My car has been showing CELs ever since I got the vortech isntalled and tuned. It's happened 3 times in a month and it's always been the lamda sensors.
I reset them and it keeps coming back after a few days. It's always under VERY mild driving. Tuner says it's nothing to worry about, as the car feels very healthy and pulls hard, and that all the timing and fuel management is now run by the Haltech, which shouldn't trigger OBD alarms anyway. It's only because my factory sensors aren't getting what they expect, so they give a CEL.
No hickups, stalls etc. Also said that if I drove it hard, it would probably not trigger an o2 CEL, which sounds weird, but was confirmed by my mechanic too.

Both of them suggested I used o2 simulators that would make my factory lamdas stand out a bit, thus not be so sensitive to trigger and alarm.

What do you think? I saw Ichiba makes these things, should I get a set of 2, do you think I'll get rid of false AFR sensor alarms?

 

You can have your ecu flashed to get rid of the o2 codes. Are you running aftermarket dual widebands? Or stock widebands?

Driving hard or soft should not make a difference on throwing those codes.

Post up the Cel codes you are getting?

 

Reset CEL doesn't mean it went away. Find out what code are you getting it.

chefj

 

P1274
P1278
P1279
P1288
P1289

are the codes I'm getting. I'm using dual AEM widebands, as well as the factory lamdas.

What good is flashing the ECU?

 

Try the non-fouler trick .... if that doesn't work, you probably have a bad O2 sensor.

 

the conditions under which the car is being driven is what causes the ecu to throw the codes. When the ecu is in open loop, it should not throw the ecu codes for the 02 sensors. However as soon as it's in closed loop (ie steady state driving on a highway, etc) it will immediately come up as that is when the ecu is looking for them in the first place

Alex - the antifoulers are a quick and easy way to possibly solve it. It works on some cars, not on others, but at least it's easy to try.

 

A reflash for the o2 codes will prevent your car from passing emissions. Your O2 sensors will never be "ready" to pass.

 

+1 - remember, there is a difference between eliminting cels and not throwing codes. A re-flash will just turn the sensor off, but the codes still read pending or open when you plug into the OBD port and you will more than likely fail inspection depending how many pending sensors your state will allow.

 

Wait, a reflash prevents a car from passing state inspections, i am having a similiar problem with my twins, and was thinking about getting a reflash. So if non-foulers wont work, what about the 02 simulators that www.o2simulators.com offers?

The make dual output simulators... anybody avoiding the codes without non-foulers and still able to pass inspection?

 

I bought new O2 sensors and picked up some HFC's from Chef-J to rid myself of the CEL ... I plan to get it all in this weekend so I can get the car tagged next week. I'll post an update then.

 

Thanks for the input Adam.

Someone care to explain what this antifouler or non-fouler trick is? /n00b

 

it basically spaces out the sensor, which in turn decreases the rate at which the sensor gets to temperature, which is what causes the light to trip

 

NY must be pain in the A$$ to pass emission test huh?

 

Hope that HFCs can help, well that HFC from adam@z1's Z

Adam -> Me -> dave

Still going strong!!

chefj

 

LOL!!!! Dude, I'm going to rock them long enough to get tagged, then they'll be sold again.

 

O2 simulators are different than antifoulers?

 

Yes, O2 simulators interrupt the signal from the sensor to your ECU and fool the ECU into thinking that all is well. Dependig on how the simulator works, your sensor may or may not show a pending state when scanned.

 

Maybe you can make a money out of it

chefj