2013 GT, O2 monitors not coming on. Will a Dyno Tune help?

jth877

Junior Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2012
Posts
8
Reaction score
0
1st Post.

I purchased my 2013GT new in June of 2012. I didn't like the sluggish throttle response and thought it should be more aggressive. So I ordered the Ford Racing Tune and GT500 muffler Kit. I was pretty happy for a number of years. The original battery died 3 years ago after winter storage (New York). Popped in a new Battery and only put about 250 miles on it that summer. Kids, wife, vacations.... etc.

I went to go get it inspected before winter storage that year and it fails due to the o2 monitor and o2 Heater monitor "not ready". I drive it more during the second year, uninspected, because how else am I supposed to put mileage on the damn thing? O2 monitors never become ready after about 500miles driven during the whole summer. This continues into this year. Still not ready. I have the feeling I'm not putting on enough mileage often enough to set these monitors. My scan tool shows them working perfectly. Car has about 12,600 miles on it.

Here's my question: I have a local dyno tuner guy available. $400 for the dyno tune with HP software. Seems to focus on GM products but also does quite a few mustangs. Is it possible to get those sensors ready quicker with a well tailored tune? If so, I'll inquire. If not, I'll just keep driving it uninspected and eat a possible ticket.
 

stkjock

---- Madmin ----
Staff member
Administrator
Super Moderator
S197 Team Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2007
Posts
40,222
Reaction score
3,138
Location
Long Island NY
you need to do the proper driving cycle, this topic has been covered over and again, the manual should have it, if not google OBD II Ford Driving cycle

there's a very specific series of driving that needs to be done.
 

jth877

Junior Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2012
Posts
8
Reaction score
0
I guess I should have mentioned I've performed the drive cycle at least a dozen times and so did the dealer. A copy of it has been on my front passenger seat for 3 years. I don't have much faith in the dealer.
 

stkjock

---- Madmin ----
Staff member
Administrator
Super Moderator
S197 Team Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2007
Posts
40,222
Reaction score
3,138
Location
Long Island NY
yes, yes you should have mentioned that, in the vast majority of cases that solves the issue.

AFAIK - there is some adjustment in the tune for the O2s, how much IDK, if it were me I'd look to a Mustang only tuner to ask that question and see if they think it would solve your issue.

have you considered reflashing to stock and trying the drive cycle again to see if the monitors reset?


side note - if the car is not inspected the next time you go to renew your registration DMV will not let you.
 

jth877

Junior Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2012
Posts
8
Reaction score
0
I've tried every other year stock/FRP tune. I don't know of any mustang only tuners in the immediate capital area of NY. Do you know of any?

LOL, yes. I've played the registration game with NY last year. Had to take the car off the road and turn in the plates for one day then re-register and get new plates.

When I finally get the inspection successfully done I'm not EVER disconnecting the battery.

When performing a drive cycle must you perform it in order to set the sensors that haven't become ready? Example being the if I'm waiting on just the o2 monitors, must I run through the first 3 or 4 steps before driving 40mph for 4min? Also must it be exactly 40mph or like 40 to 45? I try to keep it at exactly 40 but that's almost impossible.
 

stkjock

---- Madmin ----
Staff member
Administrator
Super Moderator
S197 Team Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2007
Posts
40,222
Reaction score
3,138
Location
Long Island NY
IIRC, you need to do the driving cycle in the exact order and to the exact MPH in the cycle. they all need to reset - there is a cascade effect that if one doesn't set to ready then others may not even though they are.

around Albany I do not know of any off hand.
 

Juice

forum member
Joined
Aug 24, 2017
Posts
4,622
Reaction score
1,904
I have extensive testing and drive cycles completed.
For 2013, it is a major PITA to get the O2 and catalyst monitors to set.
Advise you get an elm327 bluetooth adapter and Torque app.
You can monitor the tests as they complete.

What worked for me:
Four 26 mile drives to and from work gets 5 of 8 complete. This leaves the three mentioned above. I was never able to get O2 monitors to complete per Ford drive cycle. Still not completely sure what I did to get them to complete. I take a local back road for about 10-15 miles, mixed driving, 40-60mph, occasional stop sign. O2 monitors completed on those drives. Again, the other 5 must complete before O2 and cat monitors complete.

The closer to zero (+/- 5%) fuel trims the quicker the monitors seem to complete. Get torque app, I got mine for under $20 bucks.
 

jth877

Junior Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2012
Posts
8
Reaction score
0
Thanks! Will the torque app show if the PCM is performing the test (onboard component monitor?) My current scanner shows Ready/Not Ready and live data. Doesn't show if the test has been triggered.

I'm skeptical anything will work after 500 miles and them not coming on.
 
