My check engine light just came on 5 minutes from home and I put the 240sx in the garage for the night. I recently got hotshot headers installed, but couldn't tighten the egr so it was about halfway in, and freely spun if I tried to tighten it as if it were stripped. I was suppose to untighten the egr from the intake side, to line it up on the header side, but never got to it and drove like this for about a month, or 500 miles. The light just came on, and I noticed with the car in neutral the idle is now 1100rpm, not 900rpm though it is steady. If I tap the gas lightly the idle goes to 1400 like normally, but once I'm off its there for a second or two and then shoots down to 1100rpm, as if it's lagging to come back down. Hard to notice it, or maybe it's normal and i'm just paraniod.
1.) Is this idle a sign of rich, or lean mixture, and how long is it safe to run like this without damaging the engine internally?
Tomorrow I'm going to take it too a private shop in town because I don't have the time to do it myself, my tools are all packed because I'm moving, and my uncle that owns an auto shop is in the hospital.
2.)If the guy I take it to can't clear ecu codes to get rid of the light, who should I see? I heard pepboys or some place like that does it for free.
Check Engine light just came on
why i hate working on cars
So I went to try to find the ecu, i can see it but I cant access it because this plastic piece is stuck.. and of crourse my stupid self breaks the plastic piece as I tried to "pry" it off... DAMN
this is what I think is causing the light, though it was like this for 500 miles and no light came on... my egr tube doesnt line up and I cant tighten it more.. but i tightened the o2 sensor with my hand just now it was loose for some reason maybe thats it.. but rpm as you can see in my other pic is a tinch over 1k and i remember before the light came on it was about 900.. i let it run for a good 2 minutes then my head started hurting cause its in the garage and doesnt have a cat. it might have been higher before i tightened the sensor, or i just cant remember clearly.. but the o2 sensor was loose for about half-1 full turn.. i dont know if that makes a difference and i just tightened it with my hand because my tools are packed.
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I am Technoman
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I am Technoman
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I am Technoman wrote:You will need to pull the code. Who knows what the code may be.
yea but how to i get the rest of that plastic piece off? or do i try to unscrew the ecu with part of that plastic piece on? it will be alot easier if i can get that thing off
whats plumbed mean? if i think i know what you mean is right, they go in all the way and no thread is exposed like the egr tube
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bruinbear714
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This happened to me too when I didn't get my egr bolt screwed in all the way.
What I think is happening is the egr valve is letting in some fresh air through that egr leak, so your engine is running with more air than it thinks, hence that higher idle.
If you loosen up the two bolts holding the egr pipe on the intake side, tighten up the egr bolt, retighten the two bolts and reset ecu, your car should run normal again.
What I think is happening is the egr valve is letting in some fresh air through that egr leak, so your engine is running with more air than it thinks, hence that higher idle.
If you loosen up the two bolts holding the egr pipe on the intake side, tighten up the egr bolt, retighten the two bolts and reset ecu, your car should run normal again.
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Jaegermeister2k
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I'm pretty sure i did everything right after putting the hotshot header on,and the light came on anyway,i was unable to keep the error code cleared after turning the car on a second time,so i just didn't worry about it.So then last week the light just came off by itself.I've heard that happen to other people too by the way,so maybe yours will come off too after a few weeks. 
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96_S14_SE
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- Car: 96 S14 SE - 05 VW GTI 1.8t - 89 S13 coupe "gold on brown"
Um you need to take the plastic runner piece off, before you remove the kick panel....
Grab ahold of it and pull up, as its just held in with clips... Then on the kick panel remove the plastic bolt from where the piece meets the firewall. Where the bend in the peice is there is a clip at the top, and one at the bottom. I just pull really hard towards the transmission tunnel and it comes off. Although Ive removed mine so many times one clip is broke and the other um isnt so good either hehe.
Take that off and check the code, but be very carefull as I see you might need to be after mangling the panel alone.... DOh
Get a code then speculate as to whats wrong hehe.
