Vibrant + week of driving = CEL???

[CHICO2003]

So I've had my Vibrant installed for about a week now and have put on a good... I don't know, 200 miles or so. All was good until last night... damn CEL went on!

Is this a coincidence? One of the things that attracted me to this exhaust was the fact that it wouldn't throw the light. (so I thought) If this has nothing to do with the exhaust, it would really be a strange coincidence considering I've been driving the car for well over 4 years without a prob.

Anyone have any advice? Called the dealership and they said they'd have to run a diagnostic... which will cost me $80! lol F'in D*bags....

[25FConv]

So I've had my Vibrant installed for about a week now and have put on a good... I don't know, 200 miles or so. All was good until last night... damn CEL went on!

Is this a coincidence? One of the things that attracted me to this exhaust was the fact that it wouldn't throw the light. (so I thought) If this has nothing to do with the exhaust, it would really be a strange coincidence considering I've been driving the car for well over 4 years without a prob.

Anyone have any advice? Called the dealership and they said they'd have to run a diagnostic... which will cost me $80! lol F'in D*bags....

go to advanced auto parts or autozone and have them read your codes for free. then come back to the forum and maybe people have had the same issues. or look the code up on protege5.ugly.net and check the dtc codes, it will walk you through step by step on how to trouble shoot the code from all angles. Good luck keep us posted on what happens.

[CHICO2003]

Nice... u just saved me 80 bucks!

[crashkelly]

dude just buy a actron code reader...best 65 bucks I ever spent...it has paid for itself at least 10-15 times over....used it plenty on my car, bros car, dad and moms....read your own codes just by plugging it in. Your CEL came on because of the o2 sensor I gaurantee. If you went catless that is why...

[CHICO2003]

I thought the Vibrant had a cat.... I was told my CEL wouldn't go on with it... which is why I liked it.

Anyway, you're probably right about the 02 sensor. Not sure I want to go and buy anything I can just get for free by driving to the auto parts store. Especially when I probably won't have a need for it again any time soon. But it's something to consider... and definitely a no-brainer if the free service didn't exist.

So assuming it is the 02 sensor... then what? I remember way back in the day, I got hosed at the Chrysler dealership... they charged me like 300 bucks to replace it... saying that, because of the way the engine was designed, they had to take it apart to get to the sensor. lol I was only 17 at the time so that might've been total BS.

[SlowPro98]

Header or exhaust system? if it's the exhaust, dunno, if it's the header, did you do the non-fouler?

[shane02pro5]

If you don't have a cat all you need to do is the "spark plug non-fouler" between the 02 and the bung.

If it is due to the 02 sensor being bad get a universal from the auto parts for like $60 the only difference is you have to splice the wires in (very simple)

[crashkelly]

Header or exhaust system? if it's the exhaust, dunno, if it's the header, did you do the non-fouler?

theres no header on the msp, its a turbo manifold....

[crashkelly]

I thought the Vibrant had a cat.... I was told my CEL wouldn't go on with it... which is why I liked it.

Anyway, you're probably right about the 02 sensor. Not sure I want to go and buy anything I can just get for free by driving to the auto parts store. Especially when I probably won't have a need for it again any time soon. But it's something to consider... and definitely a no-brainer if the free service didn't exist.

So assuming it is the 02 sensor... then what? I remember way back in the day, I got hosed at the Chrysler dealership... they charged me like 300 bucks to replace it... saying that, because of the way the engine was designed, they had to take it apart to get to the sensor. lol I was only 17 at the time so that might've been total BS.


as said if there is no cat just put in a non fouler...and dont take this the wrong way...but do you have any idea what you purchased before putting it on the car? At first you thought it was a catback, now we know its a j-pipe back...now you arent sure if there is a cat or not...go look at it, the cat will be easy to identify. Defiantely get your code read.

[CnoTataymo]

I've had a non-fouler on my Apex 2.5" catless J/Midpipe for a year now and now CEL. Best trick ever!

[SpeedyD]

200 miles eh? So you probably recently filled up with gasoline. MSP can throw a CEL just for getting grumpy about how you tighten the gas cap.

...but guessing is queer, get a reader :)

[Matrix]

as said if there is no cat just put in a non fouler...and dont take this the wrong way...but do you have any idea what you purchased before putting it on the car? At first you thought it was a catback, now we know its a j-pipe back...now you arent sure if there is a cat or not...go look at it, the cat will be easy to identify. Defiantely get your code read.


(iagree)

[solo.]

AFAIK, Vibrant turboback's come with a hiflow cat.

[jeremy1210]

I had the same problem, turns out that I put the O2 sensor before the cat instead of after... doh!! anyway put it after the cat and that might solve the issue; which in my case was installation error

[JDM Sam]

Scan the code first and make sure its related. If so then check the location of the 2nd o2 sensor.

[CHICO2003]

I'm bringing it back to my mechanic on Tuesday... my gut tells me they installed it wrong so they'll have to fix it. Thanks for your help guys.

[NICEMSP]

any updates on this????

[kicknmazdaspd]

After my vibrant exhaust a cel came on. it comes on when my gas tank gets low and goes off when i fill it up.