Will not pass Smog test after new battery

  • Thread starter Thread starter John Pal
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John Pal

I had just replaced my battery in a 2003 Elantra...everything went well
until I brought it in for a Smog test inspection in Nevada. It did not pass
stating that the following monitors were not ready
Fuel System
Catalyst
Oxygen sensor heater
The technician said that the changing of the battery cause the computer to
lose the info and had to be driven 50 -60 miles before testing again. I
drove it 100 miles and it failed again with the same notice "not ready".
I called the Hyundai dealer....he said you might have to drive it 500 miles
for it to be ready.
Is this true or a story? BTW, I had to pay for the 2 inspections.
Thanks for any info.
Merry Christmas
 
Its all true except maybe the mileage estimate. My belief is that its not
actually the number of miles, but the number of drive cycles that turn these
things on and off. I haven't seen in print how many it takes, but I have
read where in some cases it may take as many as 40. A drive cycle is
generally defined as from completely cold to completely hot with some
various speeds (including hwy) in between. If its any consolation you are
one of many to be caught in this dilemma.
 
Partner's pretty much correct. While it's not drive cycles, per se, there
are individual criteria that need to be met for each test. Unfortunately,
Hyundai doesn't publish which parts of the readiness cycle are necessary
for each test.

Here's my take on your specific case:

Fuel system: This isn't generally a specific test. I suspect they're
referring to the evaporative emissions leakage test. On older models,
this test would only run when idling for 30 seconds or more. Your dealer
can command this test to run.

Oxygen sensor heater: This test usually runs fairly quickly after
startup. Since you don't mention oxygen sensor performance, I suspect
this is the test that actually hasn't run. In fact, the performance test
cannot run until the heater test has run and passed. Often the car must
be driven at constant highway speed (50 - 60 MPH) for several miles for
this test to run.

Catalyst: This test cannot run until the oxygen sensor test completes,
since it depends on oxygen sensor data to determine catalyst condition.
In fact, this is probably the most difficult test to cause to run on your
car. This test will require several miles of steady speed highway driving
after the oxygen sensor test has completed.

You can purchase (not sure of price or whether it's worth it) a
code-reader which will also report the status of the readiness tests.
That way you'll know before you take the car in (and pay the fee) whether
it'll pass.
 
Thanks for all the info....I plan to run it for a week or so and try it at
the dealer this time :-(
 
I am having a similar problem. I just moved to NY where they check
the OBD for emissions testing. I registered my car, 2000 Sonata GLS,
and had 10 days to get the inspection done. Two days before my
appointment the MIL comes on right at start up . I drove home and had
it read the next day. P0705, P1154, and P0153. Clear the codes and
drive about 100 miles with no MIL before the inspection. At the
inspection they tell me its not ready and to drive it some more.
After another 200 miles and still not being ready, I started digging
in. At idle in my garage for 1 hour and it never went into Closed
Loop. I was using a generic reader and found online that there is a
Hyundai specific code for not going closed loop, so I couldn't see
that, but it didn't light the MIL. I noticed the B2S1 sensor didn't
look like it was going high enough so I replaced that with a Bosch
from NAPA. Now the car goes into closed loop right away but after
another 200 miles it still won't run the O2 sensor test. The EVAP,
Heated O2, misfire, fuel system, and comprehensive are all ready, the
MIL is off and there are no generic codes showing. CAT of course
hasn't run yet. Could there be a pending code stuck in there related
to the Open Loop condition I was running in that didn't light the MIL
but is preventing the O2 test from running? Both upstream O2 sensors
now switch between 0.1 and 0.9V however, for whatever amount of time
the scanner screenshot is, the Bosch will cycle 4 times and the other
upstream sensor 7 times. Is this a problem that they aren't the
same? I'm not sure how accurate the waveform is in the program but
the rise and fall times look similar, the Bosch just stays high and
low longer. I did have both sensors replaced and the reprogramming
done back in 03.

I'm assuming I may need to replace the transmission range sensor
switch in the near future but didn't think it relates to the O2 sensor
problem and the MIL hasn't come back on yet so I'm not worrying about
it for now.
 
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