Hey, I'm having a weird problem. Here's the timeline:

Approx 6 months ago:
Check Engine Light would start flashing, but then "not" stay on. It usually did this at around 65 to 75 mph. I could sense nothing wrong with the way the car was running, but the problem persisted from this point on. Sporadic. Would go a week with nothing, then it would do it several days in a row.

2 weeks Ago:
Detecting some misses I change the plugs and wires. Misses don't go away. Get worse. CEL comes on and stays on. And I put it in the shop. They change the coil. I get the car back, and within one day the light comes on again, and the car has a short period of running TERRIBLE. Shop says maybe the new coil is bad, and let's see what it does. I find a wire popped up, and change the wires again thinking I had a bad set. No dice. Still get occasional flashing of CEL. Wires, coil, and plugs are all new. I don't find it believable that the new coil is bad, and the old one was probably not the problem.

All the error codes ever point to is misfiring on #3.
Shop switches wires to see if problem will point to a different cylinder.
Nothing on that yet, but the CEL flashes still happen... no solid CEL code to check yet.

Anyone had similar problems? Any ideas on a resolution?

HELP!!!

miles? mods? timing belt/headgasket changes?

No mods... lotsa miles... 235,000! (all by me - bought new in late '98) Changed my timing belt about ever 80,000, and did so in the last 25,000 miles. Never done any head gasket maintenance. I've taken care of this car. Always did the oil/filter change between 3000 and 5000 miles. Every 3000 for the last 100k. Followed (or nearly followed) all fluid change recommendations. Changed the plugs and wires every 30k to 40k, I'd guess. Had very few problems with this car, so far. Mostly just the expected. This is my first mystery.

wow with that many miles and only a few problems you DEFINATELY took good care of that thing! :clap:

Piston rings in a gasoline engine are normally only good for 180k miles. Before you try anything else it might be a good idea to check the compression. It could be that there is a loss of compression in that cylinder, not because of anything you did wrong, just because of how many miles are on it and the head gasket has never been changed.

Thanks for the suggestion! I'll check that out.

Could be a coil pack.

Coil has already been replaced. Working with a mechanic now, and he is starting to suspect the ECM. He was driving it when it did the "CEL flashing" thing, and confirmed that the engine was not missing at all when it did this. That's what started him thinking it was the computer...

Will update this thread if (hopefully "when") I get the issue resolved.