Any CA smog or OBD II experts here? Need help passing smog...
#1
10-10-2018, 05:44 PM
Any CA smog or OBD II experts here? Need help passing smog...
I have a 2002 v6 5 speed that I need to get registered in California. It is ONE internal check away from passing CA smog-- the EGR check. Many many miles behind me, and it hasn't done the check. My registration is out of date and I've passed the 30 day grace period to get it smogged. I need to get this test run to get the car legal!
History: I had two trouble codes due to my EGR. It was the original, 16 year old EGR, so I changed it. I have driven it quite a bit since. It runs great. All other OBD II readiness checks have run EXCEPT the EGR.
Spent time Googling this and found others have this issue on a variety of different cars. The solutions I see suggested are:
1) "Just drive it." This is also what my smog guy suggested. Several hundred miles in a variety of driving conditions and still no luck...
2) "Do the GM OBD II readiness drive cycle to run the OBD II internal checks" Link here. I have been unable to find a suitable place to do the exact series of checks, but have done the ones that test the EGR whenever I can, like driving at 55 and 65 for 3 minutes. Steps #5 and #8 on that list, however, are REALLY hard to do with other cars around (coasting from 55 or 65 to 20 mph without braking). Exit ramps are just not long enough to coast from 55 or 65 to 20, so I'm not confident I've completed those. Guess I could get out on the freeway at 3am when there's no traffic to do this... but THAT'S exactly when my big, shiny red car will no doubt catch an officer's attention. I'm sure the officer will totally believe me when I say I'm driving my un-registered car like a weirdo in the middle of the night in order to make it legal!!!! Hahahah!
3) This website had some good ideas but my smog guy wasn't helpful in the way they described. I checked the CA Air Resources Board website to see if I could find info on EGR exemptions, but don't see any info like that on their site.
Anyone have any other ideas?? Could there be something wrong with the new EGR? Something wrong with the PCM? I posted about my PCM on here previously... my mechanic originally said the EGR codes I had were due to a bad PCM. So I replaced the grimy old EGR first to rule it out as a problem before digging into replacing the PCM.
Until I figure this out guess I'll keep driving with my fingers crossed... hoping it'll run the EGR check before I get pulled over!
Any help appreciated. Thanks!
Selena
History: I had two trouble codes due to my EGR. It was the original, 16 year old EGR, so I changed it. I have driven it quite a bit since. It runs great. All other OBD II readiness checks have run EXCEPT the EGR.
Spent time Googling this and found others have this issue on a variety of different cars. The solutions I see suggested are:
1) "Just drive it." This is also what my smog guy suggested. Several hundred miles in a variety of driving conditions and still no luck...
2) "Do the GM OBD II readiness drive cycle to run the OBD II internal checks" Link here. I have been unable to find a suitable place to do the exact series of checks, but have done the ones that test the EGR whenever I can, like driving at 55 and 65 for 3 minutes. Steps #5 and #8 on that list, however, are REALLY hard to do with other cars around (coasting from 55 or 65 to 20 mph without braking). Exit ramps are just not long enough to coast from 55 or 65 to 20, so I'm not confident I've completed those. Guess I could get out on the freeway at 3am when there's no traffic to do this... but THAT'S exactly when my big, shiny red car will no doubt catch an officer's attention. I'm sure the officer will totally believe me when I say I'm driving my un-registered car like a weirdo in the middle of the night in order to make it legal!!!! Hahahah!
3) This website had some good ideas but my smog guy wasn't helpful in the way they described. I checked the CA Air Resources Board website to see if I could find info on EGR exemptions, but don't see any info like that on their site.
Anyone have any other ideas?? Could there be something wrong with the new EGR? Something wrong with the PCM? I posted about my PCM on here previously... my mechanic originally said the EGR codes I had were due to a bad PCM. So I replaced the grimy old EGR first to rule it out as a problem before digging into replacing the PCM.
Until I figure this out guess I'll keep driving with my fingers crossed... hoping it'll run the EGR check before I get pulled over!
Any help appreciated. Thanks!
Selena
#2
10-11-2018, 10:56 PM
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: The 'Burbs of Chicago
Posts: 18,306
Is there a legitimate reason why you don't believe his diagnosis?
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