scfou

iTrader: (3)

I drove 45 minutes to a party and the car was ok with no check engine light. Then as I was coming back the check light comes on. Does anyone know if an exhaust h-pipe setup will do this to you? I remember my buddy at the muffler shop said h-pipes might not past smog. Do you think this is the reason why the check code is on?

HellFish

iTrader: (5)

first, go get the car scanned to find out what the code is. as long as no cat and no oxygen sensors were removed/disturbed, then you should be fine.

scfou

iTrader: (3)

There are 3 cats underneath the car, and I had the center one removed. There were also no oxygen sensors anywhere near the center cat. About scanning the check light, is there actually a way I can use a paper clip to jump the diagnostic box for a code? I've done this on a 300 before. Does it work the same on the 400 vvti?

HellFish

iTrader: (5)

no, youve got an OBDII car, so youll need the scanner for it. they sell generic models for like 40-50 bucks at autozone. or some places do it for free. itll give you a Pxxxx code and you can find the list on here if you search.

scfou

iTrader: (3)

thx HF. I'll just purchase the scanner as I'll probably need it in the future. The car still drives normally and as a matter fact, it pulls harder after the h-pipe conversion.

StiCk3

iTrader: (5)

even cheaper is to go to autozone and ask them to pull the codes for you. It's super free!! Just don't listen to him/her try to diagnose it for you, they aren't ASE certified and half don't even know crap about cars.

HellFish

iTrader: (5)

eh that whole ASE thing doesnt really hold water for me. i know several ASE "certified" techs that cant really diagnose a car. alot of it really comes from experience.

to the OP, post up your findings and ill try to help you out best i can from over here.

StiCk3

iTrader: (5)

True, but at least they have proven to know SOME of the material. AutoZone guys don't have that kinda proof. if you had a choice to talk to an ASE tech or an Autozone rep, who would you choose?

+1 post up the codes once you get them

scfou

iTrader: (3)

I still haven't got time to check the CEL. But if the exhaust is the reason, what code would it throw? Also, there's only 2 cats underneath my car, not 3. I removed 3 resonators in total. Again, the only difference is the muffler shop did a "H" pipe setup which basically is 2 exhaust pipes seperated from each other. Each pipe goes from the cat to the muffler; that's it! And this threw a CEL. Does this have anything to do with OBDII vehicles?

StiCk3

iTrader: (5)

it might be a cat, if it is it would probably be P0420 (Cat inefficiency, the scanner will say so).