Blinking CEL on Downshift

Lameberlain

Respected
'03 Civic EX, 210k miles, owner for one year.

Getting codes:
P1259 VTEC System Malfunction

P0300 Random/Multiple Cylinder Misfire Detected
P0301 Cylinder 1 Misfire Detected
P0302 Cylinder 2 Misfire Detected
P0303 Cylinder 3 Misfire Detected
P0304 Cylinder 4 Misfire Detected

Basically whenever I am driving down a slight hill, sometimes on a flat surface, and just maintaining speed the CEL will flash. The car doesn't actually seem to drive any different while it is flashing, and it stops flashing if I slow down a lot, or sometimes stops quickly on its own. I can prevent it by shifting into neutral, or by accelerating more, but neither seems like the best long-term solution to me.

I've gone through probable causes of the P1259 code and replaced the VTEC pressureswitch, cleaned the VTEC solenoidvalve screen, changed the oil, and done one drain/fill of ATF, but the problem persists.

Halp?
 

XpL0d3r

I had a Civic once.
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A flashing CEL means do NOT drive the car, because you can seriously screw something up. Did this problem just happen out of the blue, or did you do any recent maintenance?

Speaking of maintenance, when's the last time the car had a tune up? Spark plugs, wires, inspect the distributor, etc? A misfire on each cylinder is leading me to believe you have a problem with the distributor.
 


Lameberlain

Respected
Out of the blue. The spark plugs were changed a few months ago, other than that, I haven't done any sort of tune up since I got it about a year ago.
 

XpL0d3r

I had a Civic once.
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Out of the blue. The spark plugs were changed a few months ago, other than that, I haven't done any sort of tune up since I got it about a year ago.
I would start there. Check the distributor for damage or bad wires. Replace the plug wires too.

Did you reset the ECU after working on all the Vtec stuff?
 


Lameberlain

Respected
I haven't, I'll have AutoZone clear it today and see what codes come back.

Being an '01- Civic, it doesn't have a distributor or wires, just individual coil packs.
 

XpL0d3r

I had a Civic once.
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I haven't, I'll have AutoZone clear it today and see what codes come back.

Being an '01- Civic, it doesn't have a distributor or wires, just individual coil packs.
Whoops. Didn't even realize we were talking about a 7th gen, my mistake.
 


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