So I took it to the dealer to get a reflash, CEL went off. I used the AP to get the MM flash back and my CEL came on the next day. PCM P0610.

Cleared the codes, no CEL for the whole day and I drove it about 75 miles or so. Car was turned on/off 3-4 times over the course of the day. Turned on the car this morning and the CEL is back on with PCM P0610. I'm at a loss as to what's up here and I can't seem to find anything definitive with that particular code.

I did see someone mention that they had the same code, but only when starting the car while it was under 70 degrees outside... kind of random, but maybe something to it? The car did spend all its time down in FL until I got it up here with our lovely 20 degree weather. However, with the reflash from the dealer I'm not sure if that makes any sense.

Possibly me being an idiot and screwing up a reflash with the AP somehow?

 

The car has been driven in 30F weather without issues.

Did the dealer tell you what they usually do for a P0610 code?

 

They mentioned that it was something along the lines of an "incomplete flash" or something like that. I believe all they did is flash whatever the current version that Mazda has for the 8 and it cleared the CEL. I suppose I should have driven around for a few days to see if the CEL popped back up on its own.

 

You can't unless you install oem sized injectors.

I think the Cobb unit checks the data it writes, so I would suspect ecu damage over an incomplete flash. But I am just making wild guesses.

 

There has to be a test to verify the ECU is functioning properly.

 

Try to go back to stock and run with it for a while.. see what/if any CEL shows up./

 

he can't go to the stock map because the 730 cc injectors will flood the car.

there should be a turbo map on the accessport, he can try flashing to that instead of the NA map and see if that helps. I'm doubtful that it would though since this isn't normal behavior and I've run both maps without ever encountering an ecu error.

 

Yeah it's really a weird issue... car runs fine right now, just the damn CEL won't go away. At least with the 3 day weekend I'll have plenty of time to mess around with it and see what I can try and do. I just find it odd that the battery being disconnected would screw with it so much. After a reflash is there anything I should try and do? It seems that the CEL will stay away all day after a flash but will be there glaring at me in the morning.

I have no power loss, no odd idle, no excessive fuel consumption, etc. Nothing really is "wrong" with the car, just the damn CEL haunting me. I'm not too concerned with it but I'm stuck with a rejection sticker until I can get it to stay off. When I took it down to get it re-inspected after I cleared the CEL, I was told to drive it 100 miles before they'd test it again. Drove the 75 or so miles and figured I'd go after work the next day only to find the CEL back.

Everything under the hood looks like it has a solid connection as well so I don't think that would be it either.

 

The battery being disconnected couldn't have done anything. The jump start is the action that would have caused issues if anything. Did you watch how they jumped it?

You can erase a CEL using the accessport. Jeff would have to toggle off that CEL in the map. I assume he can mask any CEL. Right now you have the CELs for missing cat masked.

 

Ah, didn't realize it'd be the jump that did it. He just jumped it with a set of cables and another truck that he was transporting. Seeing as how he jumped it *on the top of the freaking car carrier in the middle of the night* I didn't get that great of a view : ( I'll shoot an email to Jeff and see if he can help me out.

 

Did you see my previous comment? Try flashing it with the turbo map. The car will still run with it. See if it helps with the cel issue or not. I don't think it will, but at this point trying anything is better than nothing.

 

I'll try and run the turbo map tomorrow and see if anything is up. It's just weird to me that the CEL is gone after the flash only to return the following day after the car spends the night parked.

 

And the CEL is magically off. Drove the car maybe 100 miles this morning and filled up on my way home. My fiancee and I went to head out to the store and I was bitching about how this CEL is driving me crazy and she says "um, what check engine light?". I thought she was joking but it seems to have gone away sometime after I filled up and drove home and started the car again.

Hopefully it stays off, but it's really odd. I've driven maybe 450 miles since I got the car and it's the first time it has cleared on its own without the AP.

 

have you made sure all the harnesses plugged into the ecu is firmly plugged in?

 

Yeah, everything looks to be in good shape. Been about 50 more miles today and it is still all clear.

 

CEL came back on again.... same code, P0160. Are there any other connections to the ecu that I can check besides under the hood? Literally all the wiring appears to be pretty snug. I can't seem to find anything that would be loose.

If I reflash with the AP, CEL always seems to come back. If I reset the ecu it comes back as well.

 

P0610 is a nasty one - ECU damage, usually by overvoltage.

Unless you can get 'somebody' to mask it in the AP program, the answer seems to be a replacement ECU......

 

Do you think something like that might have been caused by the car being jumped incorrectly?

 

That's bad news. The question shouldn't be if the CEL can be masked, but if the ECU can properly function in it's current state?

Isn't the immobilizer tied to the ECU? Swapping the ecu would mean redoing the key programming (not difficult if you have preexisting keys), I don't know how one would start out fresh though.

 

Yeah I'm a little concerned if the ECU is actually damaged. However, prior to the CEL going off we had to take a detour down a very bumpy road... maybe it shook something back into place? After the CEL came back on after that, I pushed the connections a bit and the CEL was off... for the rest of the day, but came back the following morning.

All I know is that there was no CEL prior to delivery and the battery was disconnected for an unknown amount of time. After the driver jumped the car, I got the errors listed in the original post. Since then I have been having these issues.

 

Let's hope it's a bad connection -

clean tighten the battery posts

pull the two fuses marked 'engine' in the front and make sure there's no crud on the contacts

pull the 'room' fuse in the footwell, ditto

take the plastic cover off the ECU and pull all the connectors, contact cleaner and replace

check the ECU ground, just aft of the computer, by the shocktower

(pity you can't un-marry the AP, that would exclude it as the cause.....)

S

 

stealth... just thinking outloud, if he had a local friend who owned a rx8, could he uninstall the ap, swap ecus, install ap, and use the friend's keys to start up?

 

Odd development... I messed around with the connections to the ecu a bit earlier today, unplugged each one at a time and made sure they were plugged back in nice and snug. A bit after that the CEL is off again and has been for the 70 or so miles I put on today. However, when I plugged in the AP it still was showing the code but no CEL is displayed.

I see what things look like tomorrow morning. Thanks everyone for the input : )

 

ap can see phantom cel codes sometimes.

 

Battery posts were pretty much spotless but I did clean them anyway. Pulled the fuses and cleaned a little of the crud off of them. Did the same with the room fuse. I had previously done the whole ECU thing the other day so I didn't fuss with that. The CEL went off after I did all the business but came back on later this evening. Also had the U1900 code again (in addition to the previous CEL code) , but I think maybe because I messed with the fuses? Should I try clearing the codes with the AP or just leave it alone for the time being?