June, My 12' 370Z

GaleForce

Looking great. Good job with the DIY.

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kjoons

thanks!

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kjoons

I got the dreaded SES light and P2A03 code. This code can point to a number of things; front O2 sensor took a **** (highly unlikely), dirty MAF, loose clamps on the intakes, and obviously if you've done a HFC/test pipe, all of that haha. I got rid of it without the expensive $500-900 tune.

I drove maybe 300 miles before my light came on, tried the ECU reset, and 80 miles later it popped back on. This alone told me something came undone through the 300 miles, the HFCs either heated and formed into a more comfortable position, and/or one or more of the nut/bolts slowly worked a little loose.

First things first, check your engine bay for anything you may have knocked loose while getting that annoying bolt/nut off and on for the install.

Now, jack the car up and follow these steps:
1. Pull the negative terminal off the battery, or do the Killer Instinct combo breaker cheat code with your pedal and start/stop button, whichever you prefer. This is to reset the ECU.
2. Tighten all the bolts you dealt with, this is to seal all "leaks"; 5 per side on the HFC/test pipe
3. Tighten the anti-foulers and block off bolts
4. Pull out the O2 sensor and stuff steel wool inside the anti-fouler and reinstall O2 sensors
5. Re-install the battery terminal, put the car down off the jack stands, and start the car and let it idle for 10-15 minutes to let the ECU re-learn cold starts

People will ask me, "why 10-15 minutes?"... ECUs start up on "cold" parameters, once the engine oil temp and coolant temp has reached it's "hot" parameters, it will readjust AFR and a number of other things; spark, timing, etc.. Generally, it will take 5-8 minutes to hit "hot" parameters, but you need the additional 2-7 minutes for the ECU to feel out the "hot" parameters as well.

hopefully this is helpful, before anyone takes the $500-900 plunge only to have the SES light come back on. simple fact is, if you or the shop did the job right, the SES light should NOT come on. if it is coming on, that means you have an exhaust leak after the header and before the CBE.. Steel wool is cheap and easy, i stuffed some in mine just to take the extra measure, usually isn't needed unless you're running test pipes.

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Zbrah

Good to know. Thank you for the write up!

kjoons

simple. she's done. if i do anymore, it'll be a custom dyno tune and maybe a few CF pieces.

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kjoons

i spoke too soon!

P2A03 and P2A00 has popped up on my scanner. time to hop back under the car!

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kjoons

i finally said screw it and got under the car. i loosened all the bolts from the headers to cats to mid section exhaust, repositioned pipes and REALLLLLLY yanked hard down on the bolts this time, if I could fit a torque wrench down there, I would guess I torqued those suckers down to at least 70ftlb.

i tightened down all the O2 sensors.

i reset the ecu.

started her up and let her idle for 15mins while i got under the car and felt around for any leaks. none to be felt or heard.

i must say, the Z is MUCH quieter near the engine and in the cab, and the exhaust has a higher pitch note now. if i'm not mistaken, i had quite the exhaust leak. however, it is highly possible that I'll still pop codes for lean/rich, if this happens, I need a tune. as I've been doing quite a bit of research on this, with the in and out mods, it seems to be quite common that the stock ECU has issues calibrating itself with the correct AFR, so I may need a tune after all. I'll be looking out for an SES light.

Anybody know of Church tuning? they seem to be the only place in Las Vegas that's licensed to install Osiris UpRev.

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kjoons

fixed. put 300 miles on the odo since the fix... i'm almost 100% sure it was the 2 rear O2 sensors not being tightened all the way down OR the header to HFC not being tightened down first before i tightened everything else down.. with this, i followed the TS guide on the codes and cleaned my air filters and re-oiled them, sprayed my MAF sensors clean, and even ran Techron+ through the tank to clean out the injectors.. whatever the cause was, it's gone now.

lots of "omg help" threads out there on this code with NO solution, so if anyone knows anybody having this issue, link them my legacy thread.... i couldve avoided all of the headache if i followed these simple steps:

when installing HFC:
1. install O2 sensors with anti-foulers as tightly as you can without breaking anything
2. tighten additional bung holes (either the block off bolt or your AFR sensor)
3. position HFC onto header with gasket
4. tighten down the 3 bolts for HFC-header as tightly as you can (ie 50ftlb~, aka as tight as you can since you cant fit a torque wrench down there) to get proper seating of gasket
5. once your HFC is mounted, install your cat bracket, then your other piping, make sure you line everything up to the best of your ability. i used a channel lock to press the HFC and cat bracket together to give the O2 sensor more room, by tightening the bolt and pressing them together, the HFC moves away from the transmission (this may not be necessary if you have a J-shape anti-fouler or you run a manual trans)
6. once all piping is installed, give the O2 sensor and anti-fouler another tug to assure proper sealing

note: for people who have never used an anti-fouler (like me), you need to seal the O2 sensor against it (washers must seat against anti-fouler to seal). with the ones provided by Z1, they milled the inside of the anti-fouler just a little too small, so the O2 sensor fits in there VERY snug and makes a TON of squealing as you're tightening it down. no worries! just crank down until you properly seat the O2 sensor against the anti-fouler, if you don't, you'll catch a code.

if anybody needs any help or tips or photos, lmk and i'll hop under the car and snap a few photos.



lastly: before i started snooping around for the issue, i was getting the code every 40-80 miles. VERY ANNOYING.

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kjoons

insanely dirty, but i snapped a few photos.

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kjoons

just back to update... it's been well over 1000 miles now and the code is gone gone gone.

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kjoons

update:

haven't gotten a code for about 2500 miles. traveled on over to NorCal and got a P0420 code, states that my Bank 1 cat is below threshold. common code for HFC/test pipes that need steel wool/extenders.... however, considering the 2000-2500ft drop in elevation from LV to CA, i figured it tripped because of that. Cleared it in CA, drove around for 150 miles there and then back to LV, and the code hasn't popped back up.

I'm sure i'm running lean/rich, so once i save up a bit, i'll probably get a tune (looking at $550~). I seem to have all my power, and my MPG has gotten better (18-22 city, 28-30 highway), but i suppose a tune will only make that better.

kjoons out.

stay frosty....

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