Hey guys.... My SES light has been on forever, and I am finally at the point where I would like to correct that. I replaced the O2 sensor in the header, have new plugs/wires, and a new air filter.... I am assuming these codes are going to point to the OTHER more expensive O2 sensor, but thought I would ask before buying it.

On another note.... I recently yanked the negative battery cable for 5 minutes to reset the ECU, and my lights (red dash lights) became brighter! I believe they dimmed again when the SES light came back on.... Is that a built in feature? My odometer backlight is so dim I cannot read the numbers at night....

Thanks in advance for any help, I love this forum!

James

 

P0421 might be the first CAT, many people have had that code and that's often what it turns out to be. I had mine done under the 8 year, 150,000 km emission warranty for no charge. P0181 from what I see on google is some sort of driveline disconnect code?

No idea what that is

 

Sorry, I should have mentioned what else the generic Auto Zone printouts said:

P0421 - Catalyst Efficiency low-bank 1

P0181 - Fuel Temperature Sensor

Still no clue about the dimming lights...

So, knowing this does that mean I need a cat and a fuel temp sensor?

 

You don't need a cat, get you a header, then a high flow cat. That should fix that damn P0421. I had that problem also. I took it to get the recall done on it, worked for about 100 miles, srs light back on. So, I took the cluster out and unpluged the light. No more light. As for the fuel temp, I have no clue.

 

Ahh.... I found a TSB 89 using Google. Those two lights are apparently the product of a faulty Cat.... Weird.... I am at 165k miles, surely they won't replace it.

Anyone know about the dim lights?

Anyone know whether the SES light on will decrease my mileage? My friend mentioned that and I would like to confirm it. Above I posted that I reset the SES light by removing the negative battery cabble for 5 minutes.... After that we got 375 miles between fillups (30mpg). Usually we get 300, like it is back to now.... Does that confirm that an SES light drags mileage down?

 

Did you get the 375 on highway and get 300 not driving as much on the highway? I don't think the SES light will decrease mileage

 

Both highway.... Cruising 75mph.... The car has 165k miles on it, and has gotten 300 miles per tank pretty much since we started tracking it.... So, when we see a large jump in mileage like that with the SES light off, it made us wonder.

By the way, the SES light has been on since about 40k miles...

 

Ain't got a clue about the ses light then. I'd kind of like to know how you hit 375 on yours. I barely get 200 on a full tank sometimes.

 

My P0421 cleared after replacing the 2nd O2 sensor... I did not buy from Autozone, I found it online waaay cheaper...

 

Where did you get it and how cheap?

 

You can get the universal o2 sensor if you're willing to solder the wires to the oem harness.
Around $25shipped on ebay for NGK ones. I can tell you which wire goes to what if you want.

 

That would be great.

 

I didn't see any NGK for lancer on ebay but you can use any 4wire for Mirage or Eclipse in the front. For the back I'm not sure how many wires the Lancer have but if its 4wire again then you can use the same 4wire universal. Also I haven't done the rear wiring so not sure if the wires are the same color as up front.
Good luck

source

 

woot!! you helped me with that one lol thanks

 

Not a problem