sz9182

i just smog checked my car today and everything passed except for one..failure of engine check status or something like that. the mechanic told me that once i restart my ecu by driving on the freeway at 50mph for a long time, it should be ok when i resmog it. can someone give me more information on this and if possible, any other ways to reset the ecu? its kind of hard to drive on the freeway at 50mph when everyone else is going at 60-70 thanks

spork motorsports

pull the ecu bulb

EE_Chris

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by spork motorsports &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">pull the ecu bulb </TD></TR></TABLE>

...or fix it. What a novel idea.

If you're OBD2, pulling out the bulb does dick anyway. If you don't fail for a non-operational CEL, then you'll certainly fail for whatever you haven't bothered to fix yet.

h2392si

Wassup Chris. If you just want to clear the CEL, just disconnect the negative battery cable. Leave off for a couple of minutes, then put it back on. It work to pass the smog, but you should fix the problem. What code are you getting? If you dont know how to check, read the thread on top of this forum. Good luck.

thesmogman

If you clear the cel and drive it the cel might come back on. Then you need to get it fixed.

The tech was telling you about the monitors. When you reset the ecu it clears these monitors. That is why he told you to drive it. I usually say about drive it 100mi and bring it back to my the next day.

You need to find out the DTC or code that will give you a starting point. Let us know what you find out.

Kingfish714

thesmogman is right, its your monitors. Did u disconnect or had a bad battery u had to jump?

Most of the time on these obd2 vehicles, when u reset the ecu by disconnecting the battery. Your gonna have to relearn the ecu by driving the car.

I tell my customers to drive it bout 40-50 miles, that normally does the trick. If you drive it and the check engine light kicks on, this means you have a

DTC(diagnostic trouble code).

If you have any DTCcs your gonna need to fix that in order to pass smog.

silentbeatz

Seems like you don't have a CEL, but you failed the monitors that the obd-2 runs. Unplugging the bulb will not do anything. You just have to drive on the freeway for a while. Drive once at 50 mph for 5 minutes and then exit. Then drive at 60 mph for 5 minutes, exit and then try 65 mph. If your car is a 1996, the car can take a lot longer to complete its monitors because 96 was the first year obd-2 came out and manufacterers hasn't worked out all the bugs.

silentbeatz

If you really cant get your monitors to complete, you can go to the referee station for an override of that section of the test.

sz9182

i have a 98 civic ex and yeah the mechanic told me something about obd2. im still kind of confused of what i have to do to fix this obd2 engine light thing. so im supposed to drive it on the freeway at 50mph for 5 mins, then exit, go right back around and drive at 55 for 5mph then exit and go right back around, and drive at 60mph for 5 mins?

also, when i drive, the engine check light isn't on.

thanks

sz9182

i haven't needed a jump or touched the battery yet. and i always drive on the freeway, but usually at 65 mph or more. this was before i took the smog test.

sz9182

sorry for triple posting. i just looked on my smog check thing and its says something about MIL...Malfunction Indicator Light

SCRev

For a quick and dirty trick to pass your smog:

Pull over like 2 blocks from the smog check shop. Open your hood and disconnect your battery. Just to make sure no juice is in the electric system, turn the ignition with the batt disconnected.

Wait a few minutes and then reconnect your battery. The Check Engine Light should be gone by then.

Next go get your car smogged and pray to God that the CEL doesnt come on during the test. Hopefully you wont have given it enough time to trip the light before the guy tests the car.

If that doesnt work, you gotta fork up some dough to fix it. You should find out what the error code is too.

sz9182

whats a CEL?
on my smog paper it doesnt have anything about codes.
it only says MIL, malfunction indicator light, and somethin about OBD2

EE_Chris

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SCRev &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">For a quick and dirty trick to pass your smog:

Pull over like 2 blocks from the smog check shop. Open your hood and disconnect your battery. Just to make sure no juice is in the electric system, turn the ignition with the batt disconnected.

Wait a few minutes and then reconnect your battery. The Check Engine Light should be gone by then.

Next go get your car smogged and pray to God that the CEL doesnt come on during the test. Hopefully you wont have given it enough time to trip the light before the guy tests the car.

If that doesnt work, you gotta fork up some dough to fix it. You should find out what the error code is too.</TD></TR></TABLE>

No.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sz9182 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">sorry for triple posting. i just looked on my smog check thing and its says something about MIL...Malfunction Indicator Light </TD></TR></TABLE>

Did you ever find out what code it was throwing? Did you fix the code? When the CEL (or MIL...same thing) comes on, you don't keep driving under various conditions to make it go back out. You do that AFTER you've repaired the problem.

Look at the top of the forum for a method to retrieve this code, if you don't know how.

sz9182

so can i just get any wire, trim the colored part off, and stick it into the connector thing before turning my car onto the on, will that work?


Modified by sz9182 at 12:01 PM 4/16/2007

EE_Chris

A paperclip works splendidly...

h2392si

This thread is still up? Just read the sticky at the top of the forum. Did you ever pull the code?

silentbeatz

So do you have a check engine light or are you monitors not complete? What year is your car? If your car failed for a check engine light, then the code will be on the test results. If you car does not have a check engine light, you failed the monitors and all you need to do is drive. Take a road trip or something.