Ok so well i did drive my car a little hard today and it has felt a tad different this past week, well i cam back from the mall and turned the car on, then the check engine light pop's on WTF i only have 6,300 miles with only a intake,lighten pullies, short throw, and AXEL back dual exhaust and this damn code pops up. Well i call the dealer and of course its friday so the earliest is tuesday they can see my car, so i take it to Autozone and have them read the code which turns out to be P0171:system 2 lane bank 1 to lean? what the hell does all that mean?

DAMNIT!!!!

 

Man i couldnt really tell you what it means but it is very common in these cars.. Mine threw a PO171 with about the same miles as yours and i was just driving normal. I had it to the dealer numerous times and they finally reprogrammed my ecu and it came one one time since at about 19,000 and i have 25,500 now. The dealership told me that its not going to hurt the car and it dosent affect performance. They gave me a TSB(i think thats what it was) on it. I wouldnt be to worried about it.

 

your running lean. Either get retuned, or put your stock intake back on.

 

Remember...the difference between running lean and running rich is walking home or driving home. I wouldn't recommend driving it too hard if it is running lean.

 

He is not running lean. The code is for the PCM having to correct fuel trims in excess of 20% because of unmetered incoming air. It would only run lean if it didn't make the correction.

The best fix for it is to have the MAF sensor recalibrated with HPTuners if you have access to it.

 

The oxygen sensor between the header and the catalytic converter is bad. That is what is prompting that code. Should be covered under warranty.

 

check for vacuum leaks, make sure the intake is hooked up good and everything's tight. Also make sure you have the MAF installed the right way

 

Agreed. Do that first. If the MAF is installed backwards, that would also prompt that code.

 

OK the verdict is what? the earliest i can make an appointment is wensday and should i take the intake off before taking it in? I need my car but dont want it to blow up? I have read all opions and can't decided what is the best answer?

But wouldn't it throw the code as soon as i installed the intake about 2000 miles ago or so if the maf was backwards

 

well, I've had an intake and other mods on my car for the entire year I've owned it and not once had a code pop up......it's possible that something came loose or something wasn't installed right, or some dirt even got on the MAF or it wasn't installed the right way......it's a piece of cake to check, so I would do that before taking it in to the dealership. Besides, I work as a tech. at a chevy place....and most dealerships will blame your intake anyways lol

 

Bastards they would too, huh? ok i'll check it out should i unplug the battery?

 

I was throwing the code left and right when it was cold outside, so I took it back to my buddy and had it richin it up a point across the board and im good now but yea I def wouldnt get on it to much w/ it like that....

 

That code is VERY common on our car. There is nothing wrong, relax. You don't need to get anything fixed. You didn't do anything wrong.

The 171 code on the Cobalt is thrown very often due to very picky parameters for it in our ECM's. I have thrown it twice on my stock intake!

Here are some questions;

Is your car running fine even though the light came on? Yes?

Did your aftermarket intake get loose somewhere? No?

Then you are fine. Just get the code cleared. There is nothing wrong. It might come back again one day. Guess what? Still nothing wrong. It's just a very picky sensor program.

 

Yeah I've been throwing that code since I installed my intake back in sept. 05'. Some days like yesterday I had to throw it like 10 times. Every time it comes on I'm doing between 1800-2400 RPM. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I have a AEM wideband and interceptor so I can monitor whats going on all the time. While cruising my A/F ratio is bouncing between 14.5-15.5 and randomly the p0171 is thrown. I clear it with my interceptor and it sometimes comes on immediately and I just repeat the process until it stays off. Hell, sometimes it'll stay off for months. When I get tuned, it'll never come on again though.

 

Can we all agree on this? but my intake is a little loose just tighten er up? and she should be ok?

 

What exactly is loose? As long as there is a good air seal downstream of the MAF, your fine. And the only part that can be loose there is the connection to the throttle body.

 

Then dirve i will, should i even take the car in?

 

You said you brought it to Autozone and got the code read and cleared, so no. There won't be anything they can do for you. If you still have the code in there, at least go get it cleared.

 

well, if you bring your car in, they will be able to hook the tech2 up on it and from that we could monitor the short and long term fuel percentage and see if the car is actually running lean, or where it's supposto be....however, since you said the intake is loose, tighten her up, check the maf and drive and see what happens

 

I have a 2.2 Ecotec, and i threw the same code. For inspection i had to put on the stock intake and unplug the negative for about 15 minutes to reset the computer. That worked and stopped the check engine light. I would recomend that for a quick fix, but i put my intake back on and have the same problem again, if you have the time i would use HP tuners to fix the lights if you want to keep the intake on at all times