jfboy1963

Hi
I have a 2013 Boss with 4100 miles on it bought new . I place it in storage for at least 5 months a year full tank of gas usually Sunocco gas and stablizer added in the fuel .I dont start it until i take it out of storage .The last two years taken out of storage i have had issues with PO304 code misfire random. Doing some research could be a bad
coil on cylinder four .Changed that already or could be plugs i have eight ready to go in.I am now just getting blinking engine light and goes away not steady on like
before . Just wondering if anybody had issues like this .Bad fuel ? Should i be storing it differently .Any input would be appreciated .
Thank you

Mustang Freak

My engine light has started blinking as well but I never can seem to catch a code. It might just be a bad sensor somewhere but not sure. It doesn't seem to affect the car and it doesn't last very long.

jfboy1963

Thank you for the reply. Chasing this for a little bit .Reading more into this seems a few things it could be .The worse for me is the wiring harness.

Mustang Freak

Let me know if you find out and if I do I'll let you know.

houtex

Howdy y'all. So I found this article that's relevant regarding the blinking check engine light.
https://mechanicbase.com/engine/flas...-engine-light/

Basically, if the CEL is blinking, that's *really bad* and you need to STOP THE ENGINE RIGHT NOW. The misfiring cylinder, the most likely cause of the blinking light, can have fuel continue to go in it, if it's not a plugged injector, and wash out the cylinder, mix fuel with the oil, and send fuel into the exhaust which will mess up emissions, but worse will kill the catalytic converter. It potentially could also cause a rich condition on that bank, and will cause the other cylinders to go lean, which is bad. Probably won't, but hey... computers aren't exactly THAT smart...

Yep, misfire on these computerized and emissions controlled engines are not a good thing, hence the blinky light.

Freak, you might need to figure out how to semi-reliably recreate the conditions and have a data logging scan tool available and on the car to find that problem. Or wait, it'll fail bad soon enough I imagine... Just hope it's not doing damage in the meantime is all I'd be worried about...

Overall, the light will stop blinking and/or go away when the misfire is cleared up. Source: Just did this on my new-to-me 4 banger Caliber with the CVT. Yeah, yeah, I know, CVT... I'm gonna keep an eye on that thing. Anyway, Number 3 coil said "'aight, I'mma head out" just all of a sudden and died. I thought it was the CVT doing the shuddering. I was so very thankful it wasn't after diagnosis. CEL light didn't come on immediately. Took a minute. Then it did. Car dinging angrily, flashing light... I'd by then gotten to a good place to diagnose, found the coil issue, limped (with the fuel injector disconnected on that dead cylinder) to a parts store and swapped it out, tada. The light did this exact thing, though, blinking while it was ticked off about the bad coil. Once it was solved, light stayed solid on, then went out a few whiles later. I was real proud of myself for successfully and quickly diagnosing and also remembering to disable the fuel injector for all those reasons above, to be honest. And also glad I had enough tools with me too. By the way, a mediocre powered 4 banger that's a cylinder is *really* messed up. It doesn't like it at all. But it did get to the parts store ok, so I can't really be upset at the lil' engine that could.

Anyway, just wanted to tell y'all about that light. Good luck to yas both, hope it helps!

Mustang Freak

So do you recommend any of these engine code readers?

houtex

Without any experience, I cannot recommend any of those... but I'm sure any of those can do the job. Possibly.



You need one that'll show you the codes and also that'll erase them. Some are more capable than others. I have this one:

https://www.harborfreight.com/automo...abs-63807.html

It works well enough for what I need to do. Can't say it's fancy, but it does some live data, logging, and abs, so that's good enough. If not... I'll have to get another or go to a shop what does have better. For scanning/diagnosing the SRS perhaps.

Mustang Freak

So my Ford service team has found misfiring codes on 5 out of my 8 cylinders. Only 5,6 & 8 have zero codes. So the tech is recommending me to replace all the spark plugs and coils if any are broken and then a flush of the fuel system. Funny thing is that I didn't notice any hesitation or drop in performance!

jfboy1963

Yes if i find out more and the Fix i will give you a shout.As of now ran about three tanks of fresh gas shell 93 nitro v power going to work flashing engine light not
continuous and goes out .On the way home no engine light on which is a good sign 72 miles round trip .So far only thing i changed out was number 4 cylinder coil pack.

houtex

I might recommend a nice big bottle of Techron then, if it's a fuel fix that's happening. Or some other equivalent or better fuel system cleaner. Certainly SeaFoam is a possiblity, but I really don't like it much m'self. Or that BG service, that's supposed to be good... I run a fuel cleaner about once a month at the gas pump. Can't hurt, so far I've not had any injector issues, so... I'm sure I'm getting raked over the coals for that Additech at Kroger gas, but whatever, it's been workin' for years... 180K+ miles don't lie... much..

---

Freak: *wow*. That's... well, that's sorta amazing. Just... goodness, that's either one strong dang motor or you need recalibration?

Mustang Freak

So i got new spark plugs, the fuel system flushed and the coils were all good. Unfortunately after a spirited drive today my engine light started flashing again and I think I felt hesitation! So I've scheduled another code check for Thursday!