Well I am sad to say that my car just threw a CEL. I don't know why these damn cars are so tempermental. I sent back my k and n cai because it would throw a CEL and opted to mod my air box and tubing and create my own CAI. That was two months ago. Everything was fine. I just went outside and the orange light of death appeared. Immediately I knew it was my CAI. I am wondering if it is on because of how extremely cold it is outside. It is only 5 degrees. I wonder if there is a point that the air entering is too cool ? I know it isn't the oil on my filter because it was used for 6 months before I made the CAI so it was very lightly oiled. I didnt check when I removed the air box but is there a sensor of some sort in there ? I mean besides the MAF ? Like a sensor that lets the car know the air box has been removed ? So my question is for those of you that have the CEL do you just drive around with the light on ? Is there anyway we can get rid of this thing ? This is the first car I have ever had that gets pissy when you introduce better air flow. This damn engine light is sooooo annoying !

 

im so glad my injen didnt give me cel

 

Dude we own great cars yet this is not the 70's or 80's for that matter. These cars EFI systems are incredibly complicated, and where made to run this car as efficiently as possible *STOCK*. We all know K&N intakes throw cels, yes KN fucked up and there is nothing we can do about it , but seriously I know the air box mod $$ wise is very appealing. Yet dude you bought a 30K CND car " if you got all the options like me " if your going to do ANYTHING to that car do it right! Want intake buy an INjen or possibly a AEM. I am not criticizing you or insulting you just giving you sound advice.

 

And if you dont want the intake just put a drop K&N filter and leave the airbox alone thats what i did with no CEL issues.

 

I think it is the air being so cold that is causing the CEL. The few times I've gotten a CEL with my K&N has been when it is really cold out.

 

i have had my k&n for 4 mounths now and no cel yet even when it like 10degerees out side

 

Man , dont blame the car . Once the code is defeated , and the PCM can be tuned , I think our stock PCM will prove to be a VERY good PCM to work with and a asset to the hotrodder . With all cars nowadays , tuning parameters in the PCM is MUCH stricter than they were even a few years ago . Its just a result of the tigher emissions standards that cars are required to maintain in all circumstances . If you dont want to see that CEL a cold air intake can cause , thats is absolutely harmless btw....buy a MAF translator and invest in a little dyno time . The days of stock pcms excepting mods that change fueling requirements are over .

I think you would be less aggrevated with your car if you had a better understanding of why it would throw a lean code and why its not hurting your car or its performance one bit . Theres set correction values in the PCM to compensate for all situations . When its really cold outside , the PCM is already adding more fuel to correct for than dense oxegen rich air . Throw in a CAI to that mix , and its gonna see it needs to add even more fuel to compenstate for the greater amount of airflow the mass air sensor is metering . Under alot fo circumstances , the greater correction factor a CAI would warrant isnt great enuff to put it outside its boundries . But in some cases , you may touch a point where the mass air is calling for more fuel than the boundries determained by the stock tune . In that situation , a lean code would be set . You may only touch that sitiution breifly , but the once the code is set and CEL is on , unless its cleared from memory ....it needs to see a time period of normal operation before the light will turn back off on its own . In the Cobalts PCM I dont know what the time period is , but from prior expirience with alot of other GM PCM's , it generally takes 20 sucessfull start cycles without the condition being present to turn the CEL light off . At that point the code would go into the PCM's memory and would show up on a scan tool , but the engine light wouldnt be on anymore . Its why alot of guys with mods such as CAI see their CEL come on and off randomly . So the light DOEN NOT mean you constantly have a lean condition . And further more , when you ran lean enuff to set the CEL ....its not lean enuff to harm a thing .

Another thing about why some car may be more sensitive than others . There maybe several different stock PCM files for the Cobalt SS . Any good mail order tuning vendor will always wanna know your vin # to determain what revision level your PCM is . So naturally some revisions may be a little more tempramental than others . I dont think the freqency of CEL's with CAI's is tied . I mean they are all basically the same pipe , with "generally " same MAF location in about the same distance from the filter as was in the OEM box . I think the frequency of CAI's has more to do with stock revision levels on the OEM PCM . People seem to deem the K&N the CEL king , but what else would explain how there are some guys who have not gotten a CEL at with a K&N CAI .

Hopefully you can get some reassurance out of that , and a little better understanding of why the pcm acts the way it does .

