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Thread: Odd problem...hoping the wisdom here can help...

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    West Chester, Pa
    Posts
    113
    My Cars
    1997 BMW Z3, 2009 550i

    Odd problem...hoping the wisdom here can help...

    So, back story. A friend has a '96. Cant remember if its a manual or auto. She doesn't drive it much, although I had mentioned to her on several occasions that she really needed to run it once in a while, or at the very least put a battery tender on it.

    Need less to say, several months ago, the battery went dead. She had a local mechanic ( who i also use for routine maintenance on my various vehicles ) replaced the battery. Started and ran just fine.

    Fast forward to this week. She took the car in for inspection, and it wouldn't pass the emissions test.

    Apparently, 4 of the monitors won't reset. The mechanic tried to run it through several drive cycles to reset the monitors, but it didn't work. reset the DME. Didn't work, natch. Replaced the pre cat O2 sensor. Still nothing.


    The monitors that won't reset are:

    Pre and post cat O2 sensors

    Evap monitor

    Heater circut monitor

    Cat monitor.

    Anyone have any thoughts?

    Thanks.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Riga, Latvia
    Posts
    1,326
    My Cars
    2x 1997 BMW Z3 2.8
    Air leak because the old rubber got cracked? Dead MAF? Just brainstorming here. And what is "heater circut monitor"? Never heard of that one on these cars...

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Wallingford, CT.
    Posts
    181
    My Cars
    2001 Z3 3.0i roadster
    I just had a similar situation, but I had a check engine light and P0171 and P0174 lean codes. I found a crack in the lower intake boot and replaced that. However, clearing out the codes did not clear out all the monitors and I needed to do an emissions test on the car. Some of the monitors are harder to reset than others. I needed to do all sorts of driving. Make sure you have no check engine coded. If you do, resolve that problem first. Then take it out on a highway at speed. Just do all sorts of driving the more varied speed the better. It can take a week or two to clear all the monitors. I had to put 60 miles on the car to get them reset.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Kent, Ohio
    Posts
    4,431
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    1998 M Roadster
    Quote Originally Posted by pepz View Post
    It can take a week or two to clear all the monitors. I had to put 60 miles on the car to get them reset.
    I see you're in Connecticut--distances are so much smaller there--we out in fly-over country have a slightly different perspective on how many miles it is reasonable to drive in two weeks--I might put 60 miles on in a single day for example.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Riga, Latvia
    Posts
    1,326
    My Cars
    2x 1997 BMW Z3 2.8
    Clearing the adaptations on ECU should work better than 60 miles trips

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2016
    Location
    Odessa, TX
    Posts
    880
    My Cars
    2000 BMW Z3 2.8 Roadster
    You probably need to do some highway driving. My experience is that it usually needs a variety of conditions (as mentioned) to complete the testing. Well, at least with Toyotas.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Great Dismal Swamp
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    16,026
    My Cars
    E36/7 E36/8x2 E46 F25
    Quote Originally Posted by deni2s View Post
    Clearing the adaptations on ECU should work better than 60 miles trips

    You don't know much about US OBD2 drive cycles and monitors, do you?

    Clearing the adaptions, or even clearing the codes, will require driving the car until every test condition is met and checked. There is a specific drive cycle that is recommended to meet all conditions. IT IS CAR?MODEL DEPENDENT.


    /.randy

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