I have driven for 2.5 yrs now whith a code. I check it every cpl of months and get very worried when the light goes out hehehe
Grab ahold of it and pull up, as its just held in with clips... Then on the kick panel remove the plastic bolt from where the piece meets the firewall. Where the bend in the peice is there is a clip at the top, and one at the bottom. I just pull really hard towards the transmission tunnel and it comes off. Although Ive removed mine so many times one clip is broke and the other um isnt so good either hehe.
Take that off and check the code, but be very carefull as I see you might need to be after mangling the panel alone.... DOh
Get a code then speculate as to whats wrong hehe.
I have driven for 2.5 yrs now whith a code. I check it every cpl of months and get very worried when the light goes out hehehe
Take that off and check the code, but be very carefull as I see you might need to be after mangling the panel alone.... DOh
hahahahahahah
Well, too bad 96_se gave me excellent instructions on removing the plastic cover and not acessing the ECU and working with the ECU after I managed to remove the plastic cover without removing the "kick panel". I'm not sure what you mean by this, I'm guessing the plastic that runs along the side below the door (when door is closed)? well i didnt remove that.. so.. step one is done.. removing the plastic cover.. i got some tools from storage so I can unscrew the ecu.. now I have to unscrew the ecu and remove it (step two).. and find the code(step 3).. I know there are detailed instrutions on finding code errors on 240sx.org.. i just have to find out how to remove the ecu although I haven't realy looked at it because time is an issue and if I can mess up a simple job like removing the plastic.. and breaking it.. i definetly dont want to f-up my ecu. Oh and I did look at unscrewing the egr on the intake side.. damn it looks tight there.. either that or it was just too dark and that made it look tight.. so two screws? when anthony installed my headers he told me 3.
hahahahahahah
Well, too bad 96_se gave me excellent instructions on removing the plastic cover and not acessing the ECU and working with the ECU after I managed to remove the plastic cover without removing the "kick panel". I'm not sure what you mean by this, I'm guessing the plastic that runs along the side below the door (when door is closed)? well i didnt remove that.. so.. step one is done.. removing the plastic cover.. i got some tools from storage so I can unscrew the ecu.. now I have to unscrew the ecu and remove it (step two).. and find the code(step 3).. I know there are detailed instrutions on finding code errors on 240sx.org.. i just have to find out how to remove the ecu although I haven't realy looked at it because time is an issue and if I can mess up a simple job like removing the plastic.. and breaking it.. i definetly dont want to f-up my ecu. Oh and I did look at unscrewing the egr on the intake side.. damn it looks tight there.. either that or it was just too dark and that made it look tight.. so two screws? when anthony installed my headers he told me 3.
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96_S14_SE
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- Car: 96 S14 SE - 05 VW GTI 1.8t - 89 S13 coupe "gold on brown"
Bah hehe yeah you should remove the door sill, for lack of a better name right now, first BUT anyway...
ECU removal... First see the mass of wires and the connector they go into, see that 10mm bolt holding it in place, Dont touch it...
There should be 3 10mm bolts needed to remove. One on the back, towards the firewall, one located at the center under / below the ecu, and one holding it into the dash (above the mass of wires).
Remove those 3 and it will come out with a bit of effort. The effort comes from the bracket holding the ecu to the dash. mine is rather finicky and I have to pull up and out on the dash a bit to get the bracket loose.
Once the ecu is out youll see the diagnostic dial on the backside of the ecu. Turn it CC (iirc it can only go one way when you first remove it) fully, wait 2 sec turn it back fully. Look at the CEL and reed the code / codes. Write them down then turn / wait / turn the knob again to reset it.
Its been 6 months since Ive removed an ecu and it wasnt on my car. I check my CEL monthly though but devised a knob that sits in the ecu knob slot. By doing this I remove the "kickpanel" (plastic piece you mangled by the way hehe) in 10 secs and can reach around and turn the new knob without removal of the ecu
Oh by the way dont take my panel mangling comments personally, even the best of us has busted up a few panels at some time.. My radio trim has had 4 busted screws in it since 2 months after I got this 240 3.5 yrs ago
ECU removal... First see the mass of wires and the connector they go into, see that 10mm bolt holding it in place, Dont touch it...
