putting o2 sensor on a import that now has a uk spec engine

Anonymous · June 19, 2004, 00:19

just did a transplant on my
Japanese imported car only to find out there are differences in the engines also the ecu's. basically is it true that i have to change the ecu and that my import needs to be wired for an o2 sensor as the uk spec engines have this but the jap engines do not. how is this done?

help please tired and confused!!! Justina thanks

markiii · June 19, 2004, 01:24

j-spec ecu needs no 3rd 02 sensor UK does, depends which ecu your running?

Anonymous · June 19, 2004, 01:34

I am currently running the jap ecu with the uk spec engine! so dont i have
to get the uk chip and wiring for this o2 sensor for the car to run right? it currently runs but it sticks at revs when you try to go full throttle anything from 2 - 18 secs. should i try remapping instead?

GSB · June 19, 2004, 09:13

Ah, there you are... Wondered if you were going to venture in here.

I promised Justine that someone here would be able to help her out, to to add a bit of info, heres the transcript of her post on IMOC...

Quote from: "Justine"Subject: I put uk spec engine in and imported car now the car runs like a mule Help Please!!

I really dont know what else to do !! to cut a long story short I have put a
brand new uk engine in my 1.8 2000 mr2 which is an import! the car now runs
like a 1.4 it intermittently stays put at any particular rev that it chooses
some times for three sec sometimes upto 10 . This is frustrationg me no end
does any obvious faults come to mind?
I took the car to the dealer they told me fault codesPP0017 I think that was the
number anyway!!
Something about mixture too lean!!
This amounts to up to about any 1 of 8 things from the car sucking air to
injectors to mav sensors. I just wonder has anyone else done the same and if so
did you have the same problem after the chang and what did you do to resolve it.
Do i need to get the brain of a uk spec mr2 or do i need to change everything
that is the sensors etc.or just the brain which is an expensive job i am told
by some others say its easy to change you just flick it out and put the other
one in.

Help meI dont know what to do !!

Will somebody please answer???

Now my understanding of things is that there are likely to be minor differences between the J-spec and UK spec ECU's, My first port of call therefore, would be to beg, borrow, or buy a matching ECU for your engine... Anyone care to add?

markiii · June 19, 2004, 09:15

there are differences between teh ecu's true.

however if teh exhauist system is the same, and the wiring loom is teh same, swopping teh engine should make no difference as all teh sensor positions should be teh same.

I'd liek to know why it needed the new engine as this may be related?

GSB · June 19, 2004, 09:18

Good point, you could have a defective ECU or, gulp, exhaust system s:shock: :shock: s:shock:

Why was the engine changed in the first place?

Anonymous · June 19, 2004, 09:25

You need to check your pre-cats NOW - do a search on Pre cats, which will explain how to do it. If your precats are shot then your new engine will be as well if you don't act quickly. This is assuming you still have the stock manifold.

markiii · June 19, 2004, 10:11

I'm guessing that pre-cat failure was why the engine needed changing, and because there was no warranty the main cat is till the same.

GSB · June 19, 2004, 10:22

Quote from: "markiii"I'm guessing that pre-cat failure was why the engine needed changing, and because there was no warranty the main cat is till the same.

I'll go with that...

Justine, did the other engine burn all its oil, lose all power, fail to rev, and then die alltogether?

If so you need to stop running the car NOW! The most common mode of complete failure for this engine seems to relate to the exhaust system, in particular the cat converters. They can get blocked leading to an inability to rev properly and will in a very short space of time demolish your engine. If this is what happened to your first engine, bolting the dame exhasut on to the next engine will cause the same thing to happen.

Anonymous · June 19, 2004, 12:53

Basically about 8 months after i purchased the car it started to run on two pistons, yep I got the smoke loss of power and I could just about get it to the garage. At this garage they came to the conclusion that they had only to replaced the top part of the engine that is new head gasket and two new pistons etc etc. Ok this was done and the car ran fine for about 2 months. Then I had cat problems this was due to the oil that drained into it from the aforementioned engine problem. I replaced the main cat (not the pre-cat) and that was the end of that or so i thought. A futher 6 months down the line on my way past manchester some 200 miles from home the car started to lose power and just refused to go. I always do the regular checks before i go on a long journey oil, water and air. I was sure that the car did not need oil, i checked the sensor on the air pipe it was in securely everything i could think off. I called the aa they said my membership only allows them to rescue me 15 outside of london. Trust me they never told me this when they were taking my money! There was nothing else to do other than to run the car home and I did just that! Which made the situation worst. Well with faith in God my car gave up. But the good thing was she never gave up until she got me within 15 miles of London. Got it to the garage only to discover that she had burnt out every drop of oil that i had put in, I had even bought oil in between petrol stations and put in more. The cam shaft broke under the intense heat due to there being no oil in the engine that engine had just had its day, basically in my view!!! i was just fed up at this stage!!!

markiii · June 19, 2004, 13:04

ok, so I take it at this point you had teh new engine?

was teh manifold replaced when tis was done?

