I was driving my '97 this afternoon and everything was going well, and I shut it off to grab some lunch, and when I started it again, it was acting as though it was running on 7 cylinders. I babied it home, and tried to Autotap the thing, and I cannot seem to establish any communication with my laptop/Autotap and my ECM, so I don't know what codes it's throwing.

Also, while driving home, the SES light was flashing, in an intermitent pattern (flashing for two minutes, then off for two minutes, flashing for two minutes, etc.), and now the check guages light is on when the ignition is in the on position, as well as the SES light. When the ignition is in the on position, my electric WP is running even while the car is cold. The car runs, but horribly, and reeks of fuel from the tailpipe, and is definitely not running on all cylinders.

Any ideas? My ECM was programmed by MMS, could they have locked it so that Autotap could not monitor the engine functions? No symptoms of any kind before I shut the car off today, and I'm a bit stumped. Not having the ability to scan the car really sucks.

Any ideas / suggestions are appreciated.

 

The light is flashing because there is a miss currently being detected.Check your fuses & see if the data link is getting power.

 

I think I've burned through a spark plug wire. I still cannot get the Autotap to read the ECM though.