From time to time there is a post regarding the CEL flashing and there does not seem to be a clear understanding of what this means so thought I would share this story.

The CEL flashing means only one thing. The engine has a missfire so severe that there is a potential for damage to the Catalytic converter. The pictures below are of a front warm-up converter from a 2001 Protege with 83k miles. It was driven for just over 150 miles with the CEL flashing and running very rough. Getting towed in was recommended but thought they would save a few dollars and just drive the car in. P0302 and P0303 were stored for cylinder 2 and 3 missfire and P0420 for CAT efficiency. First pic below shows the new CAT on right and old one on the left. Second pic shows closeup of the old CAT and the catalyst monolyth element completely destroyed.

Parts and labor to replace the catalytic converter came to $730.
Price to repair the cause.... $46 for a new #2 coil and $9 for new spark plugs. Threw in the labor for free.
I think the tow bill would have been substantially less than $730 don't you

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