Car sputters while idling and check engine light blinking
 

The other day I brought my car into a Nissan dealership for service...it get the EGR system cleaned because I was had a check engine light indicating and EGR flow problem. I just got the car back...it was fine for 1 trip (about 20 miles) then the next time I started it...it is idling very hard when in drive, kind of sputtering like it might stall, but hasn't. The check engine light is also now alternating between blinking and on steady. What is the problem? I have never had a problem like this before, so I think it is something they did when "fixing" the car.

Thanks

A flashing CEL light indicates a misfire is happening.
The fact that the light is now also constantly on means there is an error code stored.

Bring the car back to the dealer that did the work and complain.

Ya I already have an apointment to bring it back. I am just trying to figure out how what they did could have caused that to help my argument that it was something they caused. I am very confident it is...otherwise this would be one heck of a coincidence.

After I start mine up it sputters, but there are no check engine lights?

Oh yeah I forgot to mention that this started occuring after I cleaned my TB and IACV.

Sounds like a misfiring cylinder. It either has to do with what they did with the car, or it's your sparkplugs or knock sensor. Just take it to autozone and see what codes it has.

You car may still be in diagnostic mode, may want to check the screw on the ecu see if that was messed with at all.

dude did u ever figure this out? my car randomly today on the freeway, check engine starts blinking....and sounds like a wrx.....and no power at alll....any ideas?

This thread is 2 years old, and it's been the same amount of time sine the OP has signed in.

In any case, CEL blinking == misfire, as you can tell by your other symptoms.

Have you checked for codes? Checked the plugs? Tested the coils or injectors?

what do i check when i "check the plugs, coils, injectors?"

You look at the plugs. You test the coils and injectors per the FSM.

Have you even checked for codes? That's the first thing you do, always.

i have no cel on, it was just blinkin on the freeway, but what am i looking for when i look at the spark plugs, they were recently replaced with new ones...like 5 months ago

Check for codes anyway, you never know.

What exactly were you doing when it started misfiring? Accelerating, decelerating, cruising? High gear at low speed, low gear at high speed?

You pull the plugs, take a look at them. Check their condition.

was just crusing 5th gear 50 mph ...then kinda accelerated to take my exit and it started blinking and felt powerless...also started to have a gargle sound from the exhaust like a wrx

Well if you get no codes when you check, you can just take a look at all of your coils, injectors, and plugs, but if you can't reproduce it there's not much you can do to fix it.

Have you changed your coils yet? The '99s are known for bad coils.

never changed them...how much do they run?

i have two 99's so maybe i can try switching them up and see if thats the issue

That's probably your problem then, they're failing under high load. OE costs ~$84 a piece ($504 in total) or you can get them a lot cheaper here on the org. I've got a set of fronts for sale :wall:

Yea, that's a good idea.

ill just do a 3.5 swap if they are all bad...**** that lol

and i got a set of front and rears for sell.
take out plug and hook coil to it and lay it on engine somewhere on metal and see if spark plug fires....if not check leads going to coil with multimeter and see if it is getting power to coils.