Jeep liberty CEL blinks 10 times while in use but no other obvious symptoms?

I drive a 2004 Jeep Liberty which currently has about 67,000 miles on it and is in relatively good shape. For a while now I’ve been noticing that my CEL will come on randomly while I’m driving and flash 10 times before stopping for an indeterminate time. At the time it occurs I could be doing 70 on an interstate or 35 on a city road, doesn’t seem to matter. I also don’t notice anything else with the car at the time. No jurking, no sounds, no nothing - seems to be running fine. I’ve tried taking it in to shops after I’ve seen it but they are never able to pull anything off of the error codes. I’ve now been driving with this phenomenon for over 5 years so whatever it is seems to not have been as serious as I would have expected but I do think its starting to happen more often now than it used to.

When I try and manually pull codes I get the “donE” screen with a random number that flashes super quick before disappearing. Had to use my phones slomo mode to even try and capture it. it seems to just be a number “867588”. Quick video showing what I mean:

The only other strange symptom my car has is that sometimes during a road trip, after 2+ hours of 70mph highway driving the AC will just die on me. You can hear it still running, its trying it’s best, but nothing is really coming out of the vents. No idea if it could be related to just a separate issue.

Anyone have any thoughts as to what is happening?

Don’t know about the light blinking, but this sounds like the evaporator is icing up. If you stop for, say, an hour, does the AC start working again?

Have you stopped by a car parts store and asked them to read the codes (it’s free)? Do that, and let us know what you find.

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insightful - Yeah it does. Interesting I’ll look into that.

texases - Mentioned in my post that i stopped by a dealership and they couldn’t find anything when they tried to pull the codes. Been a while since I’ve tried though, perhaps I’ll have more luck now that its happening more often. I also tried to pull codes with an OBD-II reader with no luck.

You may need a Jeep specific scan tool. You’d think the dealership would have that, but maybe it was broken the day you took it in, so they used a generic scan tool. Another idea, most any scan tool would provide the diagnostic codes, but they disappear from the computer memory after a while, when the CEL light isn’t lit. So you’d have to check the codes immediately after the CEL starts flashing to be able to see them. A third idea, maybe there’s something wrong with the electrical system that is causing the computer to forget that it was flashing the CEL. Weak battery can do this for example. Works fine when the car is running, but when you start the engine in the AM the starter draws so much power from the battery that the voltage drops and confuses the computer and erases the diagnostic memory. Good idea to test the charging system, load test the battery, & clean the battery connectors and posts.

The flashing check engine light indicates a misfire. Misfires are a two trip fault, if the fault occurs during two consecutive trips a fault will be stored. These computers did not hold “pending” faults for more than one ignition cycle, this results in frustration for the technician when asked to find the problem that occurred last week. The Chrysler DRBIII will display misfire history in the misfire monitor but good luck finding someone with enough experience to read it.

Start with the basics, replace the spark plugs and examine the coils for evidence of carbon tracking.

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Flashing MIL = SEVERE misfire, bad enough to damage the catalytic converter