Kereta Merajuk!

[[PIMPIN]]

When I was in high school, my best friend's elder brother and his group of friends were into Honda EGs, EKs etc and from time to time used to give us advice, pearls of wisdom really and cars and such. At the time, we looked up to them as they were not only cool but also wise. Hahaha

One thing that has stuck with me all these years is the 'pantang' of not talking about selling your car while driving it etc or it will 'merajuk' leading it to breakdown etc. As I was driving home on Saturday night, I felt the car struggle to come on boost. This was about 1km from my house so I slowed down because my initial thought was loose piping somewhere and I didn't want it to come off completely. (Struggling with intercooler piping at 2am in a closed gas station during winter with only a torch light and one lousy screwdriver was experience enough).

The next morning I popped the bonnet, and sure enough one of the intercooler pipes had slipped out of the silicone joints. So I secured it properly and just to be safe double-checked all the silicone joints to make sure the clamps were tight. Satisfied, I started the engine and as expected, everything was back to normal.

Or so I thought.

After a couple of minutes, I decided to take it for a spin and then I noticed the air/fuel ratio gauge stuck at 18. Usually it idles at around 14, and drops to 11 or so when I'm really pushing it hard. At first I was worried that the engine was running too lean but the gauge did not move AT ALL. Air/fuel ratios as we all know are never constant, small changes every second within a certain range. It never stays on say, 14.7 and then never move at all. Then I remembered the Apexi turbo timer which boasts an 'air/fuel ratio' reading so I glanced at that and it was around 14.1 to 14.7 range.

What I want to know is where does the Apexi get its reading from. Although we know we cannot rely on that for accuracy, it must receive its signal from somewhere. A stock car uses a narrowband sensor which relays the signal to the ECU and the Apexi gets that reading but the Dynojet uses a wideband sensor which not only allows a wider range for air/fuel reading but is also different voltage. Basically, neither the ECU nor the Apexi would be able to use that sensor without going through the Dynojet right? Therefore, everything should be based on the new lambda sensor and subsequently whatever reading on the Apexi would have originated from the same lambda sensor right?

Therefore, is it my lambda sensors which are in need of replacement given the fact that they have a finite life or do you reckon the Dynojet's gauge is the one not working? Because a failing or failed sensor would mean not only erratic idling, but also erratic air fuel readings among other things. The air fuel ratio on the Dynojet looks like its frozen in time while the engine runs fine.

I called N1 and they told me to bring it in today but I haven't had the time. In the meantime, let's all pretend to know the answer and everyone is welcome to give their expert opinion on what they think the problem is and how it should it can be solved. Hopefully, next couple of days I'll get send the car there and we'll know for sure.

 

[tatayoung]

Yep.. it's a general belief bro.. )

Mine started to get all cranky about 2 days before she was supposed to be handed in to the buyer.Believe you me.. Lol.. things that had never happenned before.. peculiar stuff like not wanting to start in the morning and so forth.. hahax.. It was almost as if she was upset with me..

I'm guessing your's is about to be sold as well bro?

 

[[PIMPIN]]

Yep.. it's a general belief bro.. )

Mine started to get all cranky about 2 days before she was supposed to be handed in to the buyer.Believe you me.. Lol.. things that had never happenned before.. peculiar stuff like not wanting to start in the morning and so forth.. hahax.. It was almost as if she was upset with me..

I'm guessing your's is about to be sold as well bro?

So far I've only talked about it.

Haha love the superstition though. Completely illogical until it happens to you.

 

[gobiz]

So far I've been lucky...when I was selling my two R33s I took lots of prospective buyers on test drives and constantly talked about selling them.

Both were fine when I sold them, except the GTR where the engine immediately blew the day after I sold it.

 

[xtremeleo]

my car perfoms better after i mentioned "nak jual", haha..

 

[midship]

Its Murphy's law...

 

[joethurr]

Entirely psychological effect really...

 

[lemon_demon]

it's a curse!! :s:

 

[Ajid Skyline]

but sometimes there are also correctly .. entahla ..:hmmmm:

 

[Temujin]

Somehow I believe it's true!

Same thing happened to me when I first thought of selling my previous car.. the car wouldn't start at all that day! I had to borrow somebody else's car to the office while I had the car towed to the workshop. Once at the workshop, the car just started like normal.. hurmm..

Brought the car home, got a buyer, and me thinks the car was happy to know that it was getting a new owner. Sealed the deal and the car was trouble free all the way to Perlis..

Until a few weeks of new ownership that is.. the turbo blew (bought it new at Tong Turbo a few years back).. Too much boosting me think.. hehehe

 

[ACQ2305]

hahahaha,..cud be true..works both ways...a problematic car, but once the owner mention that he was feedup with all the problems the car had,..the problems "magically" disappeared..
Case 2,..a fren of a fren of mine..owns a Toyota Ipsum,no problem whatsoever,..untill he got himself a DC5...The next day,The Ipsum wud not start.....hahahahahaha...and when he manage to get it started,used it over the next few days,..the DC5 had problems when he wanted to use it....hahahahahahah...
car rivalry??

 

[DanzEterna]

car needs extra TLC....

 

[arturo]

can we deduce that all cars are female? must jaga properly or will merajuk!

 

[neokenzo]

can we deduce that all cars are female? must jaga properly or will merajuk!

