Engine light flashing

Tiny
CHASITY LOBRILLO
  • MEMBER
  • 2004 ISUZU ASCENDER
  • 4.2L
  • V6
  • 4WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 200,000 MILES
Okay, this is a lot! To start I had to replace the head. So bought the head got someone to put it on and just got the truck back. First thing I noticed is it is making loud noise and shakes. You can hear the lifters tapping. After the engine has had time to warm up the the oil pressure drops and goes right back up. Then drops and goes right back up but only at idle? Does not feel like any power is lost at all. Someone said it sounds like it may be the oil pump but that was replaced also. So the oil pump is new. Well I have driven it to work a couple of days in a row now and the engine light stays on but it started flashing yesterday. I am wondering before I go back and have to go through this replacing the head all over again if possibly it could be anything else? A lot of the noise seems to me to be coming from the muffler shaking and sputtering? I do not know, I am so confused at what it all could be.
Wednesday, February 21st, 2018 AT 11:59 AM

3 Replies

Tiny
STEVE W.
  • MECHANIC
  • 14,879 POSTS
From the description the repairs were not done correctly. The shaking and noise sound like they are misfires. The flashing CEL also is common with misfiring engines. I would get a code reader, read what codes are set and post them here. I would expect P0300 as one and at least one of the codes from P0301-P0306 as well as those are the individual codes for misfires from the cylinders. The oil pressure is worrysome, For that you would want to put a mechanical gauge on the engine and see if it reads low/high.
The exhaust is shaking because of the misfires I suspect.

Lifters tapping is not good.
What was the reason you needed a different head to begin with?
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Thursday, February 22nd, 2018 AT 7:49 PM
Tiny
CHASITY LOBRILLO
  • MEMBER
  • 2 POSTS
It was running hot and a cracked head was the reason. None of the other stuff was happening at all before. I took it back to the shop that worked on it yesterday and asked him what the codes read. All I got out of him was" cylinder misfires and a lot of other stuff " his words exactly. Oh and he said your going to have to end up putting a new motor in. I wanted the codes not his opinion. Lol. But I think that is what I will have to end up doing to avoid all the headache. I doubt it will be the same person to work on it this time though. Thanks for your help.
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Friday, February 23rd, 2018 AT 8:31 AM
Tiny
STEVE W.
  • MECHANIC
  • 14,879 POSTS
I would get a second opinion from a different shop. Misfires can be caused by multiple issues, many are not hard to correct and would not need a different engine.

As for reading the codes, many of the chain parts stores will read them for free. Or if you wanted, a small code reader only unit is not expensive. That way you can at least read those yourself and post them. Just be aware that 99% of codes do not point at a specific part, they simply tell you which system the computer sees a problem with. That catches a lot of people who read a code and replace the parts and discover the problem is still there.
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Friday, February 23rd, 2018 AT 11:56 AM

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