Last edited:

stkjock

---- Madmin ----
Staff member
Administrator
Super Moderator
S197 Team Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2007
Posts
40,222
Reaction score
3,138
Location
Long Island NY
I'm skeptical anything will work after 500 miles and them not coming on.

Do not discount the cycle being done correctly, again, its been discussed many times on the board of the monitors not resetting despite logging lots of miles.
 

Juice

forum member
Joined
Aug 24, 2017
Posts
4,622
Reaction score
1,904
Torque has a very good live view of the pcm data. You can add all kinds of guages for a lot of different things. I use two the most that other tools do not have.
Current drive cycle - this is what will run this drive.
Completed drive cycle - this is what the OBD test reads for emissions. These 2 on one screen is what I use most.

It can also display individual test results, (there are a bunch), but this isnt 100% reliable.
 

LarryJM

Resident Fuktard
Joined
Jul 15, 2018
Posts
1,008
Reaction score
151
Can you get this from just changing the battery? I had heard it's a good idea to change the battery with a battery charger connected.
 

GlassTop09

Senior Member
Joined
May 24, 2019
Posts
1,141
Reaction score
525
Location
Farmington, NM
OBD - FordServiceInfo.Com (motorcraftservice.com)
Look up the MY OBDII Summary that fits your vehicle then look thru all the O2 sensor monitor tests (should be around 9 of them) to see what all is required for them to start, run & complete (includes the sequencing) then go from there.

Unless these parameters are satisfied\met all the drive cycling you do isn't gonna get you anywhere.

When O2 monitors under OBDII show as not ready there is usually something either not being met or broken (usually a DTC is present if broken...either pending\no MIL or permanent\MIL, but not always is the case) or conditions aren't met for the specific monitor(s) to start or the min-max entry requirements aren't met for the monitors to run & time allowed to complete (this last part is where the drive cycle procedure comes into play).

I would suggest to study the various O2 sensor monitor flow charts in addition to doing the reading as well to see where any potential signal looping can occur then read up on that particular monitor's requirements then check to ensure that all is proper as these areas are where most get hung up as the failure thresholds are very large thus will take a lot of time to cycle thru them to get to a DTC.

Mode 6 (PCM Component Self Check Test--J1979) data can be of some use as well to help find some reasoning as to why some O2 sensor monitors are not completing (outside of min-max thresholds).

Since your Stang is a '13 MY I would focus on the 2 front WB O2 sensors as these are the most finicky to get to completion due to the OBDII operational testing requirements for them (very stringent & depends on which type of WB specs are being used....whether Bosch or NTK.....a hint as to the types of WB O2 sensors that Ford recommends using). All this can be found in the MY OBDII Summary pages.

Hope this helps.
 

Juice

forum member
Joined
Aug 24, 2017
Posts
4,622
Reaction score
1,904
OBD - FordServiceInfo.Com (motorcraftservice.com)
Look up the MY OBDII Summary that fits your vehicle then look thru all the O2 sensor monitor tests (should be around 9 of them) to see what all is required for them to start, run & complete (includes the sequencing) then go from there.

Unless these parameters are satisfied\met all the drive cycling you do isn't gonna get you anywhere.

When O2 monitors under OBDII show as not ready there is usually something either not being met or broken (usually a DTC is present if broken...either pending\no MIL or permanent\MIL, but not always is the case) or conditions aren't met for the specific monitor(s) to start or the min-max entry requirements aren't met for the monitors to run & time allowed to complete (this last part is where the drive cycle procedure comes into play).

I would suggest to study the various O2 sensor monitor flow charts in addition to doing the reading as well to see where any potential signal looping can occur then read up on that particular monitor's requirements then check to ensure that all is proper as these areas are where most get hung up as the failure thresholds are very large thus will take a lot of time to cycle thru them to get to a DTC.

Mode 6 (PCM Component Self Check Test--J1979) data can be of some use as well to help find some reasoning as to why some O2 sensor monitors are not completing (outside of min-max thresholds).

Since your Stang is a '13 MY I would focus on the 2 front WB O2 sensors as these are the most finicky to get to completion due to the OBDII operational testing requirements for them (very stringent & depends on which type of WB specs are being used....whether Bosch or NTK.....a hint as to the types of WB O2 sensors that Ford recommends using). All this can be found in the MY OBDII Summary pages.

Hope this helps.

What is strange is I do check those O2 tests and they run and pass on mine, never a fault. But the damn monitors just remain "incomplete". Then one day poof, they complete without me actually following the drive cycle. I've been monitoring (haha) these for almost 4 years now! (Pun intended)
 

jth877

Junior Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2012
Posts
8
Reaction score
0
OK, I'll admit most of that is over my head. I'm a stupid mechanical engineer, but I get some of it.

