1998 Civic DX, auto, 186,000 miles

The other day I was stopped at a light. When the light turned and I began accelerating, the car began jerking/bucking/hesitating severely and there was almost no power. I couldn't tell if the transmission was shifting or not (this transmission has been messed up for years). As this was going on, the CEL began flashing on and off.

I pulled over and turned the car off. After a few minutes, I started it up and the check engine light was on solid. However, the idle was fine, it seemed to be running smooth, the temp gauge was fine and no other lights were on. I've driven it the past two days and although the CEL is still on, it seems to be running fine.

Could water in my gas trip the CEL?

 

Get the code scanned and come back with that info. Water in a tank will not cause a CEL as there is no sensor to read how much water is in the fuel.

 

I'll hopefully have the code checked tonight or within the next couple of days.

I wasn't referring to water in the tank itself, but rather water that made it all the way through the fuel system. Could water going through a fuel injector mess up the fuel injector and possibly cause the CEL to come on?

 

There are no sensors in the fuel injectors, so a CEL cannot come on for it. If anything, you are looking at misfire codes.

You can try resetting your ECU to see if the CEL comes back.

 

Water in the gas would turn the CEL on (flashing) when misfiring is detected. It should go out though after you re-start and there is no misfiring.

When you have a car that runs OK but the CEL is on, you should first read the code(s) and make a note of them. Then clear the ECU and test drive. If the CEL comes on again, base your investigation primarily on which code re-occurs first.

 

Well, I've been too busy the past week or so to get the code from my CEL. However, today when I was driving, I noticed the CEL was off. The light still works too because it comes on for a few seconds when I start the car.

Hopefully it stays off.