MechaGodzilla

After I took my car out of storage, I thought I had bad gas when my engine kept bogging badly. It had a severe power loss at WOT below 5000 rpm, particularly after a hard right turn. No CEL, the engine just sputtered. I tried the MAP whack, octane booster and injector cleaner, still bog. Then I happened to tap my toe against the left side of the footwell where the ECU is... and the engine sputtered and almost stalled.

So naturally I tapped it half a dozen times (in the name of science) and it ultimately stopped sputtering in response to my attack. I then drove it around and the bog was gone. I'll take off the panel to see what's really up with the wiring, but it's clearly a bad ECU connection causing it. It's interesting that the ECU doesn't throw a CEL when this happens. I wonder if that means that it is a control output connection, rather than a sensor input. The ECU has no clue that there's something wrong.

MG

xviper

Do you have anything tapped into the ECU wiring? VAFC, supercharger box?

MechaGodzilla

Like you, I had the Vortech setup which tapped the ECU wires.
I removed the Vortech and the car was fine for a year.
I was very careful with the disconnect, but it seems like
the wires are now sensitive to forces applied.

This reinforces the idea that you should never
tap ECU wires. The Vortech kit should have had a
plug and play harness.

Slows2k

You can still have a bad connection at a PnP harness

xviper

A year is more than enough time for re-connected wiring to go bad. Depends on how they were done.

Wisconsin S2k

Yeah I can't imagine that a year would go by without anything going wrong, and then suddenly you have trouble. I wouldn't think it's related.

PrimoAP1

With a stiff suspension and abrupt power changes (Vtec transition) wires that have been altered and reconnected could certainly come loose. I know this to be true from my ITR with a VAFC.