Guidance troubleshooting P2096
 

2005, 6spd, i just recently bought it but haven't driven it much except for when working on it. I'm getting this DTC - P2096, post cat too lean. I'm trying to get some info about what's the likely cause before I start dumping money into replacing parts.

Some history - Car was sitting for about a year - it was flooded when i found it and owner couldn't get it to start (didn't know anything about cars). I de-flooded it and it starts and runs fine except for the DTC. I don't notice any change in performance driving it though. Had a blown ECM fuse, replaced and did an oil change.

After i drove it for a day, it was throwing a P0171. I started working on it and I found that one of the previous owners (before him) had removed the VFad but left it open. I capped that off and reset the computer. Drove it around for 30 mins and ran the codes again, showing a P2096 (P0171 is gone now).

Scanner shows at idle:
STFT B1 S2 at -0.8%
O2 B1 S2 at 0.785V - this shows on a second page as 0V - should this really ever change or jump back and forth?

Short FT at 0.8%
Long FT at 22.7%
MAF flow rate at 0.6lb/min
IAT reading at 114 deg
Cat temp reading at -40 deg?
ambient temp also -40 deg?
spark advance at -4.5 deg


So i'm guessing the DTC is a bad O2 Sensor on the Cat? anything else that this could be or am i reading something wrong? Could a bad O2 sensor throw my LTFT that high?

Any other figures I should check before i replace the O2 sensor?

Hey all, just an update, i did a vacuum test and i'm pulling around 15 inhg (tested off the intake manifold), which is low according to the manual (should be 16.6-19.6), so i do have some kind of vacuum leak somewhere. She still starts, runs, and drives fine. I went all over the engine bay with propane, checked all the intake components such and couldn't find a leak anywhere. I manually checked as many vacuum lines as i could find but still nothing. I haven't checked the fuel injector parts yet, but any ideas for what to check next other than that?

Just an update in case anyone actually cared - i ran smoke through and found the leak is coming off one of the 3 vacuum solenoids on the underside of the upper intake manifold. Not sure why they only showed up with smoke because they seemed to be leaking pretty bad.

Smoke test FTW.

So, I replaced all 3 of those dump solenoids and i'm still getting the same high LTFT and low vacuum. They all had some kind of little muffler on them. Is it normal for those solenoids to be open? Could there be anything that's causing this other than a vacuum leak somewhere?

That's just the exhaust for the solenoid. When the solenoid is turned off, the remaining vacuum in the line needs to be exhausted so the diaphragm in the actuator can close/return and therefore, closes the valve (AIR, SSV, VDI).

Good advice below that shouldn't be ignored.

SOO... it's been a while since i've had ime to work on the 8 (don't have much free time between work, family and my master's degree) but i'm thinking about the troubleshooting I've done so far, and when i did the smoke test, correct me if i'm wrong, but i realized that the solenoids would always be open and always 'leak' smoke when the car is off. so i tried it again and plugged them and ran smoke through again, but then I didn't see any smoke coming from anywhere...

Do these motors need me to do something different for the smoke test, or should I be looking for something else for the leak? Vacuum gauge shows about 1inHG low from where it should be. Is that enough to trigger the lean codes or is there something else I should be looking for?

do this google search
rx8club site: P2096

all problems and fixes will be found with the above.

Already have been but I have yet to gind anything about how a smoke test should be done on these motors.