No DME connection but can read VIN? and missfire

[sandbagger]

new one for me.... I asked on FB but we all know the smart kids are here :P
2004 3.0L with 200K on it

So did a trip detroit to madison wis over the weekend and it was pretty warm. Had a CEL come on 2 months ago when I went to Chicago but since I cleared it hasnt been back and this is my daily driver(2003 3.0L) but also hasnt been getting any long runs as the Z4 is out of storage.

I brought the Foxwell reader just in case. about 3hrs into the drive, CEL comes on, seemed a bit down on power and RPM wanted to run higher than usual and trans was not going into lockup I am sure. I pull into a rest area, plug it in, it reads the VIN, then takes forever to read and then comes back, " NO COMUNICATION" 😮 never seen that. Now I was able to use the genaric OBD scan, it came back with a few codes, missfire, cleared them and it was fine for another hour. cleared codes before driving home, again, couldnt get in via the normal scan but would find the VIN, had to use the generic OBD. Drive home was in the 50F range vs upper 80s on the way out. Never had the CEL come on. I am now able to get in via the normal scan method.

I am thinking I have 1 or 2 things going on, bad coils due to the misfire codes, and they were real as I had a notable mis when I pulled into the rest area. the other is is the ECU/DME have problems?

later this week we should be upper 90s so I hope I can just let it sit and idle to heat soak it and then do some local driving to see if it will set codes again.