Today while pumping gas my check engine light starting blinking. I was pumping the gas with the car running like always, and the idle got a tad choppy, so I glanced in and the CEL was flashing....then it stopped.

Normally the CEL is always on because of my cat, or lack thereof....but it was flashing...what does a flashing CEL mean?

Anything to do with my pumping gas while the car is running?

Mine did that with some bad misfiring. Water in the sparkplug wells. Oops.

Flashing CELs usually refer to an active misfire and can be potentially damaging if the vehicle is run during the condition. I would do a quick visual of your plugs and wires.

Wires look fine.....no visible water or anything like that....

::Scratches head::

Also...I have noticed before the car has had a weird idle when fueling it while it is running....I'm thinking its related...

The textbook definition is this: If the monitor detects misfires within more than 15% of the ignition oportunities with any 200R revolution period, the MIL immediately starts flashing, a freezeframe is stored with information regarding the conditions at the time the misfire occurred.

Basically, it's a bad occurance of a misfire condition that has reached the point where the catalytic converter might be damaged so the ECU panics and starts doing its best to tell you something is wrong. it throws the ECU into open loop to prevent the adaptive controls from dumping additional fuel which could exacerbate the situation.

Originally posted by DarkOne
The textbook definition is this: If the monitor detects misfires within more than 15% of the ignition oportunities with any 200R revolution period, the MIL immediately starts flashing, a freezeframe is stored with information regarding the conditions at the time the misfire occurred. Basically, it's a bad occurance of a misfire condition that has reached the point where the catalytic converter might be damaged so the ECU panics and starts doing its best to tell you something is wrong. it throws the ECU into open loop to prevent the adaptive controls from dumping additional fuel which could exacerbate the situation.

thats /\/\/\ why your the boss dino.

dont pump your gas with the car on...wtf

evap leak with the gas cap open like that :shrug