My engine and cruise control lights keep flashing…This happens intermittently (been going on like this for several months). I took it to my mechanic and he cleared the computer…was fine for awhile…but happening again. Mechanic said that if it happened again, it might be the catalytic converter. I hope not b/c this is a very expensive part to replace!!! Is my mechanic correct or could it be something else?
Make, model, year, engine, auto/manual, miles? Does the car run any different when the lights are flashing?
Instead of clearing the codes, the mechanic should be reading them to get hints as to what the problem could be. . . Did he? What were they?
I think you need a new mechanic.
When it was hooked up to the computer were error codes retrieved? These lights are not nearly as mysterious as many think. The computer watches stuff. When it sees a problem it turns the lights on and stores error codes. The error codes come with quite specific diagnostic procedures.
Normally a flashing check engine light is due to a misfire - this kind of thing is bad and you shouldn’t drive the car with that light flashing. But with the cruise control light going at the same time it could be something different. I can tell you that flashing engine + flashing cruise light does not equal catalytic converter.
See if you can find out what actual error codes were present in the computer and report those codes (they would look like “P1234”)