There should be 3 10mm bolts needed to remove. One on the back, towards the firewall, one located at the center under / below the ecu, and one holding it into the dash (above the mass of wires).
Remove those 3 and it will come out with a bit of effort. The effort comes from the bracket holding the ecu to the dash. mine is rather finicky and I have to pull up and out on the dash a bit to get the bracket loose.
Once the ecu is out youll see the diagnostic dial on the backside of the ecu. Turn it CC (iirc it can only go one way when you first remove it) fully, wait 2 sec turn it back fully. Look at the CEL and reed the code / codes. Write them down then turn / wait / turn the knob again to reset it.
Its been 6 months since Ive removed an ecu and it wasnt on my car. I check my CEL monthly though but devised a knob that sits in the ecu knob slot. By doing this I remove the "kickpanel" (plastic piece you mangled by the way hehe) in 10 secs and can reach around and turn the new knob without removal of the ecu
Oh by the way dont take my panel mangling comments personally, even the best of us has busted up a few panels at some time.. My radio trim has had 4 busted screws in it since 2 months after I got this 240 3.5 yrs ago
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shawns1234
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Wed Mar 26, 2003 10:43 am
More EGR Tube questions....
Ok guys.... I have owned my 240 for about 4 years now and love it!!! I bought it with a full length header and a greddy grapefruit shooter. haha Anyway, I have always have a bad exhaust smell that has never allowed me to pass emissions and makes me smell bad. ( not to mention the headaches )Obviously my cat is gone since I have a full length header, but about a year ago I replace the first O2 and the smell went away for about 2 months and then came back. I learned how to get codes from the ecu and discovered that my ecu has a reoccuring love affair with trouble code 32. EGR Function. Now, the workmanship on the header installation wasn't that great, although it sounds like a true bread race car, it is very obvious the the EGR tube that feeds the EGR valve is totally gimp at best. I decided to break down tonight and buy some more tools to troubleshoot this finally. ( 3 years later ) Prior to looking at this, I replaced spark plugs, distributor rotor, tested resistance on plug wires, O2 sensor again, and check compression on the cylinders. first three cylinders were all even at 180 psi and the fourth was a bit lower, but within limits. For the hell of it I poured a bit of oil in that cylinder to test again.. anyway, after that I put everything back together and cranked the engine. Well, remember when I said that the egr tube connection to my header was totally gimp??? Let's just say that the extra oil that I poured in the cylinder caused a LOT of smoke to exit the exhaust. This was expected, but the problem is that as soon as my friend started the car, blinding amounts of smoke rolled from the connection of the egr tube to header. This area was obviously much worse than I had ever known. Now so you guys don't worry about my engine, the smoke stopped within a couple of minutes. Now to my actual question.
Could this be the sole reason the I have been busting O2 sensors, failing emissions, running EXTREMELY rich, error code 32s, getting poor fuel economy, very sporatic top end and WOT response, loss of power from time to time, blah blah blah???????
I have verified that there is no vacuum from bpt to egr valve @ 2000 - 3500 RMPs. I imagine that is due to little or no pressure being exerted from the header through the EGR tube. I was going to run many more tests on the EGR system with my FSM and vacuum tester, but it started raining so there is always tomorrow!
Does anyone else know of any main problem that is caused by putting on headers that are related to my issues, and lastly, is it rare that I have a full length header, because everyone else seems to not and I can't find them anywhere fore sale??
Thank you everyone for taking the time to read and reply!!!
Could this be the sole reason the I have been busting O2 sensors, failing emissions, running EXTREMELY rich, error code 32s, getting poor fuel economy, very sporatic top end and WOT response, loss of power from time to time, blah blah blah???????
I have verified that there is no vacuum from bpt to egr valve @ 2000 - 3500 RMPs. I imagine that is due to little or no pressure being exerted from the header through the EGR tube. I was going to run many more tests on the EGR system with my FSM and vacuum tester, but it started raining so there is always tomorrow!
Does anyone else know of any main problem that is caused by putting on headers that are related to my issues, and lastly, is it rare that I have a full length header, because everyone else seems to not and I can't find them anywhere fore sale??
Thank you everyone for taking the time to read and reply!!!