Smog readiness

[dreamspeed]

Thought i'd post this to help others having the same issue.

If you reset your ECU/Clear codes/Change your battery you also end up resetting all of your readiness sensors. If all of your sensors aren't "ready" you can't pass your smog test (in certain states).

Most of the sensors will become ready just from regular driving but 1-2 or two sensors seem to never become ready even after hundreds of miles of driving.

Eventually I figured out that you have to drive the car for ~5 minutes between 40-60mphs @ under 3k RPM.... which to be honest are parameters i'll never meet on a normal basis...

My suggestion if you have a OBD dongle is to download a free app called ODB Car Doctor, this app has a feature that lets you check OBD readiness. Just leave the app open while you're driving so you can see when all the sensors are ready.

Get on the slow lane of the freeway when there is no traffic and set your cruise control to 55mph and make sure you are in a gear that will put you at under 3k rpm.... after about 5 minutes your last two sensors should be come ready.

[GRUESOM3]

Originally Posted by dreamspeed

Thought i'd post this to help others having the same issue.

If you reset your ECU/Clear codes/Change your battery you also end up resetting all of your readiness sensors. If all of your sensors aren't "ready" you can't pass your smog test (in certain states).

Most of the sensors will become ready just from regular driving but 1-2 or two sensors seem to never become ready even after hundreds of miles of driving.

Eventually I figured out that you have to drive the car for ~5 minutes between 40-60mphs @ under 3k RPM.... which to be honest are parameters i'll never meet on a normal basis...

My suggestion if you have a OBD dongle is to download a free app called ODB Car Doctor, this app has a feature that lets you check OBD readiness. Just leave the app open while you're