OBDII readiness procedure

[aga080]

Hey guys,

As you probably have encountered already, the OBD2 readiness procedure involves a few different increments of driving speeds:



At the end they want to idle in gear for 5 minutes, does that mean I have to sit there for 5 minutes with the clutch in?

Can I just chock my front wheels and lift the back end to do this?

Stupidly I decided to take my car for inspection yesterday and the roads are not ready, neither was my cars ECU after I recently disconnected the battery.

[anotherhaus]

I have cleared codes and had all tests ready within a few days of normal driving, and I'm sure I never held 40-60mph for 15 straight minutes nor idled in gear for 5 minutes (that has to refer to auto transmissions only). If you have a little time before inspection is due, I bet just normal driving will work, just take it on the highway for 10-15 minutes if your normal commute/driving doesn't allow for that.

If you happen to have an Android device, pick up an ELM327 and Torque in the Google Play store; Torque has a table showing OBDII readiness codes (you have to add it as a display).

[flyfishvt]

I have cleared codes and had all tests ready within a few days of normal driving, and I'm sure I never held 40-60mph for 15 straight minutes nor idled in gear for 5 minutes (that has to refer to auto transmissions only). If you have a little time before inspection is due, I bet just normal driving will work, just take it on the highway for 10-15 minutes if your normal commute/driving doesn't allow for that. If you happen to have an Android device, pick up an ELM327 and Torque in the Google Play store; Torque has a table showing OBDII readiness codes (you have to add it as a display).

Normal driving will work but it takes time. Clearing your adaptations sets the readiness monitors back to zero. Clearing a code doesn't clear the adaptations. At least not under normal circumstances. Sometimes if you have multiple codes it will reset the monitors. Take the car for an approved drive cycle. When you're at the last part let it idle in neutral. That's what I did and it reset all but one monitor. You are allowed to have 2 monitors show not ready. That's federal law. States don't have any say in it

[SwimNDrive]

It is good to have an OBDII scaner for this. I got one on eBay for like $40 or so. After clearing all the codes or disconnecting the battery, I drove around according to the cycle and could get all the monitors ready but two easily, in about 20 minutes. 2nd air and EVAP are more difficult to get ready. They may require several very cold starts which sometimes is hard to have for me in SF bay area weather.

I have tried so many things but finally I got everything ready this way. Make sure the gas tank is between 3/4-1/4 full. After a long (20 minutes or so) highway driving between 50-60 mph not to exceed 3k rpm, found a place I could decelerate from at least 40 mph to near stop in fifth or fourth gear. My car just kept going at 5 mph in fifth gear without stopping on a flat road. I ended up put it in neutral, then it stopped in a few minutes. Idled in neutral for little more than 5 minutes, then turned off the engine and took the key out of the ignition. Made sure the battery was strong. Locked the car and let the car sit in the cold (colder is better I think) for at least 6 hours (I did it over night), then came back to warm up the car for 2-3 minutes. Used the scanner to check the monitor again. Everything was ready.

[aga080]

i have a scanner that is telling me what is sensors are incomplete, i thought perhaps throwing code P0340 once after a long winter storage was just a fluke but it looks as though the part has actually gone bad and needs replacement

thank you for the technique though, i will try that out next week after i replace the sensor

[MarketMaster]

I can't seem to get evap ready. The last part of the test I can't seem to do.

[SwimNDrive]

I can't seem to get evap ready. The last part of the test I can't seem to do.

If that's the only monitor that's not ready, you may just go to take the test.

It is hard to get that EVAP ready for our cars. You can try the way I did it (see #4). You may need to try that several times before it gets ready. I don't know why, but that's how I got it ready. There are several thread out there for this. It seems to me the motor needs to be hot and has 1/4-3/4 tank of gas, no more or less. Open and close the gas cap before doing this may help as well. The decelerating from 40+mph without breaking and any input from the gas pedal for a long time or until the car actually stop by itself then idling. For MT, you can't do that, so you actually have to put the gear into neutral and let it to stop by itself, then idle for 5 minutes. Turn of the engine and key off ignition for more then 5 hour. ECM takes its time during this time to check on EVAP. If your car's battery is week, it won't work.

[MarketMaster]

If that's the only monitor that's not ready, you may just go to take the test.

It is hard to get that EVAP ready for our cars. You can try the way I did it (see #4). You may need to try that several times before it gets ready. I don't know why, but that's how I got it ready. There are several thread out there for this. It seems to me the motor needs to be hot and has 1/4-3/4 tank of gas, no more or less. Open and close the gas cap before doing this may help as well. The decelerating from 40+mph without breaking and any input from the gas pedal for a long time or until the car actually stop by itself then idling. For MT, you can't do that, so you actually have to put the gear into neutral and let it to stop by itself, then idle for 5 minutes. Turn of the engine and key off ignition for more then 5 hour. ECM takes its time during this time to check on EVAP. If your car's battery is week, it won't work.

