George Papaioannou

It's got 200K miles, recently replaced the PCV body. Suddenly, and infrequently, the engine starts shaking and hesitates upon acceleration. When it happens, the engine light flashes. This is very random and occasional. A restart seems to help. Very scary and difficult to troubleshoot, as it does not even throw any codes.

Dying to know what this could be. Any thoughts?

markcm

This sounds like a misfire to me. If it is, spark plugs and coil packs are a common cause. Misfire will cause a blinking MIL that goes out when the misfire stops. If you have anyway to scan your ecu, check for misfire codes and it should tell you which cylinder is misfiring.

A full set of new coils cost about $85 from a reputable seller like FCPeuro or RockAuto. I recommend buying OEM (Bosch/Bremmi...), not autozone or no-name coils. Plugs are about $5-8each at these same places. I don't recommend buying on Amazon or eBay as those markets are flooded with counterfeit plugs.