Failed emissions test - monitors not ready

[LordBritish]

My car (05 GT) failed emissions test (CA).

They said these ODBII monitors are not ready:

• Catalyst
• Oxygen Sensor
• Oxygen Sensor Heater

I scanned it myself with portable scanner and I confirm that I see those and an additional one I some how managed to add by erasing history - Duh !! So now I have 4 total monitosr that are not ready (Catalyst, o2 sensor, o2 sensor heater, and now an additional Evac).

So what gives?

My car passed inspection last time and nothing really changed in the car.

I've been using the same tune and CAI intake system for years.

The only thing I can think of is that my current tune had always disabled the O2 monitors and somehow California now requires them to pass though that's just pure speculation on my part and is probably untrue - can anyone confirm or deny that?

I can't even return the car to a stock tune since I sold my stock air intake years ago.

Don't know what to do

Help!

 

[BruceH]

Buy a stock air intake from www.newtakeoff.com and return the car to stock if it's just the tune that's causing the issue. It could be other things.

My guess would be that your state didn't check to see that all of the monitors were turned on in the past but now they are. As long as you have stock cats it shouldn't be a big deal to return it to stock.

Edit: I just checked and new takeoff doesn't have a stock air intake. They pop up on ebay.

 

[LordBritish]

I guess I'll have to buy a stock air intake. Note to self "Keep all stock parts in the future".

I'm not even sure it's the tune at fault.

I'm afraid that I might go through all the trouble of obtaining a stock air intake and restoring it to a stock tune and still not pass emissions.

Anything else (besides a custom tune) that will disable those monitors I listed?

 

[Wes06]

I still have my stock parts, however once i went the boosted route returning to stock may be a bit of trouble, lol

good thing I dont have to pass emissions in ky

 

[BruceH]

I guess I'll have to buy a stock air intake. Note to self "Keep all stock parts in the future".

I'm not even sure it's the tune at fault.

I'm afraid that I might go through all the trouble of obtaining a stock air intake and restoring it to a stock tune and still not pass emissions.

Anything else (besides a custom tune) that will disable those monitors I listed?

The sensors themselves could have gone out. That would be a super easy fix, just change them out. All it would take is a 26mm wrench or an O2 socket.

I don't know how you would check the sensors themselves. I'm sure there is a way to ohm them out and get an idea. Maybe a search would turn something up.

Have you run over anything that could of somehow affected the wires coming off of the sensors? That would be a long shot but a look under the car will rule it out.

 

[LordBritish]

The sensors themselves could have gone out. That would be a super easy fix, just change them out. All it would take is a 26mm wrench or an O2 socket.

I don't know how you would check the sensors themselves. I'm sure there is a way to ohm them out and get an idea. Maybe a search would turn something up.

Have you run over anything that could of somehow affected the wires coming off of the sensors? That would be a long shot but a look under the car will rule it out.

I've scraped the bottom of my car recently but that happens when your car is lowered as mine is.

Would a broken O2 sensor cause the corresponding ODBII monitor to be "not ready" ?

I would expect a broken O2 sensor to result in CEL trouble codes which I'm not seeing.

No harm in looking anyhow, where is this O2 sensor ?

I understand some of ODBII monitors will require the O2 monitors to be ready or else they will be "not ready" too.

 

[BruceH]

I've scraped the bottom of my car recently but that happens when your car is lowered as mine is.

Would a broken O2 sensor cause the corresponding ODBII monitor to be "not ready" ?

I would expect a broken O2 sensor to result in CEL trouble codes which I'm not seeing.

No harm in looking anyhow, where is this O2 sensor ?

I understand some of ODBII monitors will require the O2 monitors to be ready or else they will be "not ready" too.

I really don't know exactly what would happen with a rear o2 sensor going bad. The car should still run. A front o2 would be pretty noticeable because there wouldn't be correct feedback for fuel trims in closed loop.

 

[stkjock]

Would a broken O2 sensor cause the corresponding ODBII monitor to be "not ready" ?


I understand some of ODBII monitors will require the O2 monitors to be ready or else they will be "not ready" too.

Yes,it's a cascade effect. Happened to me on my 06, rear O2s were off in the tune,had three not readies.

 

[LordBritish]

One thing I could try to do is restore the tune to stock and keep my CAI and then try to make some adjustments to the stock tune with my old XCalibrator II device.

You can make some adjustments with it but I'm not sure you can do that with a stock tune. Worth trying at least.

