Arrow PCM and Limp Mode

[FLATOUT]

Routed and sleeved like all our installations, the O2 sensor itself has more clearance than the other years so there must just be more overall heat, will get JD's car back again someday and see where exactly this happened. My guess is that this will be a possible issue with cars that see a lot of track time as we have not had any known issues until this one and we know JD can get after it on the track.

Attachment 9912

Mark mine were toasted as well after my last track day. Still working but the front O2 connectors look like burnt marshmallows lol. It's the area under the collectors that got mine. I had them tied way out of the way as well. What did you use to wrap those with? Looks good.

Andy

[Jack B]

just to add to what Dan said, PCM's (in general) do not blow fuses, shorted wires blow fuses.

Good thing you are blowing a fuse, just trace out that circuit, check the front O2 wires as well.

[ViperGeorge]

Mark mine were toasted as well after my last track day. Still working but the front O2 connectors look like burnt marshmallows lol. It's the area under the collectors that got mine. I had them tied way out of the way as well. What did you use to wrap those with? Looks good.

Andy

Wow, normally I've seen the rear O2 wires burn, not the fronts. This is a bit concerning. Someone needs to come up with a good solution to this. Wrapping them with DEI stuff only delays the inevitable in my experience. I want to try covering the wires in high temp silicone gasket stuff. I think it would remain flexible and if the wires did melt it should prevent them from shorting. I'm going to work on that today.

[mjorgensen]

I'm wondering if the air fuel ratio is lean enough now with the arrow PCM at what's happening is exhaust temps are high enough in this area that it's going to require more insulation then they have in the past. because it's funny this hasn't happened until the new PCM came out.

[Rapidrezults]

I hope there's not more exhaust heat as a result of the PCM. The whole side of my car will turn yellow at this point. LOL

[Voice of Reason]

The thought of burning a wire while on a long distance drive bothers me. I don't just put around town, I drive all over with the IL club so if a wire burns and causes a limp mode 4 hours from home I'm going to be pissed.

[mjorgensen]

I think both Andy and JD were at the track which would be much more taxing then anything on the road. Either way née to find out what is actually happening and what can be done to control it.

The thought of burning a wire while on a long distance drive bothers me. I don't just put around town, I drive all over with the IL club so if a wire burns and causes a limp mode 4 hours from home I'm going to be pissed.

[FLATOUT]

I think both Andy and JD were at the track which would be much more taxing then anything on the road. Either way née to find out what is actually happening and what can be done to control it.

Exactly, I drove 4 open 30 minute sessions very hard with a 30 minute break in between each session.

[Simms]

I picked this up locally, but I think the diameter is too small.image.jpg

[ViperGeorge]

I think we are going about this wrong. Instead of wrapping the wires, we should wrap the headers. Keep the heat from escaping the header in the first place.

http://www.designengineering.com/cat...-lr-technology

[Simms]

I ceramic coated my AR headers, but the weather is just breaking here. The Belangers are coated as well and sound like they have melted a few as well.

I've never used wrap. What's the draw backs?

[ViperGeorge]

I ceramic coated my AR headers, but the weather is just breaking here. The Belangers are coated as well and sound like they have melted a few as well.

I've never used wrap. What's the draw backs?

Other than the effort to wrap the header I can't see any drawbacks. The surprising thing to me is that on the Gen 5 with headers and the Arrow PCM the front O2 wires are melting. On the Gen 4 with headers it was usually the rears. With the Arrow PCM you should be able to remove the rears and plug the bung with no ill effects. The fronts are a different story, we need to figure this out!

[ViperGeorge]

I wonder if you could just wrap the header near where the O2 sensor is with DEI's Titanium Exhaust Wrap and maybe throw some DEI Firewrap 3000 around the wires.

[Jack B]

Balenger in the past has warned against wrapping the headers.

[ViperGeorge]

Balenger in the past has warned against wrapping the headers.

Do you know why? DEI only recommends against wrapping Titanium exhaust systems. I wouldn't wrap the whole thing as it would take too long. I would just do maybe a foot or so on each side of O2 bung.

[Simms]

What about extending the wires so they can be tucked out of the way even more. Does anyone make a good set of extensions? Or is it more right by the sensor itself?

[ViperGeorge]

What about extending the wires so they can be tucked out of the way even more. Does anyone make a good set of extensions? Or is it more right by the sensor itself?

Can't say on a Gen 5 but on a Gen 4 it made no difference. I've seen the extension wires melt in addition to the wires coming out of the sensor. The problem is that the wires coming out of the sensor are exposed to the most heat. I have sent an email to Balenger to ask them about doing a partial wrap on the header around the O2 sensor. I've also reached out to DEI for their recommendation. I'm thinking the best course of action is to use DEI Titanium Exhaust Wrap around the header on either side of the O2 bungs and then wrap the wires in DEI Firewrap 3000 1/2 inch. I would then put DEI Cool Tube Extreme over the Firewrap. Hopefully this will be enough.

I would say this is one of the most important issues for people modding their Gen 5s. We need to figure this out!

[mjorgensen]

This is what we are going to do for the front O2 sensors now, we could not find a high enough rated continuous heat "sleeve" alone to do the job. The woven sleeve is good for 500 degrees continuous and the wrap is good for 1200, this should be more than enough for the plugs and the wires routed close to the header as it goes over the frame rail into the area where the collector is. then tie the wires/connector to the smallest "bridge" of the 3 holes under the collector. These are not finished just showing the size and layers used, they will all be wrapped with the DEi aluminum tape.

001.jpg
003.jpg
004.jpg
005.jpg

[mjorgensen]

These are the areas that have to be protected better than in the past, with the increased heat the wires are very close to the tubes in these areas especially on the passenger side.

007.jpg
009.jpg

[ViperGeorge]

This is what we are going to do for the front O2 sensors now, we could not find a high enough rated continuous heat "sleeve" alone to do the job. The woven sleeve is good for 500 degrees continuous and the wrap is good for 1200, this should be more than enough for the plugs and the wires routed close to the header as it goes over the frame rail into the area where the collector is. then tie the wires/connector to the smallest "bridge" of the 3 holes under the collector. These are not finished just showing the size and layers used, they will all be wrapped with the DEi aluminum tape.

001.jpg
003.jpg
004.jpg
005.jpg

That looks like it should definitely work. By the way the attachments on your next post don't seem to be working.

[mjorgensen]

Working now George

[rlhay2]

Working now George

Thanks for sharing your solutions!

Has anyone had any luck with header coatings on a Gen V?

[mjorgensen]

Thanks for sharing your solutions!

Has anyone had any luck with header coatings on a Gen V?

All the Belangers are heat coated inside and out, but the wires here run very close to the header tubes as seen in the pictures. The other option would be to add a bung to the single tube of the header again and avoid all this trouble, but we don't know if that would cause a check engine light, one of the great things about the Gen% Belangers is that they work great with a stock PCM also.

[Nambo]

The passenger side front O2 sensor wire was melted in several places where it went over the frame. Melted the black plastic tubing and the wires in spots over a 3 inch interval.

[FLATOUT]

Very Nice Mark I'll try the same on mine . Is that just a kool sock shieth?