I installed the CAS wires last week. Other than the first couple of cranks the car/ECU is having problem maintain idle, everything was running fine the whole week...until today...

I was at a stoplight heading home. After the light turned green I proceeded to move forward. All of a sudden the car started to choke. I immediately turned off the AC and pulled my car to the side. The car will start choking after ~2500 rpm. Even if I free rev the engine it wont go pass ~2500rpm. I noticed that the car is running extremely rich. A/F was at ~9.x:1 at idle(was ~14.5:1) and ~10.x:1 when I tried to gas it. I turned off the engine didn’t know whats wrong with it. I let it sit for about 3 mins and started it up again….normal. Revs normal, A/F reads normal. I then drive the car home without any issues.

I suspected the CAS wire because that is the only thing I’ve installed in the past couple of month.

Anyone knows what might be the problem?

 

Limp mode....could be from several things . Wouldnt think its the CAS

 

My dealership tried the install...had similar problems - had to take the CAS wire out and I am trying again this coming week.

Charles is aware of my pain....I share yours.

 

if the CAS wire is properly installed, then its not the problem. If you suspect it then I would recommend going over the wiring and checking to make sure its correct and intact. Maybe it came loose, or maybe they routed it in way of harm such as contacting the exhaust manifold... impossible to tell from here... however if your not getting a check engine light then its highly doubtful to be the problem.

If a 350z/G35 doesnt get CAS signal it will take several seconds to start the engine as the ECU is waiting for the signal, after a few seconds it realizes that it will not get one and it will default to run off only the cam triggers and trip a check engine light. If your symptons do not include this, its highly unlikely to be the problem.

 

Do you have the ability to install it yourself? I am confident that if you attempt to do it yourself that you will find it very simple. Since its your car, you will take the time to make sure its perfect and if you run into a problem you will think it thru rather then just give up. If you consider it, I will just say that its an extremely easy install. You can do it under jackstands, and the only things you have to remove are the passenger side cowl panel (very easy, it unclips) and the plastic to get to the ECU under the dash.

 

Phatmitzu: can you post a list of your mods so I can consider more options.

 

Engine mods are

K&N Typhoon CF Intake
Kinetix V4 Plenum
Kinetix HF Cats
UR Crank Pulley
Nismo Headers
Nismo Flywheel
Nismo Clutch
JIC Y-Pipe
Power House Amuse R1 Titan Exhaust
Apexi SAFC-II
Zeitronix A/F Wideband
Shielded CAS Wires
Pro-1 Torque Damper
S2000 Engine Start
B&M Short Shifter

 

do you have a check engine light?

 

This sounds like the issue we ran into this weekend. As soon as the CAS was grounded we got a slow start....went back to the OE CAS and she fired right up. Running on the OE CAS for now.

 

I am not sure what you mean... are you saying that with all 3 wires hooked up it was working fine, but then when you connected the ground strap wire it stopped working properly?

If that is the case, then yours might actually be defective... the only thing i can think of that could possibly cause this is if the shielding became in contact with another wire internally... which is not likely.

When we test each ground strap wire for continuity to ensure that we got a good connection with the shielding, we have to just slightly ***** thru the cover to contact a probe with the shielding... i suppose that its possible that one of us pricked it too deep and a strand of shielding is touching another wire... I really dont see that happening but perhaps it did. If this is the case, you might have the first one to actually require replacement. So far I havent had a single one sent back even for inspection.

send me details via PM, and if it requires replacement then one will be sent to you immediately.

 

No. Everything looks/drives normal now. But Im afraid it will do it again while Im on the freeway or something...

 

Happened to me like 2 weeks ago Phatmitzu, car would backfire and sputter if i went over 3k, pulled it into my friends house, let it idle, it would barely idle, was choking and sputtering, turned it off, came back out like 5 minutes later, started and has ran fine ever since.

My guess is i had just serviced my pop-charger that day and maybe oiled it a little too much.

 

Phat, this sounds like the weird limp mode some of us experienced. This happened to me when I was NA once. I just shut down the car, waited a minute, and she fired right back up.

If you have a CAS wire issue, you willl definately get a CEL.

 

I've been driving with the shielded CAS for over a month now and no problems here.

 

you know what is very interesting... now that you guys mention it... there was 3 times i specifically recall, even with my FCON... where the car would act extremely wierd and backfire and pop when I tried to accelerate beyond very very very light load... then I would shut off the engine and start it again and everything was mint. My car doesnt even have a CAS wire upgrade yet. Very ****in wierd... i dont see how it could possibly be related since the FCON is a full standalone... but maybe there is something going on here that we havent figured out yet... if its not related to the ECU directly, then its related to the signals being sent to the ECU... and if thats the case then of course even with my FCON things would get wierd... there has to be something else going wierd, and its definatly not the MAF since my FCON ignores that all together.

I might have to call Peter at APS and ask him exactly what was happening when he had CAS signal interference in their test car, however I dont see how my wire wouldnt correct that problem, and I dont see how you could blow the engine like that when it wont even go anywhere.... so its probably something totaly different... but time will tell.

 

Limpmode sucks! It happened to me randomly with my APS TT kit as well. Couldn't go anywhere until the code was reset w/ the ODB II scanner. Some code related to the MAF.

 

Totally weird. Its been a week since the "limp mode" had happened. Its driving fine every since.

 

Any more information relevant to this problem?

My z has been doing this spontaneously over the past two weeks, last night being the worst case of the batch.

Symptoms:

super crazy rpm fluctuations
super crazy backfire
super crazy no acceleration (sputter, backfire, stall -- in that order)
super crazy crappy idle

car is basically stock -- exhaust, y-pipe, test pipes, intake.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated, Thanks in advance.

 

If it is that close to stock, take it back to the dealer. Most of us get laughed out of the dealer when we show up with FI. Consider yourself lucky.

 

Question, When your CEL lights come one. What code are you all getting?