I went to the Acura dealership to find out why my check engine light keeps coming on. Last year I had to replace my B18a because the timing belt snapped. I put in a B16a with a pwo ecu. I also noticed that the exhuast is way stronger smelling then before. The machanic that looked at my car said that my ecu was throwing a code and he had no clue what it was. He also said that he was not going to touch my car because he had no clue where to start.
NOW my questinon is… Is anyone else using a PWO ecu? And if you are, are you passing emissions?
And does anyone know what this mystery code could be and how do I fix it?
first check the code and see what code its throwing—then you can look it up and find out where to start looking.
secondary o2 sensor could be it. i think the pr3 and pw0 ecu’s are setup for 2 o2 sensors, our exhaust manifolds (whether stock or aftermarket) only have room for one.
as for smog. it will pass emissions no problem (unless there is something wrong with the engine).
its the visual that might not pass. you’ll have to check your local laws. here in cali it wouldn’t pass, i know that.
If your car is “smelling stronger” than before, than your car is running rich. Where in that case, something is wrong with the motor or you have a chipped ECU. With a stock PW0 or PR3 ECU, you can easily pass smog (I have in the past with both ECUs on my LS/VTEC, just to see if I could). Now, if you have a Mugen chip in your PR3 or a Spoon chip in your PW0, then NO you won’t pass smog because you’ll be running too rich. The other person also said it… you need to run 2 O2 sensors on your exhaust manifold, and they need to be on the primaries (uppper part of the manifold). If you were throwing a code, you’d have a check engine light and your ECU would be blinking a code.
