Which ones?
Tester
Don’t know of any. But maybe there are some. Anybody here know of an active OBD II diagnostic code which doesn’t turn on the CEL?
OP: Are you confused yet? … lol … This reminds me of a conversation I had with a group of internet software engineers. When messages are sent from computer to computer the response whether the sent message actually arrived is either AK or NAK. For Yes it did arrive, or No, it didn’t. Software team was debating this issue, room filled with shouted AK’s and NAK’s. Manager walks in, says “You folks sound like a bunch of ducks!” …
Yes! Totally! LOL
UPDATE.
So, I’ve been driving around, trying to do the various driving steps to get the readiness monitors to complete. Been checking by turning the key to the ON position without starting the engine. After 15 seconds, the check engine light blinks, indicating they’re not ready.
Today, after 98 miles since the codes were cleared, the check engine light stayed solid with the key in the ON position, indicating the readiness monitors were complete. So, going to bring it in for state inspection tomorrow.
Thanks, everyone, for your assistance!
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I am happy to see the last final good results. Had you going there, and thank you for adding to our training and I’m sorry to be so lazy that I could not answer the question about when you could tell if the monitors are ready. It’s that easy and congratulations for proving that drive cycles actually work. The scarecrow said it well: “I do believe in drive cycles.” Oh my!
Good for you. And thanks for explaining an easy way for owner to tell if readiness monitors are all complete, at least for your make/model/year. Trying to figure out what sort bizarre driving machinations you have to do to get them into the complete state, that would makes for a good mystery novel.
No problem. I thought I was the only one who didn’t know that. LOL I think most vehicles have it. Here’s a page that shows how to test for various car makes.
I tried to follow the steps listed here as closely as possible.
I noticed a lot of the steps overlap each other. So I edited it and came up with a compact set of steps that I think cover most of the steps in the list. Here is my edited version:
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Smoothly accelerate to between 30 & 40 mph; drive with steady speed for 2 minutes; stop and idle for 30 seconds. Repeat this 5 times
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Drive with steady speed between 40 & 60 mpn for 8 minutes. Stop and idle for 3 minutes. Drive at steady speed above 20 mph for 2 minutes. Turn off and leave off for 10 minutes.
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Drive in-town (stop and go) for 5 minutes with smooth accel & decel. Stop and idle for 5 minutes. Turn off and leave off for 10 minutes.
Also found a set of steps here. (I didn’t follow those steps, since I found them afterwards.)
Thanks again for all your help, guys!
North Carolina eliminated the emissions test for older cars 15 or so years ago. If it does not have OBD II you only get a safety inspection. Even with OBD II emissions inspection in NC is only done in 22 of 100 counties.
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Thanks! I’m in Texas. Here the car has to be made in 1995 or earlier. So I missed it by a few years.
CRAZY UPDATE!!!
OK, so, as I noted, I got all the sensors to a ready state by driving 98 miles in various conditions, and had no check engine light! Happy camper!
So I drove to the place today and said I needed a state inspection. He tells me to pull into Bay 1. So I pull into Bay 1. And JUST AS A FINISH PULLING INTO BAY 1, the check engine light comes on!!
Argh!!!
So I left it with them to diagnose the problem.
Man, that does happen so I will add some more non-mechanical stuff. Everything was going well and the monitors must have been worried that you would get off lightly. You may do well anyway with a minor thing that, well I don’t know enough to come up with anything. I think it’s great that you reset the monitors because it can be difffffffffffffffffffffffffficult. Stay lucky.
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I’d say the Check Engine light came on for an EVAP code.
You finally got EVAP monitor to complete, so the OBDII was now able to detect if there was a problem with the EVAP system.
Tester
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The only problem with that is that, according to the readiness monitor, all monitors had already completed, as I posted above. Turning the key to ON and waiting 15 seconds will show whether or not all monitors are ready. If the check engine light starts to blink, they’re not ready; if it stays solid, they are. And it was staying solid, so they were all ready.
What more likely happened was that the evap monitor completed and there was no problem. But then, after it completed, an intermittent problem resurfaced and caused it to fail. Just too bad it couldn’t wait another mile or so… LOL
That makes a lot of sense to me; i.e. focus emissions testing for OBD II cars only. If Calif wanted to do more car-testing than that, better results imo would be gained by requiring periodic safety testing. Removing wheels/drums and visually inspecting brake parts every two years makes a lot more sense than running OBD I cars on a treadmill.
THE SAGA THAT JUST WON’T END!
So, after getting the monitors ready without a check engine light, and pulling into the bay to have the inspection done, the check engine light came back on just then. So I left it with the place to diagnose.
They replaced the cannister purge valve and said they’d drive it around to get the monitors ready.
Today they finally drove it around, and said it died and wouldn’t start again while the guy was driving it. Ugh. Going to look at it in the morning.
12 days until my tag expires.
2003 Dodge Caravan is too old to fix. Maybe not all of them, probably just the one you own. I may be telling lies, but when I do the owner finds a cheap easy fix like putting gas in the tank. When you find the fix, don’t forget to complain about my crummy advice. It’ll be great and I can laugh about it.
So, I went down to the place and talked to the mechanic. He says there’s some sort of short in the circuit. He showed me that when the fuse for the blower is in place the blower is on, even though the switch for the blower is off. He said he’s trying to find the problem.
Just kind of strange that it happened right after they changed that part, even though he insists that it’s not part of the same circuit.
Also found out that the guy barely drove it around yesterday. Said he took it out to drive it and only had gone about a block when something felt wrong to him so he turned around and came back, and the car died before he made it back to the shop, and now it won’t start (though it tries to turn over).
So I don’t know. Just kind of weird that it happened right after they fixed the thing. The very next time it’s driven it goes out
Turns out there was a wire in the wiring harness that broke, and that’s what was causing the short. So the mechanic replaced the wire.
The wiring harness is 20 years old, so pretty fragile. It’s possible that he might’ve pulled on it when he replaced that part, and that’s why it broke right afterwards. Or it could just be a coincidence. Either way, he repaired it, so the car is running again, so that’s good.
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Glad your car is back on the road. Has emissions test issue been resolved as well?
Some years ago the same thing happened to my Corolla. Didn’t cause a short, but prevented the alternator from charging the battery. Turned out the battery was leaking a little, and the battery acid decanted down the inside of a big bundle in the wiring harness. Probably took months for it to happen, but eventually the acid reached a soldered wire splice, and promptly munched it in half. The bundle contained probably 30 different wires, and ran deep into the engine compartment, so it was quite a diy’er challenge to figure out where the broken wire was located.
They’re still driving it around to get the monitors ready, when they have time. The guy told me there is one monitor left: the O2 sensor. Once that is ready, they’ll do the state inspection. But no check engine light yet, or I assume they would have told me.
So, hopefully it’ll be ready tomorrow. Fortunately, I work at home, so I don’t need it for commuting. And I have my ebike for going places locally, so no rush on my part.
Yikes! That sounds like a mess!
I had a problem with the wiring harness years ago, with this same car. The clip that held up the harness broke (for some reason, it’s only made of plastic!) and the wiring harness fell onto the hot engine and the casing around part of it melted.
Replacing the part was going to cost $900, since they don’t make them anymore. I talked the guy into just wrapping the exposed wires in electrical tape, which he reluctantly did. Charged me for an hour’s labor, which was great.
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