2001 Corolla blinking CEL and low power

[ph0bolus]

So, my corolla is at around 160k miles, and my check engine light has been on for some time now, but just this past month and a half it started to blink whenever I try and accelerate up a hill or at a traffic light. Notice I said try, because even if at 2000 RPM's going uphill it'll start to blink. If I try and give it some gas after the light turns green at around 2000-2200 RPM's it'll start to blink and just to get around 25-30mph. I read on here that it could be a dirty MAF or throttle body, so I bought their respective cleaners and cleaned it up this last weekend with the issue still coming up. Don't know if this will help any, but when I turn the car on and walk behind the exhaust, it's not a steady stream of air coming out. It's coming out in regular puffs of air.

Any ideas on how to fix this and I'd honestly like to try and keep the repair costs at a minimum if at all possible.

 

[CarInOrder]

I would try to get your codes read as soon as you can. A blinking check engine light can mean that a problem is occurring which could damage your engine or other component. Recommend not driving the car, but if you have to keep it so the check engine light does not blink.

The code(s) should help you isolate it to one cylinder (hopefully) and then you can check the ignition coil, wiring, spark plug, etc. for that cylinder.

 

[Luis0522]

Sounds like your car is misfiring, recommend scanning for codes to help pinpoint the problem can be anything from injecters to spark plus to even a plugged catalytic converter. You need to find out what codes you have first before you can start doing any work to the vehicle. You don't want to shotgun parts, it can get expensive and it's not worth it.