"Readiness"

[Kira]

Hello, Does anyone have experience with getting a car to or through its readiness cycle?

I am trying to get a 2001 Camaro 3.8L to be ready. It failed inspection for that reason.
I'm wondering if the GM driving cycle I found online needs to be followed EXACTLY or cumulatively.

Also, a friend found an intermittent code which my reader did not. I wonder if that could be a factor.

Any info-theories-guesses welcome. Kira

 

[Nick1994]

Yes. You need to drive it more for it to be ready. Sounds like the battery has been disconnected recently.

 

[eljefino]

In particular you need between 1/4 and 3/4 tank of gas, a properly working (hot enough) thermostat, and cold morning start needs to have ambient air exactly match coolant temp.

It doesn't hurt to manually select the lower gears, do some decels from 50 to 20 in 2nd, and bomb along in 3rd at 55 for half a minute when fully warmed up.

There do exist codes which don't command a check engine light, and, in my experience with saturns, the I/Ms stay good. For example my present project was complaining about a TCC solenoid in the transmission sticking on. This did a code, P1xxx, but no light.

 

[clinebarger]

What Readiness Monitors are you having trouble with?

Misfire should say yes right away.
O2 sensor should trip pretty fast.
O2 heaters require at least 1 cold start.
Catalyst may take a few drive cycles, Try different speeds/loads, But no WOT, It puts the fuel system in open loop.
EVAP is the toughest one, The fuel level can affect it, If really low or full, The PCM will not perform test to ready the EVAP.

If you have a "Pending" code? It can cause certain test to not run.

I live/work in an Emissions county, You are allowed 1 "Not Ready" on '01 to present vehicles, And 2 on '96-'00 vehicles.

 

[JHZR2]

I made that mistake once. Disconnected a battery too soon before going for inspection. Nothing wrong but failed for readiness. Drove a bit and all was well...

 

[Merkava_4]

I take my Buick for an easy 25 mile cruise up the freeway and back before pulling into the smog shop. It passes every time.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

I wonder if you can do the drive cycle on jack stands or a dyno.

 

[Kira]

Oddly enough this morning (after the requisite cold start up and 150 second idle before moving) I plugged in my ScanGuage and got a"'READY". Then the Check Engine Light came on.
Same two codes from 1500 miles before, P0171 and P0174.
I cleared them and of course went into "NOT READY" mode.
Darn it to heck.

I'll se what tomorrow's cold start brings. Kira

 

[Vikas]

Those codes are not something that you want to ignore. I am not sure if you will have a window to get the car inspected between readiness and firing off check engine light.

Check the fuel pressure / pump / filter. The engine is not getting enough fuel for the amount of air it is ingesting and that is why you are getting the lean codes from both the banks. You can also check the primary O2 sensors but both won't go bad at the same time, so that is unlikely.

I need to know the freeze frame data for those two codes. Was it at idle or while running? If at idle, then look for vacuum leaks. Take the carb cleaner and spray around/outside the intake path to see if idle changes. If the light tripped during engine load, then it is due to lack of enough fuel. Check the fuel pressure and volume.

 

[wirelessF]

If you have a scanguage you can use the CMNDS to find out what OBD tests are imcomplete. My GM truck could not get the EVAP readiness test done, found out the fuel tank pressure sensor was bad. I replaced the fuel pump and it was able to complete all readiness tests in two mornings.

 

[Vikas]

He has active lean condition! It is not like he is trying to get the sticker with catalytic converter efficiency codes or evaporative emission codes. Lean engine needs to be fixed and fixed soon. One can not ignore that.

 

[wirelessF]

Bad intake gaskets. Very common issue with early 2000's GM vehicles. Cold weather exaggerates the issue more.

 

[Kira]

I sprayed around the intake hardware with brake cleaner.
There was no change in RPM.
I'll change the fuel filter first 'cause it's cheapest/fastest thing to do.

I can only hit it after work tomorrow. I'll report. Thanks Kira

 

[Vikas]

When exactly did the check engine light turned on? During idle or under load?

 

[Vikas]

Does this car have MAF? Have you cleaned it with correct cleaner? A dirty (or bad) MAF will measure incoming air correctly and thus the car will run lean and will trip those two lean codes.

I should have pointed you to MAF first before going after fuel pump as it is easy.

 

[Kira]

Hello,
1) The CEL went on upon acceleration so that gives me a shred of hope the easy filter fix might work.
2) I did clean the MAF sensor with the proper cleaner.
Funny thing there was that the entire air intake system (up to the filter's dirty side) was horridly dirty.
Fortunately the filter did its job.
There's a grid of metal at the end of the rubber air supply hose just before the MAF sensor and it wasn't dirty-thank goodness.

Cheers until tomorrow (after work and I get a fuel filter on this puppy).

 

[Vikas]

Do you know if the vehicle has MAP or MAF?

 

[clinebarger]

Originally Posted By: Vikas
Do you know if the vehicle has MAP or MAF?


All 3.8L Camaros have a MAF sensor & a MAP sensor, I have had real bad luck with aftermarket MAF sensors on these cars. BWD, Standard, Cardone....All of them junk! An AC-Delco MAF finally leveled out the fuel trims on the last one I worked on.

 

[Kira]

Yeah, cleaned the MAF sensor with MAF spray.
Sure wish brick 'n mortar fuel filters weren't 4X the cost of online. Just an irony of the times.

I wish I could see the silver vs. the black intake manifold gasket color. K

 

[Vikas]

For a MAF sensor, you absolutely need OEM otherwise you WILL be replacing it all the time. The factory calibration of the MAF sensor is critical. After market MAF gives readings all over the place. Their scale, offset and linearity do not match with OEM. If you started this to fix your P0171 or P0174 and decided to replace MAF, bite the bullet and get the OEM one. Otherwise, you will be battling these codes all the time.