While accelerating hard in my manual transmission X-Type Sport (4th gear) the engine suddenly shut down and the CEL began blinking. In a few seconds the engine came back on, the CEL went out and the car drove normally. The car recently had the plugs and valve cover gaskets replaced. It repeated this behavior the next two times I hit the gas hard. My code reader showed P0301 (cylinder # 1 misfire) and P1313. The latter indicates a problem with the catalytic converter. This is not the type of problem I would think is associated with the catalytic converter and I would like to hear from someone who has experienced a similar problem and found a way to solve it.

Thanks.

 

Blinking (flashing) MIL = catalyst damage being done. Don't keep doing it as cats are costly!

P1313 confirms you're doing damage. Fix the misfire cause urgently.

 

max224, this is worth a shot as I have been helping another member here with a similar problem (granted, he was also getting the P0171/P0174 codes too). If you open the hood of your car, find the brake booster. Now, look to the left of it. You should see a small pocket there between the booster and the intake. In that pocket/opening, you will see where there is a set of solenoids mounted to the firewall there on a rubber sound isolator. Remove those solenoids from the car and spray a bunch of carb cleaner in all the openings. Now, reinstall into the car and see what you have from there. This solenoid pulls a vacuum on the gas tank and if it sticks open, it can cause your fuel pump to cavitate and lead to low fuel rail pressure, leading to the misfires and loss of power.

 

Thanks Thermo,

I'll check that this weekend. I've been chasing a high long-term fuel trim on Bank 1 (+19.53) and have replaced all of the usual suspect vacuum lines as well as the gas cap, all with no improvement. I'm hoping that this solenoid valve may be the culprit. The weird thing is that the car runs great at all rpm's UNLESS you floor it suddenly which is when the P1313 & P301 codes pop up. I probably should have mentioned that the car has 152,000 miles on it in case that's a factor.

Thanks again,

 

Checked out and cleaned the purge solenoid and added BG-44K fuel system cleaner to the gas tank. Drove it for while over the weekend and was unable to re-create the problem - the only code thrown was the ubiquitous P1000 which I'll address at a later time. Also, the car subjectively seems to be running better, plenty of pep and you can't hear or feel the engine at idle. This is either a placebo effect or a problem solved. Time will tell.