Emissions Test Readiness??? New Engine Saga continues...

I'm sure most of you know about my blowing engines fiasco! Here is my latest issue. My tag was set to expire in June and here in Atlanta, you have to pass an emissions test before you can get your tag renewed. It was May and I had just got the car running again, so I went down for the emissions test and failed. He told me that the computer wasn't "Ready". He said I should drive it a couple of hundred miles and the computer should reset and then I could test again for free. I drove the car a couple of more weeks including a PCA DE, where it did quite nicely, thank you! Took it back to the same place for my free retest.

"Readiness = Fail"

He says, "how much you drive it?"
I say 400 miles like I stole it!
"Well drive it some more" says he!
But my tag expires this week!!!
"Hummmm...you should avoid the Police"

I went back this week for a 3rd test and $25 later the guy informs me that it's still not ready!!! Anybody ever had this before? Is there an easy fix? My Dealer assures me that they can probably diagnose it in under 2 hours and mentioned the Secondary Air System? A buddy of mine suggested O2 Sensors? Any help would be greatly appreciated! I am about to sell the car and didn't want to spend a bunch of money. I guess I could save the money on a tag. And it could sell to someone in the other 9/10's of Georgia and the world that doesn't require an emissions test. But karma would bite me in the ass I am sure!

Find out which flags are not triggering and it will be much easier to figure out the exact cause.

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Boxsterra
Find out which flags are not triggering and it will be much easier to figure out the exact cause.

The CEL is not on, and there were no codes pending the last I checked. I will check the codes again tonight and see if I can get the emissions guy to tell me which readiness test failed?

Ideally you should obtain a reading of the readiness monitor statuses. This is obtained when a query is made of the vehicle DME for the number of DTCs and the MIL status. It would a poor OBD2 tool that allowed you to read DTCs and erase them and not provide you with the readiness monitor statuses.

Sincerely,

MarcW.

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Byron in Atlanta

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Boxsterra
Find out which flags are not triggering and it will be much easier to figure out the exact cause.

The CEL is not on, and there were no codes pending the last I checked. I will check the codes again tonight and see if I can get the emissions guy to tell me which readiness test failed?

ok...got home and hooked up the obd tester.....still no codes, or pending codes. Checked emissions and these are the two items out of eight that show " inc" (inconclusive?) cat monitor & evap system. Also checked the report from the emissions place. Just says "Readiness = Fail" , KOEO = PASS, DLC = PASS , MIL CMD = PASS

the DME requires to complete those readiness monitor tests.

IIRC you said you drove the car a bit before the test? Yes, I read your first post. "'400 miles like you stole it!"

Well, that might be the problem. I know it is a bit of long shot but since you have the means to read the readiness monitors statuses start the engine cold and let it idle a bit then head out and treat the car to a variety of driving scenarios.

When it is time to get my 02 Boxster smogged this involves after the idle some city driving, stop and go driving, then some blvd. cruising: 35mph to 45mph; and then some acceleration runs getting on the freeway and some steady high speed (legal freeway speeds (65mph to 70mph)) for a while. I drive the car about 45 minutes or more and rack up 30 miles or more. I have an OBD2 code reader/data viewer hooked up and I check the readiness monitor statuses occasionally until they are all complete (even though in CA I think we are allowed up to 2 incomplete). Then I head the car to the smog check/test station and circle it like a vulture until the stalls are empty and then I dart in for a test. While I'm getting the test going I let the engine idle and do not shut the engine off at all until after the test. Oh, I avoid running the A/C too to ensure the engine runs 'hot'.

To give my car the best possible chance of success I at least arrange to run a couple of tanks of top tier (Shell) premium (91 octane is all I can get out here) gasoline through the car and of course the engine is kept in good 'tune'. (Reasonably fresh plugs, air filter, recent oil/filter service.)

If the above doesn't work for you then there is probably one maybe two things wrong with the car that results in the DME failing to complete those readiness monitors tests. If you drove the car a bit longer (maybe) one or more error codes could be logged and of course the CEL would be turned on.

Sincerely,

MarcW.

There are things you can do that will prevent a drive cycle from being completed, such as leaving the ignition key on for too long before starting the car. Or starting the car when it isn't cold. During the two drive cycles, there must be no pending codes (which wouldn't necessarily trigger the MIL).

