Chris_chch

Just curious what values I should be expecting from both RKAT, and FRA on Durometeric software.

My car is getting on a bit, so was expecting some adaption figures to be present, but RKAT was pegged at 0% and FRA was pegged at 1.

Is this normal? I was expecting to have evidence of boost leaks etc as my car has 175,000 km's on the clock.

Also... under input signals, the FULL LOAD RECOGNITION never seems to change from CLOSED/OFF (I forget which one it was)

Thanks in advance

Macster

My recollection is RKAT is the low speed/idle speed adaptation. 0% is in this case then is good. No extra fuel is being added and no fuel is being subtracted.

FRA is a higher range adaptation value and I think actually is divided into two load ranges but I don't have any further details. If the Durametric software doesn't break these out of the FRA reading then you are out of luck.

FRA of "1" I believe is no adjustment is being done. A value greater than 1 means more fuel is being added -- by increasing the pulse time of the injector while values less than 1 is fuel being subtracted (injector pulse time is being shortened).

If my info is correct then it would appear the engine is "normal" as in "healthy". No signs of any leaks.

Not sure why you would expect boost leaks just because of some miles. My 2003 Turbo has 155K miles and has no boost/intake leaks. (My 2002 Boxster has over 310K miles and the intake is leak free. Might mention in those 310K miles the oil tube filler cap has developed a leak that is most noticeable at idle and I have had to replace this cap two times now. However, the Turbo oil filler cap is not under low pressure so there is no leak concern there.)

I can tell you based on my experience that when I had the O2 sensors replaced at 132K miles -- there was a bad sensor (heater was bad) and I had all 4 replaced -- afterwards the engine perked up some. This suggested to me that even though prior to the sensor heater failure the sensors were performing below par.

And then at around 140K miles when I had the coils replaced and the plugs -- even though the plugs had around 10K miles to go before they were due -- once again the engine perked up some. Since I had had the plugs changed before with no post change improvement this suggested to me the coils were also performinng below par even though the engine never misfired under load.

Thus you might think about new coils at some point and even new O2 sensors if you want to keep the engine running at its peak.

Chris_chch

Thanks for the reply. I keep getting P0420 and P0430 codes, so was working my way down the system. MAF has checked out fine, so next was leaks. If I'm leak free (which it appears I am) I'm onto a new exhaust. The O2 sensors appear to be fine, putting out an expected voltage, so not expecting them to be the culprit. When I got the car, both intercooler hoses were loose (only clipped in on 1 side) and meant I could only get 0.3-0.4 bar of boost, so the rich condition may of contributed to a premature failure of the cats.

Havin both sides throw errors "usually" points a problem upstream, but may just mean that the cats are actually toast. I haven't had the car long, so they could of been throwing codes for ages...

Any way.. thanks again!

Macster

Error codes P0420 and P0430 arise because the converters indicated are not performing well. Essentially they are not able to store oxygen. They can be worn out (or contaminated from exposure to leaded fuel). They can be affected by exhaust system leaks. Or they can have suffered a mechanical problem.

The factory manual says in the event of the above errors if these are accompanied by any O2 sensor aging errors to replace the sensors indicated by the error codes clear the codes and road test the car. If the converter error codes come back replace the indicated converters.

I've been down the P0430 error code route with my Boxster. Long story short is the converter suffered a mechanial problem: The converter brick was loose. It would knock upon cold start then buzz like crazy once hot. Most of the time the converter would work though only very occasionally throwing a P0430 error.

Finally got tired of the noise and bought a pair of used converters from a salvage business -- shook the heck out of them to make sure both bricks were secure -- then had the old converters removed and these "new" converters fitted. No more noises. No more P0430 error code. Also it is worth noting that while the loose converter was of course giving me grief the other converter was just fine and this was after over 250K miles.

Back to your car: Absent any O2 sensor codes, or any other codes that point to say a mixture problem (intake air leak) there's not much you can do.

I can offer that at 132K miles after my car produced an O2 sensor error -- a bad sensor heater -- I had all 4 O2 sensors replace and the engine ran notably better afterwards. However, it had never manifested any converter error before (or since).

So if you are so inclined you could throw new O2 sensors at the converter problem even though there are (I assume) no pending O2 sensor codes.

Before you do this though be sure the exhaust sytem is leak free. My tech told me whenever the turbos are removed removed -- as they were for removing the transmission (once to replace a leaking transmission under warranty and again to replace a leaking RMS this not under warranty) but I'm not sure if the turbos get removed for spark plugs -- that the metal o-rings that seals the turbo to the exhaust needs to be replaced. These o-rings should not be reused.

Some owners even some techs might be inclined to reuse these -- being "metal" and all -- and if so then an exhaust leak might (might) account for the P0420/P0430 error codes.

It is probably worth the effort to replace those o-rings unless you are sure they were replaced the last time the exhaust was removed. Even if they are original and have never been disturbed it might be worth the effort to replace them just in case. I mean new converters are expensive and were I in a similar situation I'd spend a little money to possibly avoid spending a lot to replace the converters.

By spending a little money I refer to the idea of throwing new O2 sensors and new turbo metal o-rings at the converter errors.