Code 53 - Is sbec toast

[thx138]

Question. I was out at the track. In the midst of a pass, the car stumbled bad - @ 22 psi was reading 14.5 on the wide band. Check Engine light came on steady and stayed on. I assume it went into a limp mode. Managed to get the 10 miles home. Fan stayed on and was running at 10 to 1 on the wide band for the trip home - loss of vacuum and power. Lots of codes: 15 - The sds had been acting up recently - speedo not working. This is a FWD 3 bar for a vnt conversion. The new codes were 52, 53,13,35,22 - essentially most all the parameters for running the motor. Does this sound like the SBEC is done? How do I go about checking this. I assume I can't really swap in a stock SBEC given the 3 bar and large injectors on the motor.

Thanks

[going4speed]

I thought 53 was a common code for some sbec's that had been programmed but I'm no expert. Have you checked all the grounds? It always makes me check grounds when I see more than one code. Also the VSS can really make a car act wacky in my experience.

[supercrackerbox]

I thought 53 was a common code for some sbec's that had been programmed . . .

You are correct. The code is there for nearly all computers that have been "hacked", including the old Mopar Performance ones in my experience. Therefore I'd say you blew off a vacuum line and/or knocked something loose.

13 and 22 will both set light up the CEL. Check all your vacuum lines, I bet you'll find a leak. The fact that your fan came on and stayed on tells me you lost signal to your coolant sensor. If you unplug the sensor (such as when setting timing), and then plug it back in, the SBEC cars will turn off the fan and CEL. But they will still store the code 22 for 50 ignition cycles (according to the service manual anyway), or until you unhook the battery and clear the codes. Of course 35 is for your radiator fan relay, so you may have a wiring problem there as well. 53 is a bad oxygen sensor. I'd check wiring to start with, especially if you're running a wideband that sends a signal to the computer such as the Innovative.

I'm not saying your SBEC isn't toast; it's certainly possible. But I'd eliminate all other possibilities first.

[glhs727]

Question. I was out at the track. In the midst of a pass, the car stumbled bad - @ 22 psi was reading 14.5 on the wide band. Check Engine light came on steady and stayed on. I assume it went into a limp mode. Managed to get the 10 miles home. Fan stayed on and was running at 10 to 1 on the wide band for the trip home - loss of vacuum and power. Lots of codes: 15 - The sds had been acting up recently - speedo not working. This is a FWD 3 bar for a vnt conversion. The new codes were 52, 53,13,35,22 - essentially most all the parameters for running the motor. Does this sound like the SBEC is done? How do I go about checking this. I assume I can't really swap in a stock SBEC given the 3 bar and large injectors on the motor.

Thanks

code 53can be normal. The codes might be inter related. Code 13 is vacuum to map. That will set a CEL and run pig rich. if the car runs pig rich it can set of the code 52 which is O2 sensor since it is seeing too much fuel, although code 52 just by itself can set a CEL and run pig rich. Code 22 coolant sensor, will also throw a CEL and make the car run pig rich but if the car is already running pig rich it might affect engine temp and set the 22. 35 is the fan relay.....
So I would start with code 13. Check to make sure you didn't blow off the vacuum line to the sensor. Also I would reset the computer top erase the codes and see what comes back first....

[thx138]

Appear to have found the issue. Borrowed and swapped in another 3 bar sensor and car starts up, and then idles fine with no codes. Now to find another sensor so I can return the borrowed one. Thanks for all the input. This was after I checked all the vacuum lines (which all appeared to be good). The code 13 triggering all the others was my starting point in this quest.

[ShelGame]

Appear to have found the issue. Borrowed and swapped in another 3 bar sensor and car starts up, and then idles fine with no codes. Now to find another sensor so I can return the borrowed one. Thanks for all the input. This was after I checked all the vacuum lines (which all appeared to be good). The code 13 triggering all the others was my starting point in this quest.

Cheap (Chinese) eBay MAP sensor I'm guessing?

[thx138]

Any idea as to a code 66? Started the car up this spring, starts and idles (rough). No CEL, but is still running very rich right from start up. After 5 minutes it is still at 10.5 to 1 on the wide band. Codes are 12,66,53, and 55. My only concern is 66 (yes it is code 66, checked it a couple of times). Can an injector stick open and what would be the effect of that. Fuel pressure is backed down as far as I can get it (45). Walbro 255 is in the tank and the retrun line is the stock one.

[turbovanman²]

Code 66 appears to be normal, could be the VNT stuff. Another member on TD had the same issue and it was nothing. Someone thought is was CCD bus communication.

Bypass the baro solenoid and see what happens, leave it plugged in but just bypass it vacuum wise. Also, do you have a scanner?

[thx138]

No scanner, but I bypass the selinoid to see what happens. Thanks

[thx138]

No change when bypassing the baro/map selinoid. All vacume lines appear fine. Swapped in another water temp sensor. Now the car will start up and reads 12ish on the wideband. It will sit around there at idle for about 5 minutes and then slowly move up to the low 15 range. I have some bounce in the AF ratio now. Now all that remains of concern is a code for the oxygen sensor signal. So I put in a new O2 sensor. No change. Hooked up a narrow band O2 to see if my wideband was funky, but the narrow band pegged full rich when the wideband was reading 12 so I suspect the wideband is still good. Tested the continuity of the O2 signal wire through the harness and there is no resistance so I assume the harness is ok. To me it seems strange that it takes 5 minutes before the AF ratio moves into the normal range. Almost like the O2 sensor is not heating. Is this a possibility? Is this a fused circuit? Thanks for any direction.

[turbovanman²]

The Oxygen sensor takes time to warm and depending on engine temp, the computer ignores it until a time is hit, the sensor gets warm or a certain coolant temp.

Check the ox sensor is getting 12 volts on one wire and 1 volt on the other, key on, engine off.

[mopar-tech]

Typically on these cars once the O2 volts are at .90 they go into feedback.

I'd look at the map sensor and make sure you have no leaks on the line or a sensor a little off.