Interceptor help, Rough idling, P0661 CEL
 

Hey guys, I just recently installed my Int-X but may have a small problem. As some of you might know, I don't have a BOV. The only thing I'm concerned about is that the car is idling funny, as in doesn't make a steady sound - the cat vibrates.

The black dongle thing with the female male connector isn't connected, would that be known as the software adaptor. Does it connect to the laptop, and the DV cable to it?

Took the car for a drive and got CELs, drove to Pepboys to pick up the OBD2 scanner and it looks like I have 4 cels.

They are as follows:
P0300 Random Cylinder Missfire Detected (I know this is normal among turbo/int-x users)
P0661 Intake Man Tuning Control CTK Low Bank 1 (Wtf is this though?)
P0174 System Too Rich Bank 1 (Yeah)
P0139 O2 Sensor CKT Slow Response Bank 1 Sensor 2 (No cat, Yeah)

Just found out P0661 is also known as Variable intake-air system control solenoid valve circuit low input OFF 2 Other.

I have a feeling P0661 is caused by the ass vacuum hose I bought at a local auto store, as is the rough idling.. back to the drawing board! :[

When I did the dyno tune, the tuner did an excellent job on the idle is was the smoothest ever!! At the end of the dyno tuning I started up the car, turned on the lights, and the car stalled.

It seems that the car has to be in rich mode while at idle, otherwise it stalls under load. So he tuned the interceptor to a rich setting at idle and my idle was once again "rough". When you get your car dyno tuned, make sure you get your idle settings adjusted.


Bart get your car dyno tuned and post some WHP results!

Why don't you just call Scott and get it all figured out? He has always been helpful :) Also -- don't forget to tune the map for the AC on -- I am no expert (fortunately Scott has gotten my mechanic trained!) but I believe he did mention that there is a seperate tuning map for the AC "on" and I kept having idle problems with the AC on until we got that tuned properly. My idle is perfectly smooth now :ylsuper:

PS - getting the WBO2 sensor plug-in for the IntX made all the difference in the world to getting things tuned properly!

BTW -- tuning last week was 299whp and 239 TQ

There is a separate map. You adjust your standard idle mixture in one map but a different map has load such as when a/c comes on. It doesn't know a/c specifically. It just senses the extra load. If this one is off, any additional load will make it idle bad or not at all.

Just pulled another code: P0102 MAF or VAF Circuit Low Input.. I adjusted the vacuum hose that goes to the throttle body a tiny bit and it stopped the rough idling, eventually it came back and the CEL popped up again. The idle is so bad, the car rumbles every 5 seconds.

You really need to hook up a canscan or any other wideband monitoring system to see what everything is doing as far as a/f ratio. I've never seen anyone have this many issues with that ecu. Make sure no vacuum lines are kinked and nothing is shorted out. Use a vacuum source right behind the throttlebody. Do not use a vacuum nipple on the lower manifold just because it is closer. Your vacuum signal isn't as good here and makes it run different. Make sure you have a good power source. Hopefully your battery isn't weak.

If the idle is bad, your mixture is off. I've had it idle anywhere from no advance all the way to 25 degrees advanced with no issues. Timing doesn't seem to affect idle much. a/f ratio makes a huge difference. It likes to idle very rich. Up to a point of course.

I'm going to try a new vacuum hose tomorrow, the one I got from Mike. Let me just say, that other than this problem.. the car runs and feels amazing - the throttle response, the free-reving, everything is so much smoother and no backfires.

Did I mention that the rpms are steady when the car idles rough? Yeah, its pretty weird.

Other than the idle there aren't any problems, I'm certain that the CELs all have something to do with each other (most of them). The vacuum hose is connected behind the throttle body, the other vacuum hose (boost gauge) is connected to the intake manifold nipple. I have a brand new battery installed, the upgraded one. Brand new plugs, and a brand new starter. My only 2 guesses as to why I'm having this issue, is one.. the vacuum hose I'm using sucks, and two.. like you said, it just needs to be tuned. My question is, how long can my car run like this without a good tuning? I have no money for a tune up.

Anyone have a clue as to what the ideal inside diamater a for the vacuum hose is?

1/8, 5/32, 3/16, 1/4, 5/16, 3/8?

It may very well be a vacuum hose issue. Your engine is at it's greatest vacuum at idle. That is unless of course unless you are decelerating in gear while not on the gas. It could be possible that your vacuum hose is just thin enough that at high vacuum loads such as at idle it is closing down just enough to make the signal to the ecu terrible. As you open the throttle plate, the vacuum level decreases and pressure starts to go up. The hose no longer is closed down and everything is fine. That may or may not be it but it is a valid theory.