I don't have DTCs so goody for me. I hope the torque app sees that Mode 6 data.

Does time from cold start to cold matter? Sometimes the car sits for 2 weeks between uses of about 10miles.
 
Last edited:

Gabe

Whippled Coyote
Joined
Aug 7, 2011
Posts
8,440
Reaction score
1,531
Location
NC
I had this issue with my '13 and after 3,000 miles of trying various tune revisions, I ended up going for a datalog test-drive with my tuner, he made some changes (I think) to the fuel trims, and the car went "ready" later that day.
So I'm gonna assume it's in the tune. I've seen this several times since I dealt with mine about 3 years ago, and the tune was always the issue.
Every time you disconnect/re-connect the battery or load a tune (or return to stock), you reset the PCM and the whole driving cycle needs to be done all over again.
The online OBD drive cycle didn't work for me. I had the printout in the car, tried it many times, even had the wife in the passenger seat confirming each step as I was doing it. No good. I basically threw all that to the wind and just drove the car like I normally drive it, and it went ready after about 75 miles of mixed driving city/highway.
If I were you, I'd return to stock and attempt the drive cycle, but keeping in mind that it may simply not work.
I use an OBD Bluetooth dongle and a Torque app on my phone, so I was watching things go "ready" as they were happening.
I was ready to throw a party when they all finally went ready, lol.

emission_readiness_20170714.jpg

emission_readiness_20170801b.jpg
 

Juice

forum member
Joined
Aug 24, 2017
Posts
4,622
Reaction score
1,904
I had this issue with my '13 and after 3,000 miles of trying various tune revisions, I ended up going for a datalog test-drive with my tuner, he made some changes (I think) to the fuel trims, and the car went "ready" later that day.
So I'm gonna assume it's in the tune. I've seen this several times since I dealt with mine about 3 years ago, and the tune was always the issue.
Every time you disconnect/re-connect the battery or load a tune (or return to stock), you reset the PCM and the whole driving cycle needs to be done all over again.
The online OBD drive cycle didn't work for me. I had the printout in the car, tried it many times, even had the wife in the passenger seat confirming each step as I was doing it. No good. I basically threw all that to the wind and just drove the car like I normally drive it, and it went ready after about 75 miles of mixed driving city/highway.
If I were you, I'd return to stock and attempt the drive cycle, but keeping in mind that it may simply not work.
I use an OBD Bluetooth dongle and a Torque app on my phone, so I was watching things go "ready" as they were happening.
I was ready to throw a party when they all finally went ready, lol.

View attachment 75532

View attachment 75533
I have never seen "system type=spark" on mine, and you have 9 active monitors. hmmmm
But you just confirmed what I have been observing, drive cycles per Ford mean didly when it comes to a 2013 mustang. lol And the closer to zero the fuel trims are, the quicker the tests complete.
What is your OBD switch and MIL switch set to in the tune? (stock tune has it a 183 for both, and that gives me 8 monitors.)
 
Last edited:

Gabe

Whippled Coyote
Joined
Aug 7, 2011
Posts
8,440
Reaction score
1,531
Location
NC
I have never seen "system type=spark" on mine, and you have 9 active monitors. hmmmm
But you just confirmed what I have been observing, drive cycles per Ford mean didly when it comes to a 2013 mustang. lol And the closer to zero the fuel trims are, the quicker the tests complete.
What is your OBD switch and MIL switch set to in the tune? (stock tune has it a 183 for both, and that gives me 8 monitors.)

I honestly have no idea. It's not something I've ever heard of before.
 

OX1

forum member
Joined
Sep 20, 2015
Posts
528
Reaction score
185
Location
Jackson, NJ
My first VMP tune used to throw code for EGT too cold in winter. https://autoservicecosts.com/obd2-codes/p050e/ They finally revised all their tunes, and no issue since I got updated. I've disconnected battery and even have mini battery now, haven't had to reset monitors due to that.

I've really never had much of an issue with getting monitors to set (aside form when I was getting that code). My fuel trims, even with Roush blower have always been 1% off, max, which I guess helps.
 

jth877

Junior Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2012
Posts
8
Reaction score
0
Speaking of fuel trims, I did see a video of a ford mechanic setting idle after a battery disconnect. He said you have to let the car idle after start up for 10min for the idle to settle.

I also run a jba h-pipe. I took a look at the stock piece today and noticed how much smaller it is in diameter. Could that mess with the o2s and fuel trims?
 

Support us!

Support Us - Become A Supporting Member Today!

Click Here For Details

Sponsor Links

Banner image
Back
Top