intermitent blinking CEL...no error code found

[dome]

I have a 2004 wrx wagon that is pretty much stock engine wise aside from being AP Stage 1 93 octane. I have just under 39k miles and all my service is up to date.

I've been stage 1 (eveything else stock) for just about a year with no problems whatsoever.

Today my wife drives to work and gets a blinking CEL. I know this usually means there's a misfire in one of the cylinders but on her drive home there was no more CEL blinking or otherwise.

She gets home and I try to pull the error code with my AP, but none show up. I start the car and the blinking CEL is back so I drive to autozone to see if they can pull the code. I get there, hook up to their OBDII reader and nothing. No code. I start her up and no more CEL. WTF?

For about a half hour I drove around, alternating between turning the engine off and then driving for a few minutes, then turning off again. No CEL to speak of. Car is running great.

At the end I reflashed my realtime map to stage 1 93 octane and called it a night.

Any thoughts on this?

[dome]

after letting the car rest for a few hours I went out to restart it. Blinking CEL is back. I turn off the car and put the ignititon to ON position to check code again with AP. No code but I noticed the fan cycling on and off.

Take out the key, and immediately put it back in to start and voila...no more cycling fan or CEL.

Checked to be sure and green connectors under steering column were not connected. I'm very confused.

If this were an actual misfiring cylinder the CEL wouldn't just go away like that would it? Should I just reset the ECU and hope its just an electrical gremlin that will just go away?

BTW...anyone know if autozone uses a code reader or an actual scan tool?

[mbs627]

Try resetting it using the AP?

[wrxmuch?]

Disconnect your exhaust gas temperature sensor. It fixed my blinking cel. All the EGT sensor does is protect your cats. If you dont have cats go ahead and disconnect it. If you do have cats go get a new one. I read somewhere that most down pipes dont have egt bungs because the egt sensor has a tendency to break off. Hope this helps.

[teflon_jones]

A blinking CEL is an idiot light that is trying to tell you DO NOT DRIVE THIS CAR BECAUSE SOMETHING IS SERIOUSLY WRONG. So to start with, don't drive the car when there's a blinking CEL! Even if things sound ok, there may be a serious problem brewing that the car is trying to warn you about.

When you say "that is pretty much stock engine wise aside from being AP Stage 1 93 octane" is the map the only mod or do you have any other mods even what you consider minor ones? Don't you find it a weird coincidence that the car was fine when you drove it and then your wife takes it and this happens? Did you get your last tank of gas at a normal place you fuel up?

[Cinnabuns]

delete, sorry.