Those are the exact two I have. I don't think there is anyway for me to do that cycle considering where I live. I don't think they will pass me with both of those not ready.

[DYL]

My dad had this problem on his E39 when he took it to get it smogged. About 180k on it. $800 to replace the oxygen sensors. Ouch!

Kicker was that I was visiting for the holidays and just replaced the O2 sensors on my car and my mom's. My dad swore his were replaced, but that evidently was not the case.

As far as I know, the car passed after that. All levels were good, even with the old sensors, which makes me question why you need these systems to be ready in order to pass the test.

[SwimNDrive]

My dad had this problem on his E39 when he took it to get it smogged. About 180k on it. $800 to replace the oxygen sensors. Ouch!

Kicker was that I was visiting for the holidays and just replaced the O2 sensors on my car and my mom's. My dad swore his were replaced, but that evidently was not the case.

As far as I know, the car passed after that. All levels were good, even with the old sensors, which makes me question why you need these systems to be ready in order to pass the test.

Your dad's car would have gone through the same process. He may not know how that was done. The shop may simply asked him to drive the car for a few days before the test or put his car on a dyno and got the monitors ready. For test only stations, they don't just run a car on dyno to get the monitors ready. When the monitors are not ready, they can fail the test and ask you to drive the car for a few days then come back for another test. Besides, if your car's smog monitors are not ready for test, there could be some issues with your car.

For our cars, we are allowed to have one monitor not ready and still pass the test (some say we can have two not ready). Some shop may charge you extra for getting your car ready. Some shop may charge a higher price for the test to include that service if needed. In my area, the cost of doing a test ranges from $40- $80. For me, I do this myself to make sure my car is ready before taking it to the test station. I have to say, I got my 07 Tacoma ready for test in one cycle easily, but it is painful to get my E36 M3 ready.

[MarketMaster]

Found this. made me feel a lot better:

taken from TxDPS:

"For vehicles year model 1996 – 2000, we allow two (2) non-continuous monitors to be Not Ready and still pass the test, but three (3) or more Not Ready's will cause the vehicle to fail."

http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/rsd/vi/Misc/faq/faq_obdii.htm

Looks like I can go and pass with 2 not ready's that I have.

[SwimNDrive]

two (2) non-continuous monitors

Looks like I can go and pass with 2 not ready's that I have.

What do they mean by this?

[MarketMaster]

What do they mean by this?

it means I can have to "not ready's" and they will still pass my inspection. Right now I have evap and secondary evap "not ready". Since I only have 2 not ready, they should pass.

[MarketMaster]

Went in and only had one "not ready" and passed

[aga080]

Car is still showing 3 incomplete sensors :/

100 miles of driving, plenty of different conditions and speeds :hmm

[SwimNDrive]

Car is still showing 3 incomplete sensors :/

100 miles of driving, plenty of different conditions and speeds :hmm

Which 3? Don't feel bad, I drove more than 500 miles to get it ready the first time I tried. My car failed anyways. After repaired few things, I tried again. I could get all but EVAP and 2nd air easily following the method I indicated earlier. Those two are the hard ones. It takes time to run the car in several cycles. It could be a week or two with daily driving. If you have one other than those two not ready, after a while, you may want to check and see if something is wrong with the car.

[flyfishvt]

Ok I'll say it again....You are allowed 2 readiness monitors to be "not ready" and you can still pass. I don't care what state you live in. I don't care how tough your emissions laws are. The readiness check is Federal Law. Keep in mind this has nothing to do with tail pipe emissions testing.

Here is how the drive cycle works. Each part of it is designed to test the emissions system under different driving conditions...parked and idle, in city slow, highway, etc. You can do an entire drive cycle at one time or you can do it in separate parts. Lets say you complete the first part and you're working on the second part. You accidentally rev the engine above 3k rpm. The test stops at that point. The results from the completed first part are saved. You don't have to do that part again unless the monitors are set back to zero. Now you can start another drive cycle at the beginning of the second part. Lets say you are trying to complete the second part and you hit a stop sign. No problem. As soon as you get it up to the correct speed for the second part it will continue with the test. As long as you don't rev over 3k rpm or drive over 60mph the test will continue where it left off. Reving past 3k or going over 60mph cancels the test until you do another cold start.

An official drive cycle takes about 1 hour to complete. It takes a bit of planning to get it done non stop. You'll be doing 50-60 when most other cars want to go 70. If you can do it all at once you will have 1 or 2 monitors that are not set to ready. This is normal. The next cold start should set at least one of those 2 to ready. In my case it set both to ready.

As long as you don't have any other issues with the car....no CEL or anything else....as long as you only have 2 monitors not ready they have to pass you. It doesn't matter which 2 monitors

[SwimNDrive]

You are allowed 2 readiness monitors to be "not ready" and you can still pass. I don't care what state you live in. I don't care how tough your emissions laws are. The readiness check is Federal Law. Keep in mind this has nothing to do with tail pipe emissions testing.

......

