NO CEL, but the maintenance light came on and was flickering for like 1 min then stopped

 

safe mode glitch?

 

That's perfectly normal - it starts going off after a certain number of miles. Pretty soon, it'll stay illuminated constantly. IIRC, turn it off by holding the trip reset button when the car off, then turn the key on one notch while continuing to hold down the button.

 

sounds like the car was in limp mode. What octane gas did you pump?