Alright so I purchased the Injen hot side piping and a ZZP intercooler an installed them. Everything worked great till I decided to launch it a couple days later and the car fell on its face and shot me a pending P0101 code which I understand usually points to a boost leak. Turns out where the two Injen pipes joined separated so I ordered the upgraded couplers and t-bolt clamps from MPX...I do all that and today the car won't boost past 5 psi and shot me a pending P2187 code which could be a few things. So I just brought it back home and turned it off.

Car is a 2009 tc and all mods are listed in my sig, ANY help is greatly appreciated!

 

Ah I forgot to add it ran like **** when I first started it up and sounded like it was gonna die, then it was fine once it hit idle

 

you still have a leak somewhere, recheck the connections.

 

Alright thanks I wasn't sure if it was a tuning issue or not since I plan on ordering my trifecta tune this week

I guess i'll have to go through it again...So once i correct the leak will the car still be in the 5psi limp mode? or is there a way to get out of that

 

Hard reset on ECM? Not sure if that will help . But it cant hurt and doesn't take long.

 

Whats that like unplugging the battery or something?

 

Unplug for 5 minutes.

If you have a boost leak, it will go right back into limp mode when you gas it. You need to fashion a boost leak tester and get to boost-leak-testin'.

 

Alright thanks a lot man, I'm gonna talk to my boss about it tomorrow and see if he has a tester available so I can bring the car in

I'll let you guys know what happens

 

+1 for resetting the ECU.

 

It's them OZ rims ya got there.. They're jus not made for cobalts ya know? Take em off an as soon as you ship em to me, your car should run fine

Orrr do like they said, unplug the battery for bout 10 minutes.. Make sure everything is nIce an snug, reconnect an of its still not runnin right, do that boost leak test

 

Ok I ended up disconnecting the negative terminal then reconnected it after I ate dinner and the car still wasn't running right and stumbling, ended up shooting me a hard code U0073...Gonna bring her into work Wednesday hopefully and gonna try using my bosses boost leak tester

 

Interesting, sounds like something is unplugged or isn't plugged in correctly. Have you ever removed the connectors on the ECU?? Ive seen a couple cars with bent pins that cause weird issues!

 

Nah I've never touched em before, hopefully everything gets solved tomorrow, my boss is pretty talented

 

Turns out my boss doesn't have a boost leak tester so i ordered the MPX one, but anyway the car starts fine an idles fine now, it won't boost in 1st gear tho but it will boost in every other gear up to around 18psi when i'm supposed to be set for 23 psi, i'm hoping this boost leak test does the trick

 

I was also thinking that not being tuned for ANY of my mods could have an effect, just waiting to order my Trifecta at the moment

Would it be bad to install if the car is still acting up when the time comes?

 

Lol weren't you trying to get the oz I bought?

 

Not being tuned could have a sizable effect. If you have too much turbulence passing the MAF it will cause your car to hold back boost... I have dealt with that in my car during tuning. It's quite frustrating, I feel your pain. I have had my car boost just fine, then not boost at all, then after a few minutes boost again like nothing was wrong... Luckily all that is behind me. You car is also probably running pretty rich as well. Tuning software can help diagnose the problem as well. You car can throw codes but not turn on the CEL. I am willing to bet that if you were able to clear those codes with tuning software, your car would run just fine... for a minute. This is what seemed to be happening with mine before Termintaor 2 tuned my car up right.

 

Thanks a lot for the response man, I just hope that if tuning doesn't doesn't solve the problem if that will make matters worse?

 

The only way I can think of to check is to put all of the stock stuff back on. If the car runs fine... leave it off til you get the chance to tune it.

How are you checking the engine codes? Do you have a diagnostic tool or are you using On*?

U0073- Control Module Communication bus off
P2187- System Too Lean at Idle Bank 1

Are you still throwing a that U0073 code?

 

Nah it hasn't thrown codes in days now

I'm using a ultra-gauge if you're familiar with them, it plugs right into the OBDII connector and mounts to the windshield

 

Yea, seen a few, never used one. Are you still having the same problems?

 

Yeah the rough startup only happens right after i unplug the battery, still no boosting in first gear but boosting in every other gear (not as much as it should though) a guy i work with said it might be going through some type of relearn process an i just gotta get some miles on it

The car is not my daily driver so I've probably only put about 2000 miles on it this year

 

Yea it will start like **** after the battery is unplugged... just the way it is. I know when I changed my MAF, after the original went bad, it took a bit of driving for it to settle down. Do a boost leak test, and see what happens. Some folks will blame the "learn down" in the factory programming of the ECU, this could have something to do with it... since you are flowing air more efficiently you don't need as much boost to hit the ECU's predetermined performance levels. Is it running like garbage (pops and richens up alot) at WOT above... say, 4500rpm? If you don't have a boost leak, and the car is running like poo, put the stock stuff back on I guess and try it out to see if it solves drive-ability problems. The only way the more knowledgeable people on here will be able to help is by viewing a log on like HP Tuners, or with a dash hawk or some kind of logging software.

 

Nah everythings fine above 4500 rpm's...the thing is though, the car was running totally fine with no issues till charge piping separated and since then it's been having these problems

 

Must still have a leak then. It would be easy for someone like BYT or Term or CC3 to look at a log and tell you for sure. The MAF sensor and MAP sensor tell everything... The sensors are like Mrs. Chleo.