Anonymous · June 19, 2004, 14:12

Yep put in the new engine had enough of the saga!! I realised that the engine was slighty slow but didnt realise how slow until the day I had problems keeping up withmy friends totally standard 1.6 megane. That was the begining of my rude awakening. I went on the motor way and did about 40 miles only to see the return of the dredded engine light. since then the speed and the time within.
which i see the engine light has dramatically reduced. the last time i saw it was at a speed of 35- 40 miles in fourth gear going up a slight gradient. However I am pleased to say that i have put injector cleaner in about 48 hours ago and today for the first time i havent seen the light at all(fingers crossed). it drives a lot better!

But the fact still remains the car is still driving like its restricted. i checked the pre cat info and realised that my car has got 02 sensors anyway which is good. So all that i am going to do now is change the ecu to a uk one and inspect the pre-cat.

I also did not change the manifold. Please elaborate on this as i am a bit slow!! thanks

markiii · June 19, 2004, 14:19

ECU shouldn't be the cause,

with regard to teh manifold, the precats are part of teh manifold. If you didn't change it and our assumption is correct that teh original problem was caused by bad pre-cats, then if there is still part of your pre-cats being sucked into teh new engine, your engine may be about to die again.

either way I suggest you gut the pre-cats.

Anonymous · June 19, 2004, 14:37

Ok I will simply gut the pre cat!! I pray that will be the end of it. I'll have it done tomorrow and let you know! Thanks a milliion!!!

markiii · June 19, 2004, 14:40

I'd also replace the main cat as this has been on since before the last batch of pronlems and may now be dying again.

Adam aka Jap GT300 should be able to sell you a J-spec mnain cat for a reasonable price as I beleive he has a couple instock at teh moment.

Anonymous · June 19, 2004, 19:06

Thank you all for your help it all makes sense now. I 'll Let you know the post op results

Anonymous · June 21, 2004, 18:57

unfortunately there are no pre-cats on the car so thats a no no. so i went on to take off the main cat its still not revving freely. I have changed the injectors completely and the coils. it seems to falter an 3.5 rpms help please any suggestions? faulty fuel pump I really dont know!

Anonymous · June 22, 2004, 01:58

Not that i doubt anything you say, but how are these tests your doing being performed? You flow through the cat, injectors and coils being replaced as if its a everyday garage occurance.

Please don't take this wrong i'm just concerned.

And no, the last thing i would ever doubt is the fuel pump.

Anonymous · June 22, 2004, 02:59

Fortunately for me i grew up around a mechanical garage. So i have learned a thing or two aboout cars. Even though I cant seem to solve my own riddle at the moment. to test whether a coil is working simply run the engine test one at a time by disconnecting if you hear a change in the engine you know that the one that you have taken off iss working . If there is no change then the one that you have taken of isnt working its simple. With regards to the injectors i just took them of the other engine that i had cause i knew that they were working fine.

With regards to were the engine falters and is congested you can hear it. The force that comes through the edxhaust is another indicator also. No doubts about that the rev becomes stuttered you just have to read the clock to determine where.

Anonymous · June 24, 2004, 18:57

Gonna change the ecu i've had enough!! Will let you know when i've done it if all is solved. Thanks Justina

SteveJ · June 24, 2004, 19:27

The clue may be in the point at which the stutter occurs - 3.5k is the typical switch point for the VVTi OCV opening.

markiii · June 25, 2004, 02:04

good point,sticky OCV valve? oil shortage?, blocked passageway?

or a really good one, you never said if it was a roaddster engine you fitted specifically? the 1zz is available without VVTI.

SteveJ · June 25, 2004, 03:09

Something else to consider - Patrick (aka Rogue) has an MR-S that we've been having fun with recently which under acceleration felt like you were hitting a wall at about 4k rpm.

We are not sure what fixed this in the end, as we changed both an O2 sensor and the injectors the same day, but we strongly believe it was the O2 sensor, as the initial run after changing the injectors showed an improvement whereas the O2 sensor cleared the fault completely.

If you have had all of the oil go through the exhaust then the original O2's are definately toast and need to be replaced.

You havent mention what the CEL is that you are getting - that alone is going to be the most helpfull info to diagnose this problem (best of luck obtaining this as the j-spec ECU talks a different flavour of OBD-II which none of the UK dealers can read - Patrick did find a garage in Coventry that can read the code which is what pointed us in the direction of the injectors / O2's)

HTH

Jap GT300 · June 25, 2004, 10:58

OBDII Does pick up certain J-Spec Codes. McCarthy's Group used to have access to the J-Spec version. Not sure if they still have it now that the group is owned by JEMCA.

Are these symptoms not typical of the engine running in safe mode (closed loop) The most common cause of this is that the engine is running lean or rich due to faulty O2's

I do have a main CAT and both Manual or SMT ECU's and piggybacks available, but i would suggest just changing the O2's.

Adam

Anonymous · June 25, 2004, 18:18

ok i am going to change the O2 sensors tomorrow if I can get the part as I did have the oil problem. But please hold the piggyback chips for me i need the manual one. Thanks!!
I took the car to pinewood at Brixton Hill they told about error codes( i think) pl171 and 174 which is basically mav sensors air intake injectors etc etc a long list of thins which i have checked. All roads are now pointing to the ECU, Fuel pump of faulty O2 sensors. I dont know what CEL is though! sorry! let me know?!