 

Have you gotten the code read? I've gotten one CEL a week from dec 26th until now. This was the first week w/o a CEL. Each CEL was for either the oil dipstick popping up (annoying as hell), gas cap needing tighened after the tech fueled my car (dummy, same kid then went an burned out in parking lot in my car. He's no longer employed there....), and/or failing os sensor. Just something to look into.

 

i'm pretty sure the pcm compensates for the lean code (cel) by richening the fuel mixture. my cel came on twice so far from the k&n intake and each time it happens my gas mileage tanks. the cel goes away after a while, i forget how many cold starts it takes but eventually it does go away if you just leave it be. however your mileage might suck for a while.

 

well this all makes sense to me. As for the guy with the injen intake I have also heard of injens throwing a CEL. I truly believe it is because of how extremely cold it is out. Today is the first time I got the CEL. So I haven't had it read yet. Good news is the reason why I didnt buy an Injen and the reason why I sent my K AND N CAI back is because if i got the CEL it would take all that time to replace it back to stock. With my setup it will take it back to stock in 10 mins so if the light doest go off when it warms up I will just take my CAI and reconfigure it back to stock. The fuel mixture deal makes sense. I didnt think the CEL from the CAI was hurting my car it is just damn annoying to see that orange light. As for the tuning part. I am more than willing to tune my car but using a MAF translator to do it isnt the way I want to go. If I have no other options then I will buy the intense stg 3 kit that has the MAF TRANS in it and do it that way. I am hoping GM releases their kits soon so that we can get the code and vendors can design very efficient packages. In other news I put 1 range colder plugs in my car today. These plugs were the easiest plugs I ever swapped. Good thing to because at the time I did the swap it was 3 degrees outside. Well thanks for the advice everyone. I appreciate it.

BTW I still think it is the car/engineers fault. The restrictions on this car is a little too..... well restrictive......

I can do anything to our GNX and that bad boy just keeps on chugging. I know 80's vehicle vs today is totally different.....

 

My car threw 3 cel's stock. It's a problem that will eventually be solved. Don't get too worried.

 

It won't, you don't have a supercharged cobalt. Only the supercharged cobalts get CEL's due to intakes....

 

Mercury, when did you get the (im guessing rksport???) spoiler? It looks good but is missing something. I can't put my finger on it.

 

Oh and btw....

<---- CEL member here....You could always put tape over the part of the dash where the cel light comes on...just a thought, or put a picture of a hot girl there

 

Dude , trust me I know , lol . Back when my TA was just a bolt on car I had longtube headers , x-pipe true dual exhaust with no cats , ALL the emissions stuff removed from the car ( smog pump , Canister purge ect. ) , CAI , 1.6 rockers ...all with the stock PCM tune with no check engine light at all .

Good ol days

 

well it was -45 out here a day or so ago, and I didnt have a CEL. It started to warm up to about -30, lol and it just came back on.. After being off for about a week.

Im gettin sick of disconnecting the battery though, so I will be going back to stock ASAP till GM figures this **** out, and that is when I will buy the Injen.

 

just get the injen! evyone says they dont put up the CEL!

 

i have seen posts where the injen throws cel's. I forget where though so...... As for you guys running na setups I dont think you have the same problem we do I beleive your MAF sensor is in a totally different location. My thinking was not only was it extremely cold but the damn sensor is right near the nose of the filter. That is the closest I have ever seen a MAF sensor being to a filter..... I thought it was weird but oh well. I am just going to buy an interceptor to clear the light. More than likely when relflashes are available this will all go away. As long as it is not harming my engine I am not too concerned.

 

Congrats!!!

 

I'm in detroit too, and stock, and it's so freakin cold out that my car is running like crap now. Wait until it warms up, and then we'll see if it goes away.

 

I'm in detroit too, and stock, and it's so freakin cold out that my car is running like crap now. Wait until it warms up, and then we'll see if it goes away.

 

Orientation of the maf sensor can screw things up too...

On the new 05 mustang its real important to keep the maf in the EXACT possition (not just distance) as stock or else it will either throw a code or run like crap. I'm with the tape idea over the cel lamp...good thinking .

 

Ahh, just leave it stock! Hell it works good enough to make 270+ WHP

PCM is the only answer to our problems. Patience daniel-son

 

I have the injen, it was preaty cold here for a few days -20/-25 and i never threw a cel.

 

Well I was thinking of making a plastic cut out with just the exact lines of the CEL light blacked out. I am pretty sure I can do it with my pc. This way it wouldnt look ghetto.