Etests, turbos, and tunes?
 

I want to turbo this car. Will Ecutek or OFT be able to toggle the o2 sensors to keep them in a "readiness" state and show cat efficiency? Or must I definitively need the primary cat in order to pass the obd2 test? This whole area is still quite fuzzy to me. I met a WRX guy who's car was modded to the tilt (gt3076r, huge injectors, catless, etc.) and he said this new obd2 test was in fact easier to pass. He has a Cobb Access port and I can't remember exactly what he said but with the Cobb you can configure it to pass even with no cats and all.

Yes, etesting this car is still a few years away but I am planning for the future now. I want to turbo the car and that removes the primary cat. It's not like I want to go catless because I will still continue to run a cat on the car further downstream because of smell and environmental reasons. It's just that the turbo kits I am deciding between all remove the primary cat.

So, will any of the software for this car allow me to toggle etest readiness and clear any unwanted CEL's?

Thanks.

If the tune has the proper CEL's disabled, then you should be fine.

Do you know what provisions would need to be disabled? It would suck to mod the car extensively only to find out I shot myself in the foot come etest time.

Who is doing the tuning? They should be able to easily answer that for you.

You can disable any CEL you like, but without a cat in the header it will likely never pass the emissions readiness monitors for the rear o2.

Sincerely,

Zach
Delicious Tuning

I was under the impression that with EcuTek, tuners had the capability of forcing emissions ready status in order to pass an OBD2 plug in type emissions test. I understand that what you're saying is this is false, and that the FI guys will have to completely remove their turbo's and bolt the factory exhaust manifold back in place to to pass the emissions readiness check?:bonk:

From what we've seen EcuTek can never really force a readiness monitor, it can only deactivate CEL's. So while for example we can deactivate the rear o2 sensor, the readiness monitor for rear o2 will never clear if it has no signal to begin with. :)

Sincerely,

Zach
Delicious Tuning

If you want to save yourself the trouble, there are a couple of turbo kits that enable you to use the stock header or provide a main cat on their own setup.

The WORKS kit and the PTuning kits both use the stock header and will allow you to keep the stock cat.

Also, there is a GReddy turbo kit that comes with a catalytic converter. I'm not sure if it's sold in North America, but there are sites where you can order direct from Japan.

Unless you remove the secondary O2, it should have a signal... from my understanding, "disabling" the CEL is done by raising the limit to a value that will never be hit, so in the eyes of the ECU everything is fine.

I've seen a totally catless STI pass the Ontario (Canada) OBD test no problem.

All I can say is what you can and can't do from my own experience with EcuTek. I can't comment on one person or another that did or didn't pass an OBD test with a catless exhaust.

:shrug:

Sincerely,

Zach
Delicious Tuning

I dug this up
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=358978