volvo 960 1996 with blinking check engine light

clgraves · Post by **clgraves** » 08 Nov 2005, 13:32

Greetings, I have a 1996 960 with about 122,000 miles on it. The check engine light (which is chronically on but has been checked) began blinking last night. This blinking was accompanied by very rough engine performance. Any ideas what is going on and what I should do? Charles

bigern · Post by **bigern** » 08 Nov 2005, 14:11

a blinking check engine light means that there is misfiring going on in one or more cylinders that is bad enough to cause catalyst damage. the mixture is not combusted correctly and so you have hydrocarbons as there is much unburned fuel. when that goes out the exhuast it goes through your cat...and screws it up!! had a customer once that had the same problem with the rough running and blinking ses light. he was out of state and decided to drive home on it. tune up fixed the running problems, but then he had to replace the cats because the misfire destroyed them and clogged them up. the 200.00 tune up would have fixed it had he not driven on it, his total bill including two catalytic convertors made into a y pipe came to over 1000.00. dont drive it with the light blinking!!! a 60 dollar tow is worth it. more than likely you need a tune up or coil, depending on your set up.

clgraves · Post by **clgraves** » 08 Nov 2005, 15:03

Thank you.