Flashing check engine light

[Flipn the bird racing]

Have had my gladiator in and out of dealership for over a month now due to transmission not shifting and engine misfire.every time truck has been “fixed” instantly have to go back to dealership for same problem.Anyone had similar problems and have had problems fixed so I can maybe give the dealership more help cause they are completely lost in finding any issues

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[Hootbro]

Good luck, there has been multiple threads covering misfires and really no one magic bullet fix without proper methodical troubleshooting.

Any internet suggestions or fixes you hand your current dealership service techs are going to get thrown in the trash because they do not like to be armchaired quarterback in doing their job. You are better off finding another dealership that will listen and hopefully have a better troubleshooting method than your current one.

 

[Flipn the bird racing]

The dealership said they couldn’t replicate the problem I was having so I had to test drive with them and the second I pulled out the dealership lot and gave it 75% throttle it instantly started acted up and almost shut off

 

[Hootbro]

The dealership said they couldn’t replicate the problem I was having so I had to test drive with them and the second I pulled out the dealership lot and gave it 75% throttle it instantly started acted up and almost shut off

So what did the dealership do then? Reset codes and called it good?

 

[Flipn the bird racing]

They said they did a transmission flush on the fluid on the transmission side and my timing chain was loose and the oil pain was dented all covered under warranty and as soon as I drove off light came straight back out and it’s been 4 weeks now and they can’t figure out anything wrong and haven’t given me an update since

 

[Hootbro]

Well, I stand by what I said in my first post. A lot of people can chime with "could be this, could be that", but your situation needs competent eyes on it, not internet guessing to pass on to them.

 

[PW45]

I thought flashing check engine light means it's REALLY bad and stop driving?

 

[Flipn the bird racing]

When we ran a code reader on it before taking it to the dealer it read a severe miss fire code and we told them that

 

[kevman65]

At my age, Flashing anything or anyone gets me arrested......

 

[swtrailboss]

The dealership should have the ability to take a snapshot of the issue and submit it to the manufacturer tech line and they (the dealership) are too incompetent to interpret the data then the tech line should send them in the right direction for a proper repair. If you can duplicate the problem on a test drive with a tech in the truck with a diagnostic computer connected -the fix should be narrowed to a few choice repairs. Don’t know why this wasn’t performed…..even by the ones with a lesser clue…….as you said before it’s an active misfire when the light is flashing!

 

[VTbiker]

They said they did a transmission flush on the fluid on the transmission side and my timing chain was loose and the oil pain was dented all covered under warranty and as soon as I drove off light came straight back out and it’s been 4 weeks now and they can’t figure out anything wrong and haven’t given me an update since

How would a dented oil pan be covered under warranty?

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I thought flashing check engine light means it's REALLY bad and stop driving?

Just means it can't decide if it should set or go back to sleep.
I've had mine flashing because of the hot start misfire.

Like Hootbro said - there's a whole list of "it could be's" and the fix list will be even longer.

Unless a deep dive shows a code stored or saved in there, it's really hard to know

The dealership should have the ability to take a snapshot of the issue and submit it to the manufacturer tech line

They have to be able to replicate it - then get a freeze frame
If it won't misbehave for them, there's nothing to snapshot and submit

When we ran a code reader on it before taking it to the dealer it read a severe miss fire code and we told them that

There's no "severe misfire" code. No such code..
There will be multi-cylinder misfires, or a specific cylinder misfire. And it could be ignition or fuel-related.

Telling them it read "severe misfire" will mean nothing at all -they still must be able to duplicate it or see the code for themselves, even capture a freeze frame.

(I think you need a better code reader if it really gives some result like that)

I've been able to use AlfaOBD or JSCAN or even the app that came with my bluetooth OBD adapter to capture freeze frame info and in one case - AlfaOBD narrowed it down to ignition misfire, and the cylinder, along with a lot of other information. Armed with several pages of report, it got resolved.
Similar for my hot start misfire - I had so much information, including the exact specifics on when the misfire happened, when it didn't happen, timing, temperatures, and more.

Just telling them it's a "severe misfire" isn't going to get far, sorry.

 

[Rocksalt]

Dealership should be able to diagnose and repair. "should"

 

[swtrailboss]

Just means it can't decide if it should set or go back to sleep.
I've had mine flashing because of the hot start misfire.

Like Hootbro said - there's a whole list of "it could be's" and the fix list will be even longer.

Unless a deep dive shows a code stored or saved in there, it's really hard to know

They have to be able to replicate it - then get a freeze frame
If it won't misbehave for them, there's nothing to snapshot and submit



There's no "severe misfire" code. No such code..
There will be multi-cylinder misfires, or a specific cylinder misfire. And it could be ignition or fuel-related.

Telling them it read "severe misfire" will mean nothing at all -they still must be able to duplicate it or see the code for themselves, even capture a freeze frame.

(I think you need a better code reader if it really gives some result like that)

I've been able to use AlfaOBD or JSCAN or even the app that came with my bluetooth OBD adapter to capture freeze frame info and in one case - AlfaOBD narrowed it down to ignition misfire, and the cylinder, along with a lot of other information. Armed with several pages of report, it got resolved.
Similar for my hot start misfire - I had so much information, including the exact specifics on when the misfire happened, when it didn't happen, timing, temperatures, and more.

Just telling them it's a "severe misfire" isn't going to get far, sorry.

so I had to test drive with them and the second I pulled out the dealership lot and gave it 75% throttle it instantly started acted up and almost shut off……

that’s telling me he could duplicate on the test drive with the dealership present…….. ? There is your “freeze frame” snapshot.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

so I had to test drive with them and the second I pulled out the dealership lot and gave it 75% throttle it instantly started acted up and almost shut off……

that’s telling me he could duplicate on the test drive with the dealership present…….. ? There is your “freeze frame” snapshot.

You can bet there was no diagnostic equipment - no scanner or logging - connected during that.
Showing them that it misfires is one thing - doing it while connected with diagnostic equipment is another. It took me quite a while to actually get mine to act up while I still had things connected to log. Nothing was saved - the system was always clear by the time I got to it and checked things out. Then I decided to leave things connected - including my phone with logging and it actually acted up while I was recording.
Having someone in the seat is one thing - them duplicating it and catching it is another.
Did it only do it that time - or was it happening all the time, so no matter when a tech drove it, it would misfire?
There's likely more to the story - like frequency - does it do it every drive?
Would it be counted on to act up any time the tech took it for a drive - or was that a lucky shot and after that they couldn't duplicate it?
Having the dealership person in the truck when it happened would only prove the owner wasn't losing it. Can it be duplicated any time? Or was that a once and done they can't make it do it again thing?

Been down this road to many times to remember.
Sitting in the seat doesn't give them any more information other than "yeah, it feels like a misfire".

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