no I didnt because I was 2 hours from home with the kids and the car was running fine, I didnt want to risk putting the ECU into limp mode or something worse preventing me from being able to drive home.

I will update tomorrow after I get a chance to fiddle with it now that I am back home

 

Is this problem linked to any recent work on the car? Or did it come completely out of the blue?

 

no just out of the blue.

I was driving to Delaware today and about an hour and half into my 2 hour drive the car started having a minor sputtering issue with a strong fuel smell inside the car. I pulled over and got under the hood but it was pouring down rain and I was in the middle of a bunch of corn fields. I didnt see anything at the time. Got going again and it drove fine with no sputtering or fuel smell until about 15 minutes back on the road it came back. Was on a long straightaway so while still rolling I shut the car off for about 7 - 10 seconds then started back up and once again it drove fine and no fuel smell for the remaining 10 minutes or so of my trip.

After spending about an hour with family I went out to the car and drove it again. The sputtering/misfire issue never came back nor did the fuel smell but thats when I had the flashing check engine light issue I posted about here.

On my trip back home the car drove normal but the flashing check engine light was irregular as in it had no steady pattern to the flashing.

 

Do you think the fuel smell was due to the engine running very rich at least temporarily? Was your gas mileage on this trip low compared to normal?

While driving home, the CEL was blinking irregularly. So the original idea of the CEL blinking code 1 continuously no longer holds?

If you now turn the key to ON(II) without the engine running, does the CEL remain ON steady, blink a code, or blink erratically?

 

Yes I do believe the fuel smell was from a rich engine condition briefly. The issue with the fuel and misfire/sputtering didnt last long enough to affect my gas milage. I still got about 25mpg.

Only at times on the way home did the CEL blink irregularly. The rest of the time it was as if flashing a code 1 continuously at me.

I havent tried the key on without the engine running to see what the CEL does. I would do it now but since I got home so late there was no parking in front of my build so I had to park in B.F.E.

 

Okay. Post some updates tomorrow when you get a chance.

 

ok so I went out to the car this morning and tested the service connector wire and the continuty tested ok with it. I killed power to the ECU for about 5 minutes. Reconnected power then started the car and let it run for about 10 minutes and had no CEL at all.

Going to my aunts for Easter today which is about a 40 minute drive so I'll let you know if anything happens.