Having some Codes and Issues with my Mustang

[eeston]

I have a 2006 Mustang GT. I've had it for some while now. I replaced the motor and I have atleast put 10,000 miles on the car. It has quite a bit of problems.
I've been getting some check engine light codes, last I scanned there were 3. P0132, P2195, and P2196. All related to bank 1 sensor 1 (02 sensor). I have gutted my cats and put spark plug non foulers on the downstream 02 sensors. Also when working on my exhaust I snapped off the head bolts on the exhaust manifold (same side as the codes). Which would be the passeneger side. I was able to connect the exhaust back to the manifold fairly secure with special clamps. Since all that, I've had pretty poor gas mileage. I've seen these foulers work on these cars perfectly fine. There are a couple things that lead me to thinking it's not just the Non foulers I Installed.

I had a bama performance tuner laying around just to read codes. I never actually used it to tune. I decided to try just to see how the car would react. After just changing the RPM limit from like 600 to 675 in neutral it threw up the wrench light and gave me these codes P0600, P060c, P1000, P2105, and U0300. I did some research but was overwhelmed by all the mis information. What I got from it was that, the new motor that I put into the car needed to be connected to the PCM. I don't know if that's true. The car drove 10,000 miles without it... once I took the tune off and restored it back to the original, everything went back to normal. Regular 02 codes came on. I don't know where to really start. I'm experiencing Rough idle, Terrible MPG, it won't accelerate when I have the pedal to the floor (only when cold) it sounds like the exhaust is gurgling then it randomly will shoot forward. It will also do this at stop signs, I push the pedal down about half way before it decides it wants to shoot forward. It sounds like it wants to die. The idle is so choppy in low rpms. And from stop to acceleration there is a low end clicking sound. It's not lifters/rollers/timing chain. This is a deeper sound and it only happens when the engine is hot. I've been doing a mix of 5w20 and 10w30 to thicken the oil and protect my timing components. Hopefully get rid of the clicking but it's coming back. (Also shifting into reverse is pretty violent and makes a clunk noise) don't know if that has anything to do with it.

Some people said all this was related to certain wires not being used like the airbags. And I don't have a driver airbag in my car currently. The car runs nice some days like it just wants to go. Other days it's very loud and sounds like I got some crazy cams in the car, makes it really annoying to drive up steeper roads. It doesn't burble or pop in drive. And it's catless??

I just want to know what you guys think about all that. If you have ever heard of these problems with the unique situation my car is in. I don't want to attack this in an unorganized way. Apologies for the long essay I'm just so sick and tired of having a lawn ornament.

 

[Dino Dino Bambino]

I'm confident you'll solve your problems by doing the following:

1. Extract the broken passenger side header studs and get new bolts so that the manifold can be properly sealed to the head. This should get rid of the O2 sensor codes.

2. Install a pair of high flow cats and replace the non foulers with NTK downstream O2 sensors.

3. Ditch the BAMA tune and get an email tune from the 3V Whisperer aka Lito. His email is [email protected]

 

[eeston]

Alright, I'll do these things and let you know what it changes, if your interested. I don't know the exact cost of it all. So it may be a couple months. Thanks man!

I'm confident you'll solve your problems by doing the following:

1. Extract the broken passenger side header studs and get new bolts so that the manifold can be properly sealed to the head. This should get rid of the O2 sensor codes.

2. Install a pair of high flow cats and replace the non foulers with NTK downstream O2 sensors.

3. Ditch the BAMA tune and get an email tune from the 3V Whisperer aka Lito. His email is [email protected]

I got a quick question my friend. Do the NTK 02 sensors work better with a specific high flow cat? And why would you recommend the high flow cat and NTK 02's?

 

[Dino Dino Bambino]

I got a quick question my friend. Do the NTK 02 sensors work better with a specific high flow cat? And why would you recommend the high flow cat and NTK 02's?

The NTK sensors have been shown to be reliable and will work with any cat.
I'd recommend the Pypes high flow cats (ceramic if you're on a budget, metallic if forced induction) since they're 300 cells per inch and will pass emissions. There are other high flow cats that are 200cpi or less and may trigger a fault code for reduced cat efficiency unless the rear O2 sensors are disabled (not a good idea unless it's purely a race car).

 

[eeston]

The NTK sensors have been shown to be reliable and will work with any cat.
I'd recommend the Pypes high flow cats (ceramic if you're on a budget, metallic if forced induction) since they're 300 cells per inch and will pass emissions. There are other high flow cats that are 200cpi or less and may trigger a fault code for reduced cat efficiency unless the rear O2 sensors are disabled (not a good idea unless it's purely a race car).

Thank you I appreciate it!

 

[eighty6gt]

The market for used cars is pretty nuts, can probably get good value for the thing even with some issues. That's what I'd do. Then get a decent ebike.

The advice given seems to talk about manifold to head, I think you could have manifold to downpipe leaks. Any Ford dealership should be able to tackle this problem.

There's no reason to destroy the environment buying even more crap like cats and more o2 sensors when lito can just shut off the downstream o2's and you can cap off the holes.

 

[eeston]

I actually ended up fixing the issue just last week. I replaced the passeneger side manifold and found it was a faulty 02 sensor. It had been damaged. I replaced that... cleared the codes and everything has been running super smooth. I also have the 02 spacers on aswell and it shouldn't have any problems passing emissions.