After failing smog for not having the readiness monitors ready, I found this on Wikipedia and thought i would share since it may helpful to some of you.

OBD-II Drive Cycle
(Taken from Understanding OBDII: Past, Present & Future)
The OBD-II drive cycle begins with a cold start (coolant temperature below
122 degrees F and the coolant and air temperature sensors within 11 degrees
of one another).

NOTE: The ignition key must not be on prior to the cold start otherwise the
heated oxygen sensor diagnostic may not run.
1. As soon as the engine starts, idle the engine in drive for two and a half
minutes with the A/C and rear defrost on. OBD-II checks oxygen sensor heater
circuits, air pump and EVAP purge.

2. Turn the A/C and rear defrost off, and accelerate to 55 mph at half
throttle. OBD-II checks for ignition misfire, fuel trim and canister purge.
Hold at a steady state speed of 55 mph for three minutes. OBD-II monitors
EGR, air pump, O2 sensors and canister purge.

3. Decelerate (coast down) to 20 mph without braking or depressing the
clutch. OBD-II checks EGR and purge functions.

4. Accelerate back to 55 to 60 mph at half throttle. OBD-II checks misfire,
fuel trim and purge again.

5. Hold at a steady speed of 55 to 60 mph for five minutes. OBD-II monitors
catalytic converter efficiency, misfire, EGR, fuel trim, oxygen sensors and
purge functions.

6. Decelerate (coast down) to a stop without braking. OBD-II makes a final
check of EGR and canister purge.

 

that is a general OBD2 procedure, it varies for most makes and models

 

yeah thats what i figured.. but i thought i might at least alert people (esp. califonia people) to what smog techs look for when testing.. Basically, just be sure your readiness codes are ready... OBD 2 is such a pain

 

If you have reset your ECU or Disconnected the Battery and/or erased the code/or codes after a repair. You will need to drive up to 200 miles, in order for the OBD2 to set all of the sensor reading to ( Ready Status ). The reason for this is, the system needs time to accumulate new Data. This new Data will also tell you weather or not you have fixed the issue correctly, If you get another ( Check Engine ) within that time you may have another issue and will need to do a OBD2 retest.

 

Does this reset also apply to 2004 Accord 4cyl? I did one drive cycle (total of 40 miles) following the manual specs and the OBD2 scanner DTC shows zero warm-ups and no codes.

 

will a scanner show when a drive cycle is completed and your OBD is ready and available to do a smog check again? Thanks.

 

Yes it will.

 

thx

 

just to follow up, and maybe you guys know more about this than I do, but the scanners at pep-boys and o'reilys that they'll do for you for free, neither place was able to tell me if my readiness monitors were set. They said their scanners only pull the error codes. Not sure if that's true about the scanners, or the sales people just didn't know what they were doing. I eventually found a smog check shop with a friendly guy who had a scanner to check my OBD readiness BEFORE he charged me for the full test, which was awesome because the scanner he had confirmed my OBD wasn't ready to smog yet. I found the scanner he had on amazon for $35 and bought one of my own so I didn't have to keep driving around then going back to him to ask him to check my readiness. It also pulls and resets error codes, so felt like a good deal.

I continue to drive and check my own readiness and have all the monitors checked except for Cat. I've done the drive cycle as prescribed twice now and still can't get it. I'll keep driving and keep checking on my own now, but not sure what else to do to tick the Cat box on the readiness monitor. It's not showing any error codes any longer, so I don't think there's a problem that needs fixing. I guess I'll just keep driving it and hope I get there soon.

96 accord v6 2.7L w/ 240k miles

 

They have basic ones that read cel codes. A bluetooth elm obd2 device and three smartphone torque app can tell you if you're ready.

 

Slvrblitaccord;
did your monitors ever set? If so, how many miles did it take. Just curious. Having issues with the 95 accord v6...similar mileage.

Still trying to keep my car, so looking for any info available.

-t