As long as you don't have any other issues with the car....no CEL or anything else....as long as you only have 2 monitors not ready they have to pass you.

No true in CA. My car could not pass. In the last three month, I took it for test 3 times, so I have first hand experiences on this. Not that I enjoy play around the monitors, but I have to get my car ready each time I fixed something and reset the monitors. If I have two or more monitors not ready, the test station would asked me to drive more then come back. If I try to reason with them, they will ask me to take the business else where. One tech told me one is Ok, two is not good to the test station. The state is tracking the test stations on how they pass the cars. The state agency doesn't like the stations pass cars with two monitors not ready. It will leave a bad mark for the station, or raise a red flag for audit.

[kornkid8600]

I've used this method. It works. I had a period of time where I had to smog and I was getting misfire after misfire. So I did this about ten times. Pain in the arse till I figured out all my repairs. Last thing I was going to do was drive 100 miles everytime in a short time crunch.

Op your question about idling... Clutch out just keep it in neutral for those five minutes. An annoying part about this test is part one.. Once you start that car you gotta clear section one cuz it takes like 12-15 hours for the engine to match ambient air temp.

Worst part by far is driving 40-60. You better have a freeway near you that is less traveled. Even when you ride in the right lane you sometimes don't feel safe with everyone else. It's a sucky thing because people don't know how to drive.

[kornkid8600]

No true in CA. My car could not pass. In the last three month, I took it for test 3 times, so I have first hand experiences on this. Not that I enjoy play around the monitors, but I have to get my car ready each time I fixed something and reset the monitors. If I have two or more monitors not ready, the test station would asked me to drive more then come back. If I try to reason with them, they will ask me to take the business else where. One tech told me one is Ok, two is not good to the test station. The state is tracking the test stations on how they pass the cars. The state agency doesn't like the stations pass cars with two monitors not ready. It will leave a bad mark for the station, or raise a red flag for audit.

No, the law states two readiness monitors do not have to be completed for certain years, that would end up including all E36 M3s..you just got the shaft from your smog shop. I smogged myself this summer with two unchecked and they never said anything. And I went to the same shop multiple times for real and pretesting.

[flyfishvt]

No true in CA. My car could not pass. In the last three month, I took it for test 3 times, so I have first hand experiences on this. Not that I enjoy play around the monitors, but I have to get my car ready each time I fixed something and reset the monitors. If I have two or more monitors not ready, the test station would asked me to drive more then come back. If I try to reason with them, they will ask me to take the business else where. One tech told me one is Ok, two is not good to the test station. The state is tracking the test stations on how they pass the cars. The state agency doesn't like the stations pass cars with two monitors not ready. It will leave a bad mark for the station, or raise a red flag for audit.

Yup the law states 2. You need to take it somewhere else. And when you pass with 2 monitors not ready you can call the state and tell them to correct the other shop

[aga080]

Which 3? Don't feel bad, I drove more than 500 miles to get it ready the first time I tried. My car failed anyways. After repaired few things, I tried again. I could get all but EVAP and 2nd air easily following the method I indicated earlier. Those two are the hard ones. It takes time to run the car in several cycles. It could be a week or two with daily driving. If you have one other than those two not ready, after a while, you may want to check and see if something is wrong with the car.

Im showing:

evap
catalyst
02 sensor

as incomplete

I've done almost 200 miles now since I reset the ECU

i guess i will try the entire readiness procedure in the middle of the night so i can do it exactly

[SwimNDrive]

No, the law states two readiness monitors do not have to be completed for certain years, that would end up including all E36 M3s..you just got the shaft from your smog shop. I smogged myself this summer with two unchecked and they never said anything. And I went to the same shop multiple times for real and pretesting.

I went to 3 shops in two different county. They were all the same. I guess the shop you went to did not care about being red flagged.

Im showing:

evap
catalyst
02 sensor

as incomplete

I've done almost 200 miles now since I reset the ECU

i guess i will try the entire readiness procedure in the middle of the night so i can do it exactly

How many miles do you have on your O2 sensors? Even without a code, I installed two new pre-cat O2 sensors, because they were at least two years old and I did not know when they were replaced by the PO. I could get Catalyst and O2 sensor ready easily. Just drove it for 20 minutes or so between 40-60 miles and < 3k rpm and it's done. I got them from Rockauto for $125 shipped. The car runs noticeably better with new O2 sensors.

[aga080]

well my exhaust smells like crap... but im not throwing any codes (back in 1999 my 328is exhaust smelled about the same...like a german sports car)

at 100k im sure the 02 sensors havent been changed considering i purchased the car with 65k miles

do i try one more "readiness procedure" or just say screw it and get new O2 sensors and try again

i have until april 7th to not lose my $75 that I paid for inspection/emissions at a local shop

[emccallum]

So you drive around for hundreds of miles burning fuel to pass a test for possible excess emissions or to make sure a computer program is telling you everything is ok? Glad I don't live in Ca, or a state with emissions testing. Sounds frustrating and inefficient.