2011 WRX CEL - Cruise Light Flash/Traction Light

[neverrain]

Hey all,

Unfortunately, this issue occurred 15 minutes after the service department at my dealer closed, so I am without Subaru until Monday.

I was driving a few hours ago on the freeway, nothing crazy, cruising speed, and I noticed my check engine light came on, with the 'traction control off' light on and the cruise control light flashing on and off at 1 second intervals. The car also appears to be in limp mode, turning it on now feels like it is lacking power. Aside from this, no other signs of an issue.

Anyone know what could be causing this? Car is stock aside from an SPT exhaust, stock tune, etc. This happened today after not driving the car for about a week and a half, but as soon as I turned it on I let it warm up to full temp before even moving it.

I read another thread saying the gas cap might not be tight enough, which i checked, but that's it. Any help would be appreciated.

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[I3eXa]

a loose gas cap would give a p0420 (I think) code but would just be a steady CEL and nothing else. Limp mode is when the CEL flashes, not another light (unless they've changed it). Try going to your local schucks, o'reiley's, krager, or autozone and borrowing their OBD code reader and see what it gives you.

[van_dutch]

Impossible to get anywhere without the code. Get the code pulled (friend with a tactrix/code reader or your local autozone etc are options) and report back.

[RP31]

Originally Posted by van_dutch

Impossible to get anywhere without the code. Get the code pulled (friend with a tactrix/code reader or your local autozone etc are options) and report back.

This. There are about 400 reasons your CEL could come on, there is no reason to waste time guessing what the reason might be.

[ScubaDriving]

This same thing happened to me today. Dealer is closed for the day so I guess it will have to wait until tomorrow at least. Same exact scenario for me. I was just crusing at roughly 35 to 40 and check engine light came on, traction control off light came on as well and would not turn off, and cruise control light is flashing at the 1 sec interval. This is pretty concerning as I have babied my car. I am wondering if it was an overboost situation at low rpm with the cold weather we have been having in WISC, My car is bone stock NO mods so I would hope that this would not be the case. I am new to the turbo subaru would as my 2.5rs coupe was N/A. Did you ever pull the code or take your car to the dealer? If so let me know what the result was please? I will be pulling the code later when my cousin stops over with his scanner. I will update the post asap. Take it easy! I really hope this is nothing serious...warranty or not I don't want any issues

[424wrx]

read the code. you will have your own answer. go to autozone or get a cheap code reader.

[ScubaDriving]

So my cousin came over with his scanner and the CEL code is P0303 which is a misfire in cylinder 3. I filled up from a Gstation that I normally don't go to and I swear I got bad gas. the car had been running a little sluggish and I had noticed 1 prior to the CEL this morning what felt like a misfire. The wierd thing is the CEL came on after I filled up with (93 octane from mobil like I always do) just prior to this cel coming on???? I fired it up after we read the code and it seems to be running smooth. I didn't drive it at all but it was running better than it was yesterday now that I filled up with new gas. I will be calling Subaru tomorrow morning and get it in ASAP? I am considering reseting the ECU and seeing if the code comes back on as this would indicate a problem still exists but I don't want the dealer to give me a hard time about it..any opinions would be appreciated. Thanks

[ScubaDriving]

I wanted to clarify exactly what happened because I think my post is a little confusing so I apologize for that. I filled up from a different Gstation 4 days ago and last night I noticed that my car just seemed to be running a little "sluggish" I couldn't put my finger on what it could be there was no check engine light or anything and I thought I was being paranoid. Yesterday evening I ran to the store down the street and it seemed to be worse and when I parked in my garage I felt/heard what sounded like a misfire but still no CEL. I shut the car off immediately and told my wife who of course said I was being paranoid and that the car is brand new. At this point I needed gas so on my way home from work I filled up (Mobil 93 octane) which is the gas I normally run in my car. I drove from the gstation about 10 miles no CEL. Ran into the store and out. Turned on the car and I I am not sure if the CEL was on righty but after drive like 3 blocks I noticed the CEL on and it was code P0303 misfire in cylinder 3 .. my car is a 2011 wrx(base) with 8k on it and is bone stock. I have babied this car and would appreciate any input or thoughts anyone has. I hope this clarifies some important details...wiredest part is my car seems to be running better now than it was before the CEL came on...

[rockerryan]

The same lights (CEL/Cruise/Traction) just came on in my stock 2011 WRX, and one thing that we have in common is that we both filled up at gas stations that we don't usually go to. I'm taking mine to the dealer tomorrow morning to see what the problem is...

[xluben]

This is a great thing to have:

http://www.harborfreight.com/can-obd...enu-98568.html

Or just to to Autozone or any other auto parts store and have them scan it for you for free!

[rockerryan]

Thanks for the tip xluben! I was just looking for those online

[rockerryan]

So, it turns out that a fuel sensor had stopped working - since the car is still under warranty, the dealer fixed it for free

[jonb91x]

any idea what would cause the cel and the traction control light and the cruise light to flash?