SAFC and MAS! Help! 400+ miles from home

[Fitz7099]

I just bought a 2gb Talon.

Relative mods: 550cc's, SAFC II, Evo3 B16G, etc.

The car ran fine, but all of a sudden it threw a CEL. The CEL had 2 errors. One was an EGR error, the other was that the MAS was not communicating with the ECU. The MAS was replaced with a new unit, and still no readings. It shows 0 g/s or whatever unit it is measured in.

So, what exactly should I/the mechanic look at? I'm paying $80+ a night since I'm stuck in the middle of bu-fo (Manheim, PA) plus whatever this shop is going to charge me.

Any help would be nice. If youre feeling real friendly call 513-543-5316 any time in the next couple of hours. Thanks.

John

 

[KazooGS-T]

So, you stopped driving the car because the CEL came on? Nothing else happened?

 

[Ceddy]

One of the splices to the SAFC probably came loose.
I think orange and pink are AirFlow, but don't quote me.

Also wire to the ECU plug could be loose.
Jiggle the wires a little, Karmen should read 3Hz with engine not running.

 

[Fitz7099]

The story: I flew out to Alenntown, PA from Cincinnati, OH with a friend (clueless about cars) to buy the TSi AWD. Car ran great - a lot of work was done to the car by JNZ tuning before I bought it. I have receipts for all the work (6 bolt swap, CAS rewire, ARP, HG, belts, turbo, injectors, SAFC, etc). So i bought the car. We headed to Philadelphia for the day, then headed home. I had the cruise set at 71 and a CEL came on. I got off at the next exit and popped the hood. Checked all fuilds, vacum lines, belts, sensors, etc. There was no weird smells either. I did the most that I could with only a flat head screw driver. Any ways, we took it to a mechanic down the road. The CEL had to do with an EGR problem and the MAS read 0 volts. MAS was replaced with a used unit, still read 0.

Now I am about to fly home to Cincinnati. I will be back to pick up the car on Saturday. Now a few questions.

If I were to install stock injectors and unplug the SAFC would the car run like stock? Obviously I would not boost the EvoIII.

Right now I just want to get the car home. A truck+bed is out of the question.

My current number is 513-277-1018. The other number was my friends phone as mine was dead. My name is John.

Thanks for the help so far.

So, you stopped driving the car because the CEL came on? Nothing else happened?

Story above explains it. Let me know if you have any other Q's!

 

[KazooGS-T]

Honestly, if your only problem was a CEL, no loss of power, bucking, etc. I would just drive it. It's a DSM your bound to have several CEL's. Mine never goes off.

 

[spyderturbo007]

Actually, with a CEL for the MAS, the ECU will dump you in limp mode. If I remember correctly it's somewhere around 7.8:1 AFR, so I would recommend against driving it 400 miles like that.

Limp mode is designed to allow you to safely get the car to the nearest garage without blowing it up. The car will run like crap.

Hey, didn't I see this question on another board.

 

[Fitz7099]

Honestly, if your only problem was a CEL, no loss of power, bucking, etc. I would just drive it. It's a DSM your bound to have several CEL's. Mine never goes off.

Well, its in limp mode since the MAS is not sending any signal to the ECU. So basically it takes about 60 seconds to hit 30 mph, doesn't idle, etc :'(

Actually, with a CEL for the MAS, the ECU will dump you in limp mode. If I remember correctly it's somewhere around 7.8:1 AFR, so I would recommend against driving it 400 miles like that.

Limp mode is designed to allow you to safely get the car to the nearest garage without blowing it up. The car will run like crap.

Hey, didn't I see this question on another board.

Yeah same post on a lot of boards since some people are exclusive to some.

Any ways, any ideas? Would replacing the injectors with stockers and disconnecting the SAFC get the car running like stock?

 

[spyderturbo007]

I just copied this from my post this morning on the other board since I'm lazy.

Make sure you also check the SAFC wiring under the dash. You will need to remove the driver's side kick panel and look behind the radio. You will see the ECU back there. You are looking for the wire attached to pinout #90. If yours is the same as mine, you are looking for the Pink and Orange wires from the SAFC harness. Make sure they are both securely attached. You might even want to re-solder the connections, just to be sure. I would also check the grounds while you are down there just to be sure. When you install the SAFC, you actually cut the MAS signal wire at the ECU. So you have 2 splices that could fail, leading to no signal getting to the ECU.

You can pull the injectors and the SAFC, but as I said above, you will need to re-splice the MAS wire for the car to run properly.

 

[TSiAWD666]

Another possibility, though much less likely than a wire breaking loose in the AFC connections, is that there is a problem in the MAS wiring harness or plug. I have seen the connection "pins" in the MAS harness back out and lose connectivity over time. Quick inspection can check this. Also make sure that the harness is seated fully on the MAS as sometimes that orange gasket in there can bunch up and make it hard to connect.

 

[sd_ff22]

I hate to bring up the idea but it sounds like who you bought it from cleared the codes on the ecu so it would run fine, then whatever is wrong triggers it again, causeing it now to run like crap.

what did the guy you bought it from say?

 

[spyderturbo007]

I don't really see that happening, since the ECU will trip the CEL almost immediatley when it's not receiving a signal from the MAS. Mine was tripped within a couple of seconds when I forgot to plug the MAS back in after installing my MeOH injection.

 

[v8killer]

well if the used mas is ok then you have another problem ! if its a mas voltage code then it could very well be a connection problem all you have to do is check the wires for the afc connection for the mas signal spliced in between terminal 90 http://www.vfaq.com/mods/ecu-harness-2G.html
http://my.prostreetonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=97

 

[aero_sallee]

What does the AFC show during all this? When I had mine I had issues with the plug internal to the AFC coming disconnected. If it pull out you loose the airflow signal to the ECU. You can't always tell its disconnected without pulling the back off the AFC. It only takes a minute or two, 4 screws.