Sooo to start off, my dodge neon is a 2003, manual transmission with 140k miles on it

i recently bought this from a college student, and i would say i got a pretty sweet deal on it


But after i had it for about a week~ my check engine light started to blink
why is does it blink?

its not blinking when i start the car, but yes the engine light is already on (i dont mind every car ive ever owned had the engine light on lol )

but after a while it will start blinking, sometimes it stops, sometimes it starts again (please help )

ive searched the forums to see if someone else is having this problem but i have not found someone with the same problem

also when im in third gear and trying to go up a hill, it bogs down and i start to lose speed.

gears 1 2 4 and 5 are fine... but only in 3rd gear does it bog down..

does this have something to do with the blinking check engine light?

Also,it may need a new fuel injector, could this be the issue causing the blinking engine light/problems trying to go uphill in 3rd gear?




(by the way i only payied 500$ after some tough negotiations. it was originally 1000$ but i talked him down because of it needing a new fuel injector)

 

You should start off with getting the new injector, this may eliminate the car bogging.

$500 for an 03 neon is a steal, bad injector or not.

 

If the CEL is blinking while you are driving, that is a major misfire and you shouldn't be running the engine. Doing so could cause severe damage. A specific gear isn't going to cause a misfire, but a bad injector could, and even more so when the engine is under greater load. You can get the code(s) pulled and they will tell you which cylinder(s) are misfiring. It's either going to be a bad injector, spark plug wire, spark plug or least likely, a bad coil pack.

 

Thanks guys!!

ill post a update bout how its running after i take it down to the shop!

hopefully everything works out good.