The dyno showed that not only was the system spraying, nice horsepower and torque gains occurred and the engine appeared to be happy with it. We did have one issue during testing that I didn't think much of at the time, but later became more of a problem.

During several of the dyno runs, the status LED on the system's display flashed a code for a lean condition. The dyno's wideband O2 monitoring equipment, as well as the shop's computer plugged into the car's diagnostic port both indicated that the mixture was rich and healthy. At the time, I was not too concerned about it as everything else had been working so well. But since this did occur, the shop owner made a few suggestions of things to try in order to make sure it wasn't the fault of the vehicle.

I decided to swap out the vehicle's oxygen sensor since the existing one had a lot of miles on it. This did not seem to have an effect on the error condition that the system reported. In fact, the lean condition was reported even more frequently when driving on the street and allowing the system to engage in first gear, while leaving it active as I was upshifting through the gears. A Saturn PDT (the computer that your local Saturn garage plugs into your vehicle) connected to the vehicle showed that the factory oxygen sensor's voltage was consistent with a constant rich reading while the system was engaged and the car was at WOT. This agreed with both the wideband O2 logging that the dyno shop did, as well as the dyno operator watching the stock sensor voltage on his Snap-On diagnostic meter which was plugged into the car's ALDL port.  There appeared to be no problem with the vehicle's fuel delivery or factory oxygen sensor based on these readings.

The next step was to send the fuel injectors out for service, where they were ultrasonically cleaned. They arrived back with a summary showing a fail for their spray pattern testing prior to cleaning, so I was optimistic and hoping this might help. The newly serviced injectors also had no effect.

My last effort involved picking up a 3-wire heated O2 sensor and installing it in the bung that the dyno shop had welded into the exhaust system. Since the sensor in this location read off of the one 3" main pipe (instead of the location of the factory sensor which read off very small ports in the stock header), the dyno shop owner felt that it may provide a more accurate reading. This also had no effect.

Final Thoughts

After going through all of this (in addition to the larger set of issues I had dealt with during the install of the VCN-2000 system), I had reached my breaking point. I was out of patience, and did not want to place one more phone call to Venom tech support or send back the control module yet another time. Who knows - maybe a 2-minute phone call would have been all it took for them to diagnose and solve this problem. But it also only takes only one ticket to win the lottery - the odds of either occurring were about the same.  I had now had enough. I would not be placing that call. I had already spent too much time and effort on the project, and even with perfect operation, the VCN-1000 system still would not have given me all the features and capabilities I wanted when I purchased the VCN-2000 system.  This system also receives an F grade.  While it did actually spray (unlike the prior VCN-2000), it was unable to work correctly due to its problem reading/interpreting the signal from a properly functioning oxygen sensor.

The dyno chart with the nice numbers on it went on to the wall in the garage. It will serve as a reminder of what is in store when I explore forced induction some time down the road.  The system itself was removed from the car and tossed in a box.  I recall thinking, "What am I going to do with this thing?"  Too much time had passed since I received it from Venom to return/exchange it (due to all the time I spent troubleshooting it, and messing with the car itself in an attempt to get it working).  A friend suggested selling it on eBay, but I could not dump this kit on a fellow Saturn owner and keep a clear conscience.  There is already way too much of that taking place these days.  People buy parts for their car, realize they don't work as advertised or just plain don't do a thing (plazma booster, capacitive plug wires, electric supercharger, timing resistor - take your pick), and try and get some of their money back.

After what I went through, I would never wish a Venom product on even my worst enemy - so selling this thing as it stands to someone else is not an option.  While it is possible that the company makes quality products that work on other makes/models of cars, I have yet to see any ONE of their Saturn-specific items actually work as advertised on a Saturn.  Of myself and other Saturn owners who have purchased these nitrous oxide systems, as well as the Venom 400 unit (which actually lost power on the dyno), the company is 0 for 4.  I could only think of one way that this ordeal would end up giving me at least some satisfaction.

  
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