Scarlet's Story

Easter Bunny said:
vtcs will not trigger a cel if you leave the black control box plugged in. doesnt have to be connected to anything just zip-tie it out of the way
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Thanks for the tip, I'll try to source one somewhere. I'm sure I already know the answer to this, but if my Mazdaspeed Wire Tuck set was requested with a VTCS delete, that would leave me with nowhere to plug the box into, right? If that's the case, would the diode/relay trick be a cleaner/easier/cheaper solution?
 
im not aware of anyone that has been able to make the relay trick work.

without knowing the details of how they delete the vtcs from the harness i cant say what you would need to do, i would contact the vendor to ask and change your order if necessary.
 
Easter Bunny said:
im not aware of anyone that has been able to make the relay trick work.

without knowing the details of how they delete the vtcs from the harness i cant say what you would need to do, i would contact the vendor to ask and change your order if necessary.
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Good to know, thanks for saving me the money and more importantly, time! I had the harness done by the main man himself, Eric. I'll check with him how to tap the old connector into his new harness. Thank God I didn't throw the old harnesses out..
 
So after speaking with Eric, the plan will be to clip the VTCS pigtail from my old harness (probably crimp new terminals onto new wires) and splice them back into the black 12-way plug on the harness he sent out. Should be easy enough. Now, to source that black box...

The EGR, I'll probably just keep for inspections, but still need to source one of those.

The cat situation is a bit more confusing, just based on the little research I've been able to do. The problem is finding the time to look this stuff up and still have time to actually put a wrench on the car. I saw your posts @Easter Bunny from 2 years ago to someone with a Gen2 looking for downpipe advice. I was entertained reading your replies lol. My understanding is the Gen2 ECUs gave CEL problems to anyone running catless downpipes. Gen1 and MS6 uses different ECU logic and @Sho said he ran catless DPs in both for a long time without any CELs, which proves that statement. I'm guessing that's without any modifications to sensors or bungs? Is the main exhaust line cat the one responsible for throwing codes after removal? Would a bung extension, or something else help keep the code away?
 
on a gen 2 the second cat is un-monitored and can be removed without issue. I have had mine removed for 100k miles with no CEL.

the CEL for the primary cat has not been able to reliably removed through "cheater" methods, some folks have been able to use extenders etc to work on an individual car but many more have been unable to trick the gen 2 ECU. the only way to reliably not get a CEL for removing the primary cat on a gen 2 is to use a catted downpipe. even if your tune turns off the CEL (versatune only now) it will show up as not ready when you have your emissions tested. depending on where you are located some jurisdictions allow one or two not ready monitors.

Gen 1 & MS^ can use extenders to eliminate the CEL.
 
Awesome news! And thanks for the info. Can confirm I see no O2 sensors, bungs, or disconnected connectors on/near the downpipe. Makes sense how it wouldn't effect anything.

That's funny, I had to run a set of Casper electronics sensor extenders on my 05 6s to keep the CEL off after installing catless headers lol. We went from 2 cats in the headers and 2 in the exhaust, down to 1 high-flow cat after the y-pipe. The downstream header bungs were relocated further downstream post-cat to make it all work.

I pulled the downstream sensor to check conditions. It was almost finger tight. Probably going to order fresh ones now for peace of mind.

When you say extensions work in this case, do you mean relocating the primary bungs further downstream and use sensor wire extensions, same as above (minus the high-flow cat)? Or did you mean using a bung extension (like an o2 sensor spacer)?

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This is anecdotal, but I've run a catless exhaust in my ms6 for nearly 2 years with no CEL. Used a simple o2 sensor spacer.
 
I'm reading it's M18 x 1.5 thread. @Erebus that helped shed some anxiety, thanks for that lol
Having a hard time finding any online. Seems even Amazon and Ebay outlawed selling them there (for obvious reasons) and overseas won't ship to the US. It's something like this that you used, right? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/384170966360?hash=item59725fbd58:g:Q-YAAOSwDFRgo1qA

Edit: Wasn't sure if this was a scam site, but they seem legit based on reviews. Planning to go with this one - just waiting to hear if this is the type being used. https://tokyotoms.com/products/car-...xtender-ep-cgq52?_pos=10&_sid=95ca63a96&_ss=r
 
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Malevolous said:
I'm reading it's M18 x 1.5 thread. @Erebus that helped shed some anxiety, thanks for that lol
Having a hard time finding any online. Seems even Amazon and Ebay outlawed selling them there (for obvious reasons) and overseas won't ship to the US. It's something like this that you used, right? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/384170966360?hash=item59725fbd58:g:Q-YAAOSwDFRgo1qA

Edit: Wasn't sure if this was a scam site, but they seem legit based on reviews. Planning to go with this one - just waiting to hear if this is the type being used. https://tokyotoms.com/products/car-...xtender-ep-cgq52?_pos=10&_sid=95ca63a96&_ss=r
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Funnily enough mine came with my corksport exhaust. Yip that is the type used though i don't recall the exact dimensions, the thread is a m18 x 1.5.

All this BS about avoiding CEL and such is why i ditched cobb and went Versatune. Worth thinking about IMO if you are thinking about an aftermarket intake manifold with no provisions for EGR.
 
Erebus said:
Funnily enough mine came with my corksport exhaust. Yip that is the type used though i don't recall the exact dimensions, the thread is a m18 x 1.5.

All this BS about avoiding CEL and such is why i ditched cobb and went Versatune. Worth thinking about IMO if you are thinking about an aftermarket intake manifold with no provisions for EGR.
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I was planning on Versatune for that reason, but the issue I only discovered a couple days ago is that it removes the CEL from the dash, but the monitor is still on. In NYC we do OBD2 inspections (no smog). The EGR monitor will still show 'not ready' when they plug in. I believe we're allowed 1 monitor 'not ready' for cars after 2001 but not sure if the EGR is a "must" in any circumstance.

