Today was a frustrating one. I ordered a Speedtech mid-pipe w/ cats because my OEM cats failed after a couple track days (and are not under warranty). The muffler shop could not install the new mid-pipe citing that the location of the oxygen sensors don't match the original locations and the lead wire is not long enough to reach the post-cat sensors.

The manufacturer said that was never a problem, but didn't have a solution.

How can the mid-pipe be installed if the sensors are in the wrong place? It looks like the Fabspeed, Maxspeed, and Speedtech mid-pipes all have the post-cat sensor far away from the OEM part's location. WTF??

In addition, the cats do not have an 'EO' number which is apparently necessary for smog in CA.

Any advice is really (REALLY!) appreciated.

 

Convert,

I am sorry I was not in the office today to help you with this issue. On the aftermarket 996 mid-pipes, you use the left secondary 02 sensor on the right pipe and vice versa. I does not affect the performance of the pipes or cause any running problems. Try this and they should work fine.

Regards,

John

 

Thanks for the response. The muffler shop mentioned this but said that solution could easily cause problems (check engine light) if one or both sides ran rich and gave a different reading upstream vs. downstream. Perhaps this is just what people do because plenty seem satisfied with your product but the shop believed this was not a reasonable solution.

 

It will not cause any problems, the only difference is that if for some reason your car does throw an 02 sensor code at some point, they will be reversed. If the CEL says right side, it will be the left side that really has the issue and vice versa. You just have to be aware of this in the event it ever comes up. Other than that everything remains the same and switching the sides by itself will not cause the car to run any differently or cause any CELs. Like you mentioned, we have sold a lot of these with no CEL issues or other problems. Just be sure the pre-cat 02 sensors remain pre-cat and the post cat remain post-cat (but reversed) and everything will be fine.