, but I think a blinking CEL usually means a bad multiple cylinder misfire.

Fsher21

x2 you would be correct, or at least 1 I think

413maxwedge

If your check engine light is blinking its telling you something bad could happen,It usally will do this when an injector is hot thus called vaporlock, the cure is to get the manifold heatsheild from the stealership,also try wrapping the injectors with heat sheilding for spark plug boots I did all this and swapped my injectors to the ford injectors (search for the right ones I dont recall them right now) and I haven't had the codes pop up since(year and a half now). All 2000-01 will have this problem.Keep an eye on your head if it does crack you will be able to pull oil filler cap look straight down between cyl> # 3&4 look for a crack of green in color (antifreeze).I think the ford motor is the 3.8 out of the windstar.If you dont find the numbers for the injectors pm me and I'll look it up for ya>

413maxwedge

NOPE Wrong symtoms.Yup spelled that wrong.

tjwalker

A flashing (blinking) check engine light indicates a serious misfire (could be one or more than one cylinder), which if not resolved, will trash your catalytic converter. Needs to be resolved ASAP.

War Eagle

ok so gameplan is to get a manifold heat shield, 4 hole injectors (neon's or ford, any difference as long as its a 4hole right?),heat wrap for injectors, and an expedition snorkel for some cooler air, and make my aux fan run full time....any other ideas, i have the 0331 head or w/e the POS one is, so im gonna do everything possible.....any other ideas/info/past experiences are greatly appreciated!

War Eagle

while were here...can i get the codes by a key on/off sequence and see them on the odometer?

413maxwedge

Yes you can but I cant remeber what is needed to start it try (key switch- on-off-on-off-on) not sure. Than you have to count the flashes etc,can you get to a parts store that has a scanner it's free if you can g/l.

Synyster

I'm not sure if blinking necessarily means multiple. I had a solid CEL and one of the codes was mult cyl misfire.

413maxwedge

Check these out http://www.factorymoparparts.com/index.html these will slide right over injectors nicely

ToledoXJ

No NOT on a 1996 and up. you have to run it down to AutoZone

A steady CEL means its being a Chrysler product.
A blinking CEL means something is seriously F'd up.


Its probably the 0331 head crack. Did you pull the oil cap and look to see if its milky? Fire it up to temp and look in the cap hole. That is where they usually crack. right between 3 and 4. I don't know how long you have been driving on it but I'd park it and sort it out right after you run the codes.

Before tossing parts at it
• Get the codes read.
• do a cooling system pressure test. If you have been loosing coolant its going someplace.
•*Then check your plugs see what they look like. google an online plug reading pic tutorial.
• do a compression test