I bought a used EGR to pair with the stock manifold that came with the car (I replaced it with a CS mani) in case my plan doesn't work. My plan was to try and incorporate a bypass like we discovered for the V6 1st gen 6. We would plug the header EGR port and clamp a vacuum hose to the bottom of the EGR pipe. That hose would then be routed to a small nipple somewhere near the neck of the intake filter. Not sure if the 2 EGRs work the same, but the V6 EGR was designed to only detect volume of gasses passing through, not the type of gas passing through. Oxygen is also a gas. You could fart through the EGR pipe and it would still be happy as long as it detects a flow. If that doesn't work, then I'll just have to keep swapping IMs every year.

As for the spacer, I just ordered some Dorman spark plug anti-foulers. The few spacers I found had over a month shipping time - way too long.

Finally wrapped up the gauge installation last night and also finished fabbing up a power block mount. I didn't feel too comfortable with an unfused, 0 awg cable running the length of the car to the trunk battery, so I'll be installing a circuit breaker in the trunk to go along with this fused power block in front for the starter and fusebox power cables.

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Fair enough, didn't think about that as we don't do OBD2 emissions checks here.

Our ECU uses the MAP sensor to detect EGR flow, basically opens the EGR under high vacuum and checks to see if vacuum increases, if flow is not detected after a few cycles it throws a CEL. Will Dawson and a few others on Facebook have suggested simply T'ing your EGR into your catch can as a temporary measure to get the monitor to ready up and pass emissions.
 
Erebus said:
Fair enough, didn't think about that as we don't do OBD2 emissions checks here.

Our ECU uses the MAP sensor to detect EGR flow, basically opens the EGR under high vacuum and checks to see if vacuum increases, if flow is not detected after a few cycles it throws a CEL. Will Dawson and a few others on Facebook have suggested simply T'ing your EGR into your catch can as a temporary measure to get the monitor to ready up and pass emissions.
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Thanks for the info! Late reply, but I'm finally up to this phase. Is this done by just shoving a hose into the bottom port of the EGR and T'ing that into the catch can line? Both EGR ports T'ed in? Can the EGR just be ziptied somewhere on the side of the engine bay like the VTCS box? I tried searching around on FB but can't find anything about that. The help is really appreciated.
 
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Finally starting to look like a car again. Thought I'd drop some progress pics to put down in the books.

Before:
 

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Last steps are getting the headlights and front end on, fixing a fuel leak on these PTFE lines, figuring out why the drivers taillamp isn't lighting up (reverse and signal works), and uploading Fahran's basemap tune - then I can finally start the engine after a year of having no life lol. Also wanted to run some radiator cleaner from LiquiMoly but I'll probably wait til after the first Base Map upload and test drive is smooth.

Here's some "after" shots:
 

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Front end is on and everything fired up, first try. Planning to go for the first drive today and log the base map, finally. @Easter Bunny was right, that Greg Sange VTCS relay didn't help, so I'll have to source the connector and make a new pigtail to hook up the black box I got from the junkyard to get rid of those CELs (P2006 & P2010).

The other code I'm getting is starting to annoy me. Keep popping a P0327 Knock Sensor low circuit code. I keep erasing it but it instantly comes back. Even after swapping to a brand new OEM sensor. I did the continuity test that the workshop manual calls for and everything checks out. The sensor gives 4.85 Ohms, so that's in range, and the harness wires are giving me 12.19V when the key is turned to On. I can't imagine there being a short in the wiring since I'm getting clean, steady voltage. I even re-loomed all the harness wiring and replaced anything that seemed kinked or damaged, so I really doubt it's that.

I'm planning to check the pins on the PCM to make sure nothing fried. Found an old thread from @Raider with this issue and it turned out to be a short which also burned the pins up some.

Besides checking the wiring and the pins, do any of you guys have an idea what it could be?

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Haven't posted an update in some time. There was still a bit of troubleshooting I had to do on certain other things that wasn't posted here. I was never able to get rid of all the DTCs in time before registration expired, so it's been in the driveway, since. I think I am stuck at the 5th or 6th revision (no PI tuning yet, still disconnected). NYPD was working with some other state police departments to run a sting on any cars with plate covers, ghost plates, expired insurance/registration, etc so I just didn't want to take any chances after seeing all the reels and videos of dudes getting arrested because of it.

The knock sensor issue turned out to be that the knock sensor was just plugged into the only other identical connector under the hood that was incorrect. It has since been fixed.

As of last night, I removed the V2 relay that was sent by Greg Sange to try and fix the issues with the V1 that I had. I was able to get down to just 1 code with it, P2010 (IM runner control circuit high) but it still pulled a code. It might have to do with the grommet on one of the 2 wires being too thick, that wire didn't want to seat in the connector nicely. I may try to replace that grommet with the next size down since I have some lying around, but the OEM black box and solenoid/plunger was plugged back in last night. At first, was still getting a code, but then I remembered reading somewhere that the plunger needs to be ziptied down. That seemed to help. I idled for 35 minutes last night, and for the first time since owning this car, did not get a code at the end of the idle session, and not a pending code, either. Going to try starting and idling again tonight to see if the results are the same. If they are, I may finally be able to register and inspect this thing!
 
Doesn't seem the OEM VTCS stuff worked out. Got the OEM black box and OEM plunger hooked up in there. Plunger ziptied down. Got a pending P2010 code: IM Runner Control Circuit High. Anyone got ideas?

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