2001 Volkswagon New Beetle mystery plug.

That is total nonsense. Have you ever worked on cars for a living? If not, you could try Googling simulators. The short version is that the simulator cannot know what the CPU is expecting.

Okay, now that I have this little dispute with Jim Beam, you are going to have to tell us what you find. But let me try to help:

This car uses two O2 sensors. The pre-cat should be in the exhaust manifold, and the post is at the back of the converter. Both connectors should be under the car, and at least one of them is on the right side, so they probably both are. I suppose the car could have a simulator, but I can't see how this would work for long. It's even more likely that someone replaced the pre-cat sensor by cutting the wires at the sensor, and just leaving the sensor's harness in place, and then just plugging in the new sensor where it belongs. It's not at all unusual.

not necessarily. many vehicles have them just in front of the cat way under the vehicle - well past the manifold.

the side is irrelevant.

that's for two reasons:

1. you don't understand what a simulator does.
2. you don't understand what the ecu is looking for!

maybe not in your world, but your world is clearly not "normal" and i've never seen anyone do that. and i can't imagine anyone cutting the wires to replace a sensor, removing the plug to connect the new sensor, and then just leaving the wires laying there. even if they did, they'd soon fall off and get lost on the road.

yes i have, qualified and paid too. but any idiot can say anything on usenet so that doesn't mean anything.

i did. you apparently still haven't. or at least if you did, you didn't understand what's plainly there to read.

bullshit. absolute bullshit. there is a very limited range of outputs from that second sensor, and a very well defined range of what is both "typical" and what the ecu expects to be receiving. all the simulator has to do is mimic that output, and the ecu simply can't tell the difference. much like when certain ignorant usenet posters can't tell the difference between a fairy and a pixie or whatever other imaginary creatures they think exist inside engine computers.

I have the manual.

Not if he's trying to find the connector.

You know, this sort of arrogance is a good fit for someone who knows what he's talking about. It's not a good fit for you at all.

You stated in another post that you worked on cars for a living. Did you do bumper to bumper? Did you do driveability? Were you an ASE, Chevy, and Caddy certified master tech? A state certified emissions inspector? I suspect you worked at Jiffy Lube sort of place, possibly sweeping floors.

In that case, you clearly have very little experience working on cars.

If they could fall off, there would be no reason to leave them there. You have a lot to learn.

You've proven that.

Really? When did we learn for certain that it's the post cat? From the position of the wiring, that seems very unlikely.

I'd suggest you install one on your car, and get back to us in a couple of weeks.

good for you! now, how do you explain the apparent fact that you're clearly not experienced on enough vehicles to know that many vehicles, just as i stated, have different sensor locations? [rhetorical]

but if this mythical expert has the manual...

it's not arrogance - it's statement of fact based on the evidence provided by your own words. you've /proven/ you don't understand signal emulation and you don't understand signal analysis.

on use net, any doofus can be anything he wants to be. he can even say he owns a vehicle repair manual. and if he were smart, he'd stop there rather than go ahead and prove what others already suspected.

well, i've never worked on /your/ cars. that's for damned sure.

well, i'm not going to bother to learn about witchcraft and whatever other bullshit you seem to think stands between you and that little black box.

you say you have the manual - why don't you tell us?

ah, the unknowable black box! how do you think manufacturers test ecu's before delivery to the assembly plant bill? do they

a. plug them all, one by one, into a test vehicle and drive it around for a few weeks?

b. plug them into an emulator and simulate operation right there on the bench?

c. offer chants and incantations to the black box fairy and cross their fingers?

d. sit about showing off their ignorance on usenet?

this test is open book. you have three hours.

Before you keep spouting off about this, I'd suggest you study up on code P0420, then get back to us.

Your answers have become so nonsensical, I'm starting to wonder if I'm wasting my time on a troll.

Trust me, you indisputably are. Even the most casual, cursory review will readily confirm that preliminary hypothesis and ultimate finding.

I see. I wish I would have figured that out sooner, but I don't spend that much time here.

but i have. and lots more besides. but the fact that you're prepared to be disingenuous enough to make such a patently false insinuation speaks volumes about your own lack of knowledge. and lack of integrity.

if you were merely ignorant and not stupid, you could have gone to youtube, spent a few seconds searching for "oxygen sensor simulator" and witnessed for yourself these things in operation, complete with scope traces so you could see how they work.

but since we know that you have a p.c, know that you have an internet connection, and have just shown that you haven't taken the trouble to educate yourself even at this basic level, what does that tell us? [rhetorical]

You are one strange boy.

yeah, i guess that anyone who grew up with a soldering iron and an oscilloscope on their desk has got to be a real freak.

there's no such thing as a "black box" buddy. that you're prepared to sit there and bleat defiant denial of this fact is simply ridiculous.