Emissions test kicking my ass!

[Kruso]

Well... someone of you guys know my truck was down for a while, I finally got around to taking it to get inspected with about 40 miles on it after putting my new Red Top Optima in it. Guess... what IT FAILED! It had never done that before. Guy explained to me that it was due to the battery change causing the ECU to reset and will take another x amount of miles and it should be ready to go. 200 miles later... take it in to get inspected... fails again! No check engine lights, no irregularities. Guys says system is still not ready need to drive it a bit more. 300 miles later... FAILED again... and guess what... same reason! Driving this thing around town at 200 miles per 16 gallon tank vs my Prius @ 400 miles per 12 gallon tank is starting to kick my ass... not to mention the inspection fee. Anyone else have any insights to this issue?? I had an OBDII reader and the darn thing got stolen. Thinking about picking up a Innova 3160 with realtime freeze frame data.

Kruso

 

[texasislandboy]

dang man thats crazy can you do a hard reset on the ecu ?

 

[taco4x4rar]

Check engine light or no? If Bo then reading the obd2 will do nothing. Sounds like a crock of shit about the battery though.

 

[yotarob]

Never heard of anyone failing an emissions test because of a new battery. Have you been taking it to the same place everytime? You have a Prius? Take it to a different county that doesn't emission test and get an inspection sticker.

 

[SecretSquirrel]

Clean the MAF & throttle body

 

[Kruso]

dang man thats crazy can you do a hard reset on the ecu ?

About to do one with a hammer!

Check engine light or no? If Bo then reading the obd2 will do nothing. Sounds like a crock of shit about the battery though.

Definitely NO check engine light. A normal OBDII reader might not do anything but the Innova actually does alot more, it even has a feature built in where it will flat out tell you if your vehicle will pass emissions test or not, uses same parameters as official emissions stations do.

Never heard of anyone failing an emissions test because of a new battery. Have you been taking it to the same place everytime? You have a Prius? Take it to a different county that doesn't emission test and get an inspection sticker.

Yup Proud Prius owner here. Poor thing has been rear ended twice, earliest last week :\ but runs like a champ. I have heard of it before, I was aware once the battery is disconnected, the ECU completely resets and if you had a CEL on prior to resetting it temporarily disappears. Alot of people think doing that will fool the emissions test into passing the car due to no active CEL but thats not true. The ECU runs a series of tests and completes certain cycles before its completely ready. I was always told it does all that within 60 miles but guess not necessarily.

Here's a tid bit of info I ran across from someone running into the same issue. This info is derived from ToyotaNations board.

You could do "Drive Cycle" in about ~20 min to have your car ready for emission test. I have done this before myself. Would be nice to have your own OBD2 scanner to confirm it was done correctly and ready.

Here are the instructions >

OBD-II Driving Cycle
If you have a 96 or newer vehicle you have the OBD-II diagnostic system. This system is constantly monitoring the sensors and solenoids on the engine. If you have replaced the battery, disconnected the battery or cleared the codes after making a repair you will need to do what is called a "Driving Cycle". This will perform a diagnostic on all the systems the computer monitors. This cycle can be done in under fifteen minutes.

To perform an OBDII Driving cycle do the following:

1. Cold Start
In order to be classified as a cold start the engine coolant temperature must be below 50ºC (122ºF) and within 6ºC (11ºF) of the ambient air temperature at startup. Do not leave the key on prior to the cold start or the heated oxygen sensor diagnostic may not run.

2. Idle
The engine must be run for two and a half minutes with the air conditioner on maximum and rear defroster on. The more electrical load you can apply the better. This will test the O2 heater, Passive Air, Purge "No Flow", Misfire and if closed loop is achieved, Fuel Trim.

3. Accelerate
Turn off the air conditioner and all the other loads and apply half throttle until 88km/hr (55mph) is reached. During this time the Misfire, Fuel Trim, and Purge Flow diagnostics will be performed.

4. Hold Steady Speed
Hold a steady speed of 88km/hr (55mph) for 3 minutes. During this time the O2 response, air Intrusive, EGR, Purge, Misfire, and Fuel Trim diagnostics will be performed.

5. Decelerate
Let off the accelerator pedal. Do not shift, touch the brake or clutch. It is important to let the vehicle coast along gradually slowing down to 32km/hr (20 mph). During this time the EGR, Purge and Fuel Trim diagnostics will be performed.

6. Accelerate
Accelerate at 3/4 throttle until 88-96 km/hr (55-60mph). This will perform the same diagnostics as in step 3.

7. Hold Steady Speed
Hold a steady speed of 88km/hr (55mph) for five minutes. During this time, in addition to the diagnostics performed in step 4, the catalyst monitor diagnostics will be performed. If the catalyst is marginal or the battery has been disconnected, it may take 5 complete driving cycles to determine the state of the catalyst.

8. Decelerate
This will perform the same diagnostics as in step 5. Again, don't press the clutch or brakes or shift gears.

Kruso

 

[Kruso]

Clean the MAF & throttle body

My apologies, I wasn't specific of what the actual results state. The failed report states that the "Catalyst not ready" and the "Evap not ready".

 

[SecretSquirrel]

Gotcha... was thinking you had an exhaust probe. The ECU usually runs rich when reset, so I thought you were getting a rich smog...

 

[Anathollo]

Might want to try taking your truck to a different shop if you haven't already. Might be that guy's testing machine needs to be re-calibrated or something. And thats the first I've heard of a truck failing emissions because of a new battery...

 

[Kruso]

I did actually, third time around I took it to very reputable shop with the same exact results. I also wanna emphasize that it was more the action of replacing the battery causing the ECU to reset rather then a "new battery" that's supposedly causing this issue. Insult to injury the mechanic said the first time he used the horn it worked great but the second time he pushed it the darn thing stopped working!

 

[Silverback]

Besides the number of miles after an ECU reset, some vehicles will state how many times the vehicle has been started. Some checks require <x> amount of engine starts.

 

[Mauzer]

I did actually, third time around I took it to very reputable shop with the same exact results. I also wanna emphasize that it was more the action of replacing the battery causing the ECU to reset rather then a "new battery" that's supposedly causing this issue. Insult to injury the mechanic said the first time he used the horn it worked great but the second time he pushed it the darn thing stopped working!

Your problem is highlighted above, take your truck to a shit hole garage where all they do is check your horn and blinkers then hand you a sticker.

 

[Kruso]

Update: In the process of trouble shooting this issue I had purchased a Innova OBD II Diagnostics reader and it has a cool feature where it tells you flat out of the truck will pass emissions test or not. I drove the truck for another three hundred miles and tried going through that checklist above but no dice. As soon I get back last night from BVOR I hooked up the diagnostics reader and it gave me the green light! Just took it in to the inspection place again and sure enough I was in and out with my new tag with in 15 minutes. I guess next time this happens to me, trip to an off road park it is! Just hope it doesn't happen in the Prius instead.

Kruso

 

[AlienXtx]

Now that would be funny, I would defiantly make it out to that.