Another option is to buy a new tune that works with my CAI except to specify that all the monitors are left enabled, often called an "emissions tune".

Only issue is that the XCalibrator II device is so old, I'm not sure anyone makes tunes for it anymore.

 

[LordBritish]

Yes,it's a cascade effect. Happened to me on my 06, rear O2s were off in the tune,had three not readies.

Interesting, was it the 3 monitors I mentioned earlier?

 

[stkjock]

You can't change parameters in a stock tune

I don't recall. It's 7 years ago.

 

[LordBritish]

You can't change parameters in a stock tune

I don't recall. It's 7 years ago.

I think you're right.

Does anyone know where I can order an "emissions" tune file that keeps the monitors enabled and that works with my CAI and my XCal2 device ?

I've used Bamachip and Tillman Speed in the past for my tune files. Perhaps I'll try to get in touch with one of them.

P.S. I just tried uploading one of my tune files to my XCal2 device and it still works !! I was afraid it wouldn't work any more being so old. Well, that's good news.

 

[BruceH]

I think you're right.

Does anyone know where I can order an "emissions" tune file that keeps the monitors enabled and that works with my CAI and my XCal2 device ?

I've used Bamachip and Tillman Speed in the past for my tune files. Perhaps I'll try to get in touch with one of them.

P.S. I just tried uploading one of my tune files to my XCal2 device and it still works !! I was afraid it wouldn't work any more being so old. Well, that's good news.

The current version of Advantage 3 programs the xcal 2. This means that any sct tuner shop can tune for your x2.

 

[LordBritish]

The current version of Advantage 3 programs the xcal 2. This means that any sct tuner shop can tune for your x2.

Good news.

 

[chair]

where abouts in california are you located. i got a spare stock intake i could let you borrow. i had the same problem and the rear o2s were turned off and had to return to stock.

 

[LordBritish]

where abouts in california are you located. i got a spare stock intake i could let you borrow. i had the same problem and the rear o2s were turned off and had to return to stock.

I'm in L.A.

 

[07 Boss]

My car (05 GT) failed emissions test (CA).

They said these ODBII monitors are not ready:

• Catalyst
• Oxygen Sensor
• Oxygen Sensor Heater

I scanned it myself with portable scanner and I confirm that I see those and an additional one I some how managed to add by erasing history - Duh !! So now I have 4 total monitosr that are not ready (Catalyst, o2 sensor, o2 sensor heater, and now an additional Evac).

So what gives?

My car passed inspection last time and nothing really changed in the car.

I've been using the same tune and CAI intake system for years.

The only thing I can think of is that my current tune had always disabled the O2 monitors and somehow California now requires them to pass though that's just pure speculation on my part and is probably untrue - can anyone confirm or deny that?

I can't even return the car to a stock tune since I sold my stock air intake years ago.

Don't know what to do

Help!

If you passed before with this tune you should pass again without changing the tune. If you had a bad sensor you would throw a CEL and be able to pull up a code. Monitors not ready is different from being disabled. Have you done the Drive Cycle since erasing the history? It takes me almost a week to get my monitors to read ready when I go get tested.

 

[LordBritish]

If you passed before with this tune you should pass again without changing the tune. If you had a bad sensor you would throw a CEL and be able to pull up a code. Monitors not ready is different from being disabled. Have you done the Drive Cycle since erasing the history? It takes me almost a week to get my monitors to read ready when I go get tested.

I passed before with the same tune.

I see no CEL or codes yet the emissions test says that my O2 sensors are "not ready" as do my handheld scanner. My scanner also says "MIL OFF" which means that the CEL is reporting off and is not malfunctioning.

I'm utterly confused. Like I said, may be California is now requiring that these monitors are reporting data.

As far as erasing history, I did that after I failed the emissions test so that had nothing to do with it.

 

[07 Boss]

I passed before with the same tune.

I see no CEL or codes yet the emissions test says that my O2 sensors are "not ready" as do my handheld scanner.

I'm utterly confused. Like I said, may be California is now requiring that these monitors are reporting data.

As far as erasing history, I did that after I failed the emissions test so that had nothing to do with it.

Well they had to be ready before also. There would be no way to pass in Cali without them. Like I said if you passed with that tune before, you should be able to pass now. I know that recently some things have changed as far as having an actual altered tune in there but the sensors would have to be ready last year to pass.

Did you do any recent work to the car where the battery was unhooked? Did the car sit for any period of time before you tried to pass the smog?

 

[stkjock]

/\ was just going to ask same about the battery or changing the tune.