After changing the hose with another, I'm starting to think it had nothing to do the problem. Guess I'm going to have to give Scott a call on Monday.

you need to get your car tuned. The rough idle is most likely caused by being too lean in idle, and there is no way to correctly fix that unless you have..
A) - Your own WideBand 02 Sensor, and the knowledge to know how to tune
or
B) - Take it to a good tuner.

While they are tuning your idle, they can also tune your entire setup. Well worth the money.

-hS

Yeah, unfortunatly I'm broke. Anyways, I still need to figure out what these CEL's mean.

Tuning and being broke are mutually exclusive.

Fast, cheap, durable.

Pick two...

You think you're broke now. Wait until you blow your engine because you're riding around untuned. The base map on any EMS is really meant to get you from the garage to the tuner.

Apply for a credit card, don't eat, or sell sperm. Do whatever you have to, to either get it tuned or get a WBO2. If your A/F's are lean, which they may very well be for many reasons, you will blow that motor. If they may be running that lean at idle, why would you assume they are fine under boost? You can't just blindly drive like you can with a stock car once you're cramming boost in the motor. You have to be more cautious and monitor things.

Get a used WBO2 if you want to save money. There are 3 of them for sale in the parts section right now, myne being one of them. ;)

I don't wanna thread jack here, but I've noticed my idle is smoother when I don't touch fuel at idle in closed loop. I just let the drive by wire throttle figure it out. It's strange, b/c Ive heard and seen other rotaries like to idle rich, but mine tends to idle smoother when it's leaner. Just my 10 cents though.

Wow I'm totally questioning buying the INT-X now, I was going to go to mazmart and order it this week.... well bart hope it all works out for you buddy..

Closed loop only applies with a piggy back computer. There is no open/closed loop mode with the Intx.

The problem is most likely not at all related to the Intx. Bart almost certainly has some other problem with his car, or else he just needs tuning. If the Intx is installed properly and tuned, it will be fine.

I know, thats why I don't mess w/ the idle any more. But, the car naturally tends to idle lean. So, would there be any advantage of a richer idle w/ the intx if it's just gonna burn fuel that it doesnt need to?

Absolutely. The car runs much smoother with a rich idle. The car idles lean from the factory for emissions and fuel efficiency reasons. For Mazda, those take priority over a smooth idle.

The problem with your setup is if you try to richen it up under closed loop, the ecu will fight you, which of course is a battle you can't win. Its never recommended to try to alter the A/F when the ecu is monitoring, unless your doing it to minimize your LTFT.

With the Intx you can richen it up without worrying about the ecu trying to constantly readjust. My idle is very smooth, as long as the A/C's not on. But, think that just needs some more tuning.

You can make the car idle leaner with the Interceptor but it isn't as smooth. On brillo's car, the stock ecu does idle it lean, right around stoich, but it hiccups a lot and isn't as smooth overall.

FASTNMEAN8: Don't question buying it just because one person is having a hard time with it. There are many people running it just as it was shipped with no issues whatsoever. It is very tempting to want to change the settings and it is easy to do. It isn't as easy to make it run good if you don't have the experience though. Tuning a car is easy if you know what you're doing but it isn't something you will just figure out in an hour or so. It takes time. You'll find that the people that have issues probably have something small that is affecting it that they are overlooking. It is almost always something small and easy to miss. I've gotten frustrated with things before that were simple fixes. It happens. If one bad experience can sway your decision to purchase something, just remember that there have been bad experiences out there with every product. This includes the RX-8 itself.

W/ my emanage and the A/C on, I'm fortunate not to stall! Sumtimes if the a/c is on 1 or 2, it's ok, but at 3 or 4 on a hot day especially, my car will cut off. I'm also having long starts and sumtimes many attempts to start. It all is seems like ignition timing issues that I have no control over w/ the E-manage. I need my IntX ASAP. Must... hold... on...

Okay. Intercooler piping came off, the long pipe where the other end holds the airinix. Couldn't get it back on in time because I had a soccer game, but I'll be getting that sucker back on tomorrow morning. That was probably the effin CEL, and the poor idling. I noticed there was some sort of silver liquid inside that pipe, what the hell was that? It didn't really have a smell too it, but if anyone is experienced with computers.. it's pretty much like the liquid form of Arctic silver paste that goes onto the processor.