Failed smog (Cali.) ??

[abclin]

As title states my '98(246,433 miles no engine mods) did not pass smog test last week. The smog tech guy asked if I had recently installed a new battery or had a jump of the battery, which was a yes to the jump. He then asked how much it had been driven since the jump, me; maybe 10-20 miles over last month. He said that I should put 50-100 miles to set/reset engine computers for the smog test. I had the same issue with my wife's '07 mustang smog test but it was for a new battery and the tech guy said 200 miles to set/reset engine computer( 200+ miles worked). So has anybody had this experience with this with their Land Cruiser or is a smog tech to de-mystify the process.
Thanks, Cliff

 

[e9999]

yes, the monitors need to reset after an interruption in power. That takes a bit of driving with some given speed profiles, such and such speed for such and such duration and the like. That's well documented out there. In the case of my 80 I noticed that most monitors reset within a few miles, like 5 or 10, but one -forgot which- typically takes noticeably longer, more like 30 or 50, at least with my pattern of driving.
I do believe, however, that you can have one monitor not yet ready and still pass in California.
I always check for that before going to smog. You can get a reader for something like $20 or $30. Worth it to avoid a bum test. If I disconnected the battery just before the test, I connect the reader, drive around with the reader online and when I see all the monitors ready I go for the test.
I would hope that a nice tech would check for readiness before starting the test (but maybe they legally can't, don't know; and of course most would rather get paid for the full test than give you a break.)
Your emissions are very good, should have no problem passing once your OBD stuff is kosher.

 

[OEMGUY0720]

Vehicle has to re-learn the current setup first after the battery jump (electrical reset including ecu reset), basically a standard op on obd fitted vehicles.

 

[anhizer]

I had a similar issue on my last truck; i put a new battery in months prior to the smog check but had only driven short distances (less than 15 miles) since and was totally caught off guard when the smog guy told me the issue. I happened to have a cheap OBD reader that worked with my phone and I was able to use that to assess the status of the checks. I ended up needing to drive all around the bay area ( I basically drove a loop around silicon valley, maybe 50 miles) in order to reset. I guess the main point is that some of the checks require a LONG drive, not just short cumulative miles to properly reset.

 

[e9999]

it's not just however many miles, you need to have gone through the suitable speed ramp profiles and whatnot. For instance, IIRC, I think I concluded it would be dangerous to try to do that on surface streets and did it on the highway.
Now, of course, if you are not a hurry, just do normal driving for a few days and you will likely be fine.

 

[vjpkrmnc]

Fwiw I bought a Carista (bluetooth obd2) quite a while back and with the (iPhone) OBD Fusion app, the combination became invaluable as I've gone through a serial used car buying and selling stage. That equates to a lot of smog checks in California. In a couple cases I knew before the tech what the problem was going to be (even though I thought I'd roll the dice anyway).

 

[abclin]

Thanks to all for the reply's, got in a mixed 110 mi. run will test tomorrow.

 

[J1000]

You can check all the rediness monitors with Torque or other apps and a simple bluetooth OBD reader before you go in next time.

OBD scanner: https://amzn.to/2IFM1Qo

 

[keithgowan]

I just went through this with my 2000 LC.

I have a USB OBD-II cable that hooks up to my laptop and was able to see that I was failing on the emissions portion. After browsing forums and sites, I had a whole bunch of drive tests that were offered and they all failed. I eventually just stopped by my local Toyota service center (Santa Monica Toyota - thanks guys!) and asked if they had documentation on the drive test for my specific model. Sure enough, they had the information and printed it off for me within 5 minutes and at no charge.

I've since lost the print out, but can tell you that I had to maintain a 35-45mph range for a total of 14 minutes, then 45-55mph (I might be wrong on the speeds, but remember that it was damn difficult to do on PCH heading to Malibu - even during COVID). Wife and I had the laptop hooked up to the LC so that we could see when the emissions finally passed.

Once we got north of Malibu, we were able to complete the test, and the laptop indicated that it had passed. So, we turned around and went straight to the SMOG shop to get the cert.

TLDR; ask your local toyota service guys for the proper drive test.

 

[e9999]

^ I've seen those speed diagrams here (I think) and on the web for some vehicles, actually. It may even be in the FSM, I forgot.

It's not that the OBD reports on "emissions passed", I believe, it's more that it tells that the sensors are working properly and are finally ready to report problems after having been exposed to enough data to make sense after the power interruption. The idea I imagine is that they don't want you to simply disconnect the battery, lose all the data or codes about hardware, and then take the test right away before the OBD knows again that things aren't right. Or futz around with the monitors, disconnect them, erase the CEL, and what not. So they force you to drive enough that there are enough solid data to be acquired and reported, codes to be thrown, CEL to be lit if necessary, etc. If you haven't done that, the OBD says "I'm not ready". And you flunk the test. It does make sense -in a sadly Big Brotherish kind of way-.

 

[Nick87night]

i just went through this for a san francisco, ca smog on my 06. i had to change the battery and all the monitors were reset. The best app i found for telling you if you're ready or not is the OBD auto doctor with a bluetooth adaptor. if you do a google search there are plenty of mechanics that explain what you need to do to get the monitors ready. i remember having to start the car and let it idle for a few minutes, another is driving at a steady 55mph for 5-10 min. the app will let you know outright if you are ready or not. if you need more help, you can pm me and i can try to help.

 

[abclin]

Passed, the tech guy at smog shop saw that this was a re-test brought out his OBD to make sure that it was ready for the test. After the test he asked if I thought that the land cruiser was as good as the hummer, me; how many hummers do you see come in here with 1/4 million miles on them....
I think Santa is bringing me an OBD reader for Christmas

 

[e9999]

good it ended up well. And nice that Santa's on his way. You may want to think about whether he should go barebones code reader or something that allows for real-time data streaming. The latter could be useful for diagnostics.

 

[Lange]

Just went through the same thing with my 2000 with 250K miles here in Southern California. I replaced my battery a couple of months ago and went in for a smog check last month. I probably had only 200 miles on the new battery. I failed the OBD2/Catalyst part of the smog check. I have never had a problem with a smog check on any of my vehicles before, so I did not even think about using a OBD2 scanner reader beforehand. My technician said to drive it around on the freeway for a few days and then bring it back in. In the meantime, I hooked up my reader and could not get it to pass the OBD2/Catalyst check. I gathered as much info for the 2UZ-FE engine that I could from the internet and tried dozens of different drive patterns over a span of another 500 miles. Still no luck. I called a local Toyota guru and he gave me a very simple pattern to follow and it actually worked. I do not know if was just luck on top of the 700 previous miles I put on the truck, but as soon as I followed his instructions, my OBD2/Catalyst check passed. He basically said to let the car warm up at idle and then drive 10 minutes nonstop on the freeway - stop and idle the car at 3K rpms for 3 minutes and repeat it several times. I did this pattern 3 times and was good to go. Again, not sure if this was all luck, but it worked for me.

 

[newbielx470]

In the Factory Service Manual, "DI-30" page, there should be a diagram instructing how to drive to get all the readiness sensors ready.