by "Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
Published 03/08/2017 at 12:31
by "Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
Published 03/08/2017 at 12:31
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I’m buying a car and the guy who is selling it to me says he cannot smog it yet because the battery was disconnected and there needs to be more mileage recorded on the car’s computer before the smog machine will test the car. He’s getting it smogged as he is required to do in California. So the plan is, I will go and put like 50 miles on the car so he can get it smogged.
It makes sense to me; does it make sense to you?
Car is a 2000 Toyota RAV4 with 75k miles.
"Decay buys too many beaters" (decay)
03/08/2017 at 12:34, STARS: 1
Buy a Bluetooth obd2 adapter, it will tell you exactly when the emissions readiness checks are complete.
50 miles may not be sufficient.
"HammerheadFistpunch" (hammerheadfistpunch)
03/08/2017 at 12:39, STARS: 1
Like Decay says. 50 miles may not be enough. If I recall with Toyota, its usually not miles, its cycles that the computer needs. i.e. it needs to get to full cat temps X number of times before the codes are pushed off the memory.
"Land_Yacht_225" (nadenator)
03/08/2017 at 12:40, STARS: 1
For Mercedes-Benzes at least it’s not mileage, it’s cold start cycles. But yes, it makes sense that the car has to run the internal diagnostic tests enough times to be ready for inspection.
"Honeybunchesofgoats" (honeybunche0fgoats)
03/08/2017 at 12:41, STARS: 0
I can’t find anything specific for the RAV4's drive cycle, but a lot of people seem to say 100 miles.
I did find this:
Note! Depending on your country and state, OBDII vehicle may not pass the annual inspection unless the required monitors are “ready”. For example, the US Environmental Protection Agency guidelines allow up to two monitors to be in a “not ready” state for model year 1996 through 2000 vehicles and one monitor “not read” for 2001 and newer model year vehicles.
How to get the monitors “ready”?
1. First, make sure that the MIL (Malfunction Indicator Light) is not commanded on. Having stored or even pending diagnostic trouble codes active may prevent a monitor from running to completion.
2. Second, make sure that you have enough fuel in the car. Some monitors, for instance the EVAP monitor, may require the fuel level to be between 35% and 85% to initiate the diagnostic testing.
3. Third, complete the so called “drive cycle”. About one week of combined city and highway driving is usually enough to allow the monitors to reach complete status. The drive cycle is explained in more details in the next paragraph.
OBD drive cycle
The purpose of the OBD2 drive cycle is to let your car run on-board diagnostics. This, in turn, allows monitors to operate and detect potential malfunctions of your cars’s emission system. The correct drive cycle for your car can vary greatly depending on the car model and manufacturer. Also, the monitor in question affects the required drive cycle.
Today, many vehicle manufacturers include these drive cycles in the vehicle owner’s manual. Typically, a few days of normal driving, both city and highway, will make the monitors ready. The following generic drive cycle can be used as a guideline if a specific drive cycle is not known. It will assist with resetting monitors when a car specific drive cycle is not available. However, it may not work for all cars and monitors.
The drive cycle can be difficult to follow exactly under normal driving conditions. Therefore, it is better to drive it in restricted area!
1. The universal OBD-II drive cycle begins with a cold start (coolant temperature below 50 C /122 F, and the coolant and air temperature sensors within 11 degrees of one another). This condition is easily achieved by letting the car to sit overnight.
2. The ignition key must not be left on prior to the cold start. Otherwise the heated oxygen sensor diagnostic may not run.
3. Start the engine and idle the engine in drive for two and half minutes, with the A/C and rear defroster on if equipped.
4. Turn the A/C and rear defroster off, and accelerate to 90 km/h (55 mph) under moderate, constant acceleration. Hold at a steady speed for three minutes.
5. Decelerate (const down) to 30 km/h (20 mph) without braking or depressing the clutch for manual transmissions.
6. Accelerate back to 90-100 km/h (55-60 mph) at 3/4 throttle. Hold at a steady speed for five minutes.
7. Decelerate (const down) to a stop without braking.
"Brian, The Life of" (familycar)
03/08/2017 at 12:41, STARS: 3
Wait. No money is changing hands until the smog cert is obtained, right? RIGHT?
"Future next gen S2000 owner" (future-next-gen-s2000-owner)
03/08/2017 at 12:41, STARS: 1
As long as no cash changes hands before the smog test, makes sense to me.
"TahoeSTi" (tahoesti)
03/08/2017 at 12:41, STARS: 1
It’s not the number of mile but the number of open loop closed loop cycles it needs to go throw. So this sounds about right.
"DipodomysDeserti" (dipodomysdeserti)
03/08/2017 at 12:51, STARS: 1
It took well over 100 miles for my BMW to show readiness.
"someassemblyrequired" (someassemblyrequired)
03/08/2017 at 12:51, STARS: 1
Yep - this is what needs to happen. A lot of states smog for OBD II cars is - is CEL thrown? So people would just disconnect the battery and get smogged, unless they had a certain number of warmups. Most OBD II tools will let you know this. The vehicle monitors need to do a bunch of self checks - look up Toyota OBD II drive cycle, it’ll tell you what you need to do to get it ready for testing most efficiently.
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
03/08/2017 at 13:01, STARS: 1
Yes this is mostly correct.
OBD smog checks look for any check engine light codes, and also your emissions readiness monitors to show as ok. These emissions readiness monitors reset when the battery is disconnected and take time to show ready. Evaporative emissions takes the longest to reset.
BUT, in most states you can still pass if you have one or sometimes two readiness monitors not showing ok.
My OBD scanner has a readiness check function. Here’s an example of what would definitely not pass (this was when my O2 sensor simulator for my catless downpipe wasn’t properly connected):
This would probably pass (wiring sorted out but not enough drive time for the evaporative emissions to show ready):
Eventually I got this, all clear:
According to this , California allows one incomplete readiness monitor while still passing.
The Autel AL319 is the cheapest scanner I know of that does a readiness check. It’s $35.
If you want something ASAP and can’t wait for Amazon to ship, Harbor Freight sells rebranded Autel scanners, this one is on sale for $60 with a coupon.
"MonkeePuzzle" (monkeypuzzle)
03/08/2017 at 13:02, STARS: 0
I just bought a car, and although I agreed to an “as-is” purchase, I negotiated a singular condition that it must pass an emissions test and be registerable.
If I were you, I’d write up a short note and ask him to sign such, basically saying the transaction is not complete until the car can be tested and legally registered. A condition actually covered in CO law, unless otherwise specically stated by the seller, even in as-is sales (I found out after a previous lemon buy :S )
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
03/08/2017 at 13:16, STARS: 0
My understanding as well. My auto tech pal tells me to drive 54.5 mph for 8 miles, pull off and idle for a minute or two, repeat, after driving around in mixed traffic. I’ll go and spend half an hour or 45 minutes doing this and if that doesn’t do it, I’ll let the seller handle it. I’ll pay him once it’s smogged.
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
03/08/2017 at 13:19, STARS: 0
Very similar to what my car tech pal just told me.
"RallyWrench" (rndlitebmw)
03/08/2017 at 13:20, STARS: 1
This is true, but as others have said, 50 miles might not do it. I’ve had cars take a couple hundred or more to set all the readiness monitors. The good news is, because it’s a 2000, you can get away without having the Evap monitor set. The problem is, the monitor drive cycle was really designed to be done on a dyno in a controlled environment, and its conditions are almost impossible to duplicate on the road. At the very least it needs to see a cold start or two for air injection (if so fitted, I forget on these), WOT acceleration and sustained deceleration (ie 70 to 20, no braking) for the full range of 02 sensor operation, and fairly constant cruise (minutes long at least) at probably something less than 2500rpm for the Cat monitor. Some cars are really sensitive to having accessories on, others aren’t. If you want I can copypasta the drive procedures from one of my service info systems, it’s pages long in total.
!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
03/08/2017 at 13:50, STARS: 0
Not ‘til it passes smog.
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
03/08/2017 at 13:51, STARS: 1
No money ‘til it passes smog.
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
03/08/2017 at 13:52, STARS: 0
I have one. THanks.
"If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent" (essextee)
03/08/2017 at 16:14, STARS: 1
It’s legit. After a battery disconnect the ECU needs a certain number of driving cycles to reset itself before any emissions tests can be done.
"ivnic8" (sasgxl)
03/08/2017 at 16:34, STARS: 0
The information you have is correct, the car needs to be driven. Instead of just doing 50 miles, it is more likely to clear the readiness checks by driving through town. Starting/stopping, trying to maintain constant speed/rpms for 30-60 seconds. Restarting the car. Drive like you normally would.
In North Carolina, if the codes are not reset after 200 miles, you can get a waiver, indicating this, but you will get a pass. Not sure about CA.
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
03/08/2017 at 16:57, STARS: 0
Thanks.
My Bluetooth OBD reader tells me that six of the eight parameters are ready, but it’s thrown a code for the fuel mixture sensor, so need to replace that first.