Check Engine Light on...then off

[pontypool]

Driving to work this morning in some very heavy traffic the Check Engine Light came on and then as my heart was stopping it went off again about 15 seconds later.

There wasn't a chance to pull-over and turn the car off where I was and so very gently proceeded the last 500 yard to my office car park. There at idle the car sounded fine but under light throttle there was a bit of a rattle, but under heavier throttle it went away.

Not started it again yet, but anyone got any theories?

[Loren]

You will need to have the fault codes read to see if there is a potential problem.

The DME can automatically clear any CEL if the conditions that cause the CEL have been corrected.

[pontypool]

Just started it up again and the CEL light hasn;t come on but the rattle is there at idle and is coming from right-hand side of engine bay - is that the water pump on the front right driven off the belt?

If so rattle could be coming from in there...but would that have triggered the CEL briefly?

[Loren]

Water pump is at the bottom of the belt.

I would remove the belt - check all the pulleys for wobble.

Could be any one of them idlers, water pump, alternator...

[pontypool]

Update: the car is having the engine dropped today and then stripped for investigation and so should be able to report on the findings in the next couple of days, but inital diagnosis is IMS failure... :(

[RFM]

IMS failure is,generally spoken, associated with a fairly large loss of oil, and in fact no longer drivable. I hope for you the best.

[pontypool]

Think the noise heard was from the IMS bearing starting to fail and may have been stopped just before a big, terminal failure - but will know for sure soon!

[pontypool]

Latest update... the engine is out and stripped and IMS all fine!

Seems that one of the cylinder bores was scored/scrathed by something that had gotten into the cylinder (no I don't know how either) and this was cuasing the rattle and why the engine was still seeming to run ok.

New bore liner being sorted, IMS bearing being uprated anyway while the engine is out and also new Crankshaft bearing to be on the safe side and new water pump.

Hopefully should be all back together at the end of this week and "bobs your (expensve) uncle" back on the road with a fully sorted engine with somepreventative maintentance done as well.

[phillipj]

Glad it wasn't catastrophic... I like your attitude...Just fix it and make it better. Let us know how it turns out.. B)

[70Sixter]

... IMS bearing being uprated anyway while the engine is out

Glad to hear it is okay!

Who is doing the IMS bearing upgrade? Dealer or indie? Who made the bearing? OEM or?