okay ive googled around enough and had yet to come up with a good answer.

are there any PROVEN ways to eliminate the 2nd oxygen sensor "Check Engine" light? im considering a header either with or without a high flow cat and would like to know what has proven to be effective.

please reply with factual results and/or links to what has worked. your brand/type of header would also be a nice addition

what NOT to post:

your opinion on emissions testing(which i dont have), the ozone layer, greenhouse gasses, etc
your opinion on whether or not a decat/race cat is "worth it"
BMWs intent when they installed a catalytic converter

thanks in advance!

 

I have read (here on NAM) that some coders can code out the cel

try searching here on NAM

 

Tuners can code it out, Akrapovic delete-R(though it'll appear every 3 weeks for a few miles and disappear again), and the CAN tool(no longer sold by BMS, but can be sold through members).

 

i think i asked RMW about removing the CEL for the same reason and he told me "no". what other options are there for tuning aside from a full on stand alone?

also, what is this CAN tool?

 

well, ive seen a "chip" that fools the ecu into thinking the 2nd sensor is there; i have not tried this personally and have heard little about results, other than eventually the ecu re-learns over it (no verification on this either however).

also heard that a good long spacer will do the trick.

i will be trying to simply plug the hole, and leave the 2nd o2 sensor hooked up to the car, just not to the exhaust. drove my car for a week + without it hooked up to exhaust and never got the light; a few days after i installed it back into the exhaust, light...

 

I have also read that an effective solution is to simply plug the bung and use a zip tie or whatever to stick the O2 sensor up and out of harms way.

I have not found any documented evidence that it works, however.

Also, any proven cases for these spacers and/or j-bends that move the sensor a couple inches away from the exhaust?

 

ya, i found one somewhere once; these guys did a custom exhaust for the mini, used some race headers, put a huge J bend spacer; they claimed it worked fine.

word of caution as far as spacers go: i bought one on ebay. cant use it for 2 reasons:

one, it is actually "too long", there isnt enough room for the sensor and spacer; the sensor hits the underbody of the car.

two, it wasnt long enough: the sensor doesnt fit flush with the spacer because the inside was not fully machined all the way through; there is a chamfer at the bottom inside, and the 02 sensor is very long itself; hits that inner metal.

was afraid to waste money on a J type spacer, worried that when its fully tight, itll do something stupid like stick straight up into the car body or something.

 

If RMW tells you no about coding it out on a street car, it might be an indication that it's not a good idea. I'll never understand why people are willing to run catless on a street car... There's better ways to get power!

 

i went for a hi-flow cat myself. works fine imo. still having issues with it hitting my underbracing (still un-installed). i just hate the "stink" cars have with no cats.

 

This is exactly what I asked people NOT to post.

 

We have had good luck with home made sensor spacers using spark plug anti foulers. You have to drill them out to accept the oxygen sensor then have to play with the "sampling" hole to get it right. Typically they still throw a random 2096 once in a blue moon but so do catted cars. Bytetronic full access software will let you change the "parameters" of the P0420 code to now turn on the light. It will show it as a pending but never actually pop up as to be visible by a generic scan tool. Hi flow cats will also log the faults from time to time so spacers are pretty standard on everything that is not a stock cat around here.

 

outmotoring i believe has a 90 deg bung with a bit of catalyst in it to fool the rear o2, ill be in this direction my self being catless, i was more of a dog person anyways

 

While you cannot keep the ECU from triggering a fault code in its memory, it IS possible to have it not trigger the CEL flag.

When I was using bytetronic at least they had decoded the ECU flag system (what lights came on for which engine errors) and you could simply tell the car to not trip a CEL for whatever P code having no cat triggers.

Should be able to do it with any tuning software, but the fact remains, the ECU will still register a fault no matter what you do.

What you can do, is keep it from illuminating the light on the dash (that way when it does light up you know you need to check something instead of never knowing unless you are **** about checking your engine code scanner every day or so)

Hope this helps!

And I am not saying that all tuners can or will be willing to do this. Just speaking from my personal experience when i was using bytetronic FA53

 

http://www.streetsideauto.com/p/vibr...FQSQaQodtCIA1w

It's what I use, and one of the three inserts will work. 10 months catless, and no CEL here.

 

Do you mind telling me which insert worked for you?

 

I use the middle sized insert.

 

 

 

RMW doesnt work on 2ng gen.. hes a 1st gen junky.

**Plenty of ECU flashes out there already take care of the emission ready CEL fix. Short of paying for a stage1 or better flash.. you will NOT find another 100% solution.

 

CAN Tool

 

I did not remove my cat but I did replace the MINI 400 cell with a 200 cell unit. The 300 cell cats will normally work without codes being thrown but the 200's are not as lucky.

Now, if was going to do anything, I would go the capacitor/resistor route shown below.

Let us just say, it works as long as you have a working narrow band O2 sensor to install.

 

Did you install this device to a R53 mini cooper? Cause I wonder how you make it fit in between the header and the car?