If all cars female, the car would always acting up as it will always PMS

 

[arturo]

whoooo...sensitive topic wooor

 

[ajidsky]

i thinking car have soul and feeling .. two year ago, i just say to my friend i want sell my car.. after 2 day i accident.. wahh sakit kepala... now, i talk my car 'you are so good car' when i want use my car ... now my car don't have big problem..hahahhaa... syokk

 

[khoyos]

i'll try to answer ur question based on the assumption that ur car is currently running OK, with the exception of the wideband reading stuck at 18.0. but before that, i need to know the following:

1. OK u have the dynojet wideband AFR sensor. is it linked to the ECU (does the ecu take the oxygen reading from ur dynojet?) or is the output ONLY linked to the display unit?
2. are u using 2 oxygen sensors? (OEM narrowband and dynojet wideband?)
3. if i'm not mistaken, stock o2 sensor is 0-1V (apexi timer gets from this reading) and wideband is 0-5V. so my guess is that if ur apexi is showing a reading, most likely the reading is taken from the stock o2 sensor.
4. memang wideband sensors have a lifespan. the life ends quicker if the car is daily driven...
5. if ur ecu gets its o2 reading from the OEM narrowband sensor, then u dont have to worry. just replace the wideband o2 sensor. if i'm not mistaken dynojet uses the widely available bosch LSU4. replacement sensor costs around rm350-500 and available locally.

just bring back the car to N1 to have it checked. if the wideband sensor confirmed kaput, the sensor is available here http://www.mudah.my/Bosch+Wideband+sensor-6865900.htm. dont forget to have the sensor calibrated. properly calibrated sensor will have a significantly longer lifespan.

p/s try to also check the sockets connecting to the sensor. usually if there are some sockets loose/tercabut, the wideband reading will also go to max lean (18.0 in dynojet's case)

 

[[PIMPIN]]

i'll try to answer ur question based on the assumption that ur car is currently running OK, with the exception of the wideband reading stuck at 18.0. but before that, i need to know the following:

1. OK u have the dynojet wideband AFR sensor. is it linked to the ECU (does the ecu take the oxygen reading from ur dynojet?) or is the output ONLY linked to the display unit?
2. are u using 2 oxygen sensors? (OEM narrowband and dynojet wideband?)
3. if i'm not mistaken, stock o2 sensor is 0-1V (apexi timer gets from this reading) and wideband is 0-5V. so my guess is that if ur apexi is showing a reading, most likely the reading is taken from the stock o2 sensor.
4. memang wideband sensors have a lifespan. the life ends quicker if the car is daily driven...
5. if ur ecu gets its o2 reading from the OEM narrowband sensor, then u dont have to worry. just replace the wideband o2 sensor. if i'm not mistaken dynojet uses the widely available bosch LSU4. replacement sensor costs around rm350-500 and available locally.

just bring back the car to N1 to have it checked. if the wideband sensor confirmed kaput, the sensor is available here http://www.mudah.my/Bosch+Wideband+sensor-6865900.htm. dont forget to have the sensor calibrated. properly calibrated sensor will have a significantly longer lifespan.

p/s try to also check the sockets connecting to the sensor. usually if there are some sockets loose/tercabut, the wideband reading will also go to max lean (18.0 in dynojet's case)

Finally! Someone took me seriously enough! Actually, I'm pretty sure I know what the problem is but nothing wrong if there are other theories; the more knowledge the better. Anyways, now the gauge sits at 14+ as per usual; I don't know why it was stuck at 18 the other day but that was for a very short drive immediately after reattaching the intercooler piping. Haven't driven it since but I've started engine twice for brief periods and the idle is about 14-15+ which is a bit higher than usual but nothing serious at idle.

But to answer your question, the ECU cannot read the signal direct from the wideband; I mean wiring alone is already different so everything must go through the Dynojet.

The Apexi reading well, I think firstly the range of AFR it is able to display is limited and should be the same reading from the ECU which is the same as what the Dynojet produces.

Anyways, I've checked the 02 sensor readings at idle and one reads around 0.4v which is correct for stoichmetric while the other had a reading of 0.2v so there we go. I have yet to bring the car down to N1 though because I don't have the time unless this thing I'm working on suddenly has its deadline increased from 18 months to 24 months but that's life I guess.

 

[khoyos]

Finally! Someone took me seriously enough! Actually, I'm pretty sure I know what the problem is but nothing wrong if there are other theories; the more knowledge the better. Anyways, now the gauge sits at 14+ as per usual; I don't know why it was stuck at 18 the other day but that was for a very short drive immediately after reattaching the intercooler piping. Haven't driven it since but I've started engine twice for brief periods and the idle is about 14-15+ which is a bit higher than usual but nothing serious at idle.

But to answer your question, the ECU cannot read the signal direct from the wideband; I mean wiring alone is already different so everything must go through the Dynojet.

The Apexi reading well, I think firstly the range of AFR it is able to display is limited and should be the same reading from the ECU which is the same as what the Dynojet produces.

Anyways, I've checked the 02 sensor readings at idle and one reads around 0.4v which is correct for stoichmetric while the other had a reading of 0.2v so there we go. I have yet to bring the car down to N1 though because I don't have the time unless this thing I'm working on suddenly has its deadline increased from 18 months to 24 months but that's life I guess.

so i guess there is nothing wrong then... hehe