A few days ago I was on my way home when my car lost ALOT of power and and was kind of lurching and hesitating. At this point, I had no lights on and temp guage read at 210. I was almost home, maybe a mile. By the time I got home the CEL was flashing and the car was running EXTREMLY poorly. When I parked, it idled choppy before I cut it off. Slight steam was coming from the hood. I let it cool for several hours and went out to check it. The coolant was very low (I have a slight coolant leak from the lower radiator hose), so I refilled that and started the car. It started right up, no misfire, no CEL. I drove it just for a few minutes around my house, and it ran great. After a few minutes the CEL began to flash and the car began to run poorly again and I shut it back down. This time it didn't appear to overheat. I checked the oil, there was no coolant in my oil, no oil in my coolant, no white smoke or water from my exhaust, nor any other tell-tell signs of a blown head gasket (this is what i thought happened). I'm sure the motor overheated from the lack of coolant ofcourse, but could the overheat cause a misfire/flashing CEL? And could the overheat ruined multiple plugs?

 

What code is in the computer?

Coolant spray got on you plug wires and caused a short. The short cause the misfire. The misfire cause the CEL to blink.

Don't drive a car with a coolant leak. Coolant system needs pressure to stop boiling. Without pressure the coolant will boil around the cylinders (hottest points) and that will cause gases to get trapped. Every place that has trapped gases can not get coolant, and that is how head gaskets blow and how heads crack.

 

dang i typed this a while ago. lol. ^^^ what he said. have the computer scanned for trouble codes. until your get the leak fixed make sure the radiator is full every time you run it. fix the leak. lol. could be the leak is causing the cam or crank sensor wiring to fail or any other sensor that it would leak on or get spread to.

 

Sorry for it taking so long to get back to you guys. It pulled only two codes, they are the ones for the two rear 02 sensors (they aren't hooked up, headers). Other than that, no codes. Yesterday, i changed the leaky radiator hose and filled the car up with coolant. I drove it for about an hour, just around my town and then later on the interstate. No issues at all. Checked the codes again when home, only the 02s. And the coolant level didn't change. I did notice some water spitting from the tail pipes. Just regular water it appeared, not coolant, not oil, and no smoke. I know it's normal to have a little water spit out on start-up due to condensation, but I noticed this after driving it around. Also, I put my hand over the tail pipe to get a closer look at the water, and the exhaust smells like hot metal, almost like the scent from a grinder, but it isn't very strong at all, and the only way to smell it to put something over the pipe, and it gets the odor on it. I know this may sound obvious because it's metal and it gets hot, but I've ever noticed it on any other car before.