Here is an example of instructions of how to complete a driving cycle:
[www.lyberty.com]

My Honda accord had the same problem.. It turned out the battery was weak so It could not juicy up the ROM while it is not running. New battery and 10 miles later, it was all 'ready"

Hope this simple fix is your problem too :-)

Tony

... move south to Florida, where we don't need no stinking emissions tests.
Happy Boxstering,
Pedro

Pedro Bonilla
1998 Boxster 986 - 311,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]
PCA National Club Racing Scrutineer - PCA National HPDE Instructor - PCA Technical Committee (Boxster/Cayman)

---

Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar

"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" ... Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney in "LeMans"

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older"... Mario Andretti

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose" ... Ayrton Senna

I have been getting a Secondary Air Injection light for several years. I could hear the pump running on cold start, so I knew there wasn't much of a problem and I just used my code reader and would reset the light every few weeks when it would come on. Last year before emissions inspection, it kept coming on and I would have to reset it and go through a bunch of cycles with the car to get all systems to come ready. Georgia emissions will allow you to pass if 1 system is not ready, but will fail you for 2 or more not being ready. Every morning I would run through a cold start and warmup cycle and then plug in the OBD II reader and check system status. It probably took me 4-5 days of doing cold starts before all but 1 of the systems was ready and I could get the thing tested.

Do you run your car every day? If not, then you need to at lest start it every day and run it through a warmup cycle. You will probably need 4-5 cycles - I am positive it has taken more than 2 cycles to get all systems to come ready. And it takes some mileage in everyday driving on some of those cycles.

I had the same problem this year for emission inspection, so I went into the engine and replaced the vacuum canister and that seems to have fixed the problem. Still had to go through all the warmup cycles and driving cycles to get the systems to come ready. There are some systems on my 02 S that never come ready or are not relevant from my OBD II tester. If you want to discuss further, drop me an email and we can set up a call and I can read to you what my OBD II says for each system.

You can drive the car 100 times without completing two.

So what constitutes a drive cycle? I presume it includes a cold start and full warm up and some variation in RPM's over some time period. What else?

The way all of this stuff is specified is obscure. I don't know the complete algorithm for determining a drive cycle but here are a few specific things I can pick out:

- The car has to be driven 7.5 miles within 23 minutes of a cold start
- You have to meet the requirements of the drive cycle within 23 minutes (so driving 500 miles is the same as driving for 23 minutes)
- The throttle should be operated "smoothly" (i.e. drive it like you didn't steal it)
- The car should not be driven in extreme conditions (very hot or very cold)
- Car has to idle from cold for 20 seconds

At the link I gave above for GM cars, there is lots of other guidance.

My car had a hard time setting the Catalyst readiness state. I finally drove around with the OBDII tester plugged in until it came back as ready. Unlike the link above, the Bently Porsche repair manual says you need to drive between 40 - 60 mph for ~20 minutes where the engine RPM is less than 3k to set the catalyst readiness. It also recommends idling the car for 3 minutes at the end of the drive cycle to set another metric's readiness.

I've had to do this a couple times to get the car ready for an OBDII emissions test and has worked for me.

cycles mentioned. In fact I just drive the car like I normally do.

The engine gets started from cold (after sitting overnight at least). I let the engine idle the usual time -- generally until the secondary air injection pump shuts off.

Then I head out subjecting the car and engine to a variety of driving conditions starting out with around town driving to warm up the engine/drivetrain. While I could venture right out onto the freeway I prefer to give the car/engine some city driving to warm it up.

Now around town means anything from stop and go driving to steady speed cruising at 35mph to 45mph for a mile or more. When the coolant temp gage has been on the '180' mark a while then I venture out on the freeway. I sometimes treat the engine to a hard acceleration when entering the freeway if the on-ramp and traffic permit this, but I don't really thrash the engine that much. However, I did one time after I filled up the tank with racing gas I did drive the car pretty hard to see if I could detect any difference in the engine from the presence of the racing gas.

Based on uncounted times I've done the above I know the readiness monitors will be flagged as complete -- but I always check them if I'm taking the car in for a smog test just to be sure -- or if there's a problem the CEL will be on because the DME has had enough to time to detect some problem. This is why I advise anyone checking out a used modern Porsche (or any modern car) to arrange for a test ride/drive that has the car covering around 30 miles of mixed driving.

Sincerely,

MarcW.