well thats a good sign to me. my car seems to run fine for the most part, nothing unusual about it, just that light puts a damper on your day every time you start the car to drive it somewhere. ill talk to a few older guys at my work and see if i can get any positive info about what to do about a catalyst system malfunction.

 

have a question for you thats off subject but what all do you have done to your motor/ what are your plans? im new to the honda world and dont know much about them.

 

My car is pretty much N/A, but is well ready prepared for boost.

Fuel Pressure Regulator
Fireball Cat-back exhaust
4-2-1 DC Sports Header
Random Technology Highflow cat
UR Underdrive Crank Pulley
MSD SCI Ignition System (w/ Blaster SS Coil and Power Cap)
Skunk2 Intake Manifold
Nology Hotwires
Denso-Irridium Spark Plugs (1 step colder than stock)
AEM Cold Air Intake
Venom Hi-Flow Fuel Pump
Hyper Voltage Ground System and Stabilizer
Hondata IM Gasket
Helix Throttle Body Spacer
AEM Adjustable Cam Gear
Suspension Techniques front lower anti-sway bar
Toyo Proxy Tires
AEM Brake Pads
***
I have parts to install still, but I'm waiting for my paycheck to do it.

Zex Stage 2 Camshaft + Zex Titanium Retainers and Valve Springs
Apexi VAFC2

Soon as I get those parts I have installed, I'm going to dyno tune my ride. Next step would be the Eldebrock Turbo Kit, from there I'd get the Apexi AVCR Boost Controller running 8.5 PSI. I plan to put down atleast 210whp or more after all this.

 

Well heres the info i received today about this damn check engine light. When you have a coil wire shorting out causing engine misfire, its likely that you can damage an 02 sensor. So if your car isn't running normal then your best bet is to change your 02 sensors. But, if your car seems to be running fine and nothing appears to be wrong, then all you need to do is get the code professionally cleared. Autozone used to do it for you but i dont think they do it where i am anymore due to some reasons unknown. so i hope that helps out.

 

what exactly is/the purpose of the hyper voltage ground wires and stabilizer? where all do they go?

 

The most obvious difference the hyper voltage ground wires and stabilizer do is make the headlights brighter, improves stereo sound, gas mileage, p/w windows, and improve the cars ignition systems by allowing the car to accelerate quicker with less parasitic loss.

Hmm if changing the O2 sensors clears that code 4 you, I'll buy some myself. I do suspect my car is not running at it's full potential as the engine runs slightly hotter than it used to prior to the check engine light.

Tomorrow I'm buying a 160 degree Jackson Racing Thermostat to cool the engine a bit. It's a $10 upgrade.

 

I have been studying grounding systems lately because I want to make my own. Here is what I have found out.

A grounding kit is supposed to help the electrical devices in your car by grounding them better. People who have done this have reported faster car starts, smoothed idle, better throttle response.

There are 2 main styles of grounding kits: Hyper Grounding, and Earth Circle Grounding.

Hyper is basically a large daisy-chain that goes from one side of your chasis to the other.

Driver side chasis ground > to the intake manifold > to the engine head .
From the engine head ground, you send out 2 other grounds.
Engine head > to transmission factory ground (leave the factory ground in place).
Engine head > to negative battery terminal > to a passenger side chasis ground.

Here are pictures that westcoaststyle sent me of his Hyper kit that he had on his old civic. Hope he doesn't mind
Driver's Chasis Ground

Intake Manifold Ground

Engine Ground

Tranny Ground (leaving factory ground)

Nagative Battery to Chasis



On the Circle Earth style grounding Kit, everything has it's own grounding wire that goes to the negative battery terminal.

Chasis ground > Negative battery terminal
Tranny > Negative battery terminal
Engine > Negative battery terminal
Intake manifold > Negative battery terminal

Some people have also grounded other things like throttle body, alternator, vtec solinoid, thermostat housing.

If you make your own kit, use 8 gauge speaker wire and ring terminal connectors. I will probably use 4 guage for extra bling factor, but it is an overkill.

To clear a CEL code, just reset your ECU. To do this:

Disconect negative battery terminal for about 15 min. Re-connect it and turn on the car (do not touch the gas pedal since you ECU will be examining your car). Let it just idle for about 15 min. Then turn off your car. Your ECU is now reset.

 

thanks for the info. I might get the GReddy ground kit and stabilizer off ebay for $56 and try it out. that kit has the round metal piece with a number of wires coming off it that all hooks to the negative battery terminal which sounds like hyper grounding system. but yeah when i get my new cat installed ill have a new 02 sensor also and then later on ill put a new one in my header when i get my new dc sport 4-2-1. Ill try resetting my ecu and see if it goes away.

 

The one being sold on ebay... you can get that same kit with 5 different brands of stickers on it for under $15+ shipping. HKS, Greddy, I've even seen Spoon. I highly doubt they're actually authentic products from those companies because no matter what sticker is on them, the parts are the same. I'm sure there's no different technology between them even if they are authentic. It's just a ground kit. Electricity doesn't care what brand of wires it's passing through.

As for the P0420 code, do a google search and you'll find that either a bad secondary o2 sensor, cracked exhaust manifold, leaky exhaust, or bad catalytic converter can cause this.

You know how to find exhaust leaks, right?

 

The one you are describing is the Circle Earth design. I agree with Jafro. You can get a cheap one on ebay that will do the same. The things I don't like about these universal kits is the wires are fairly thin (but probably adiquate) and since they are universal, you will have extra slack in the wires which will look sloppy.

I am going to make my own because I can custom fit each wire, use bigger gauge than is sold in these kits, and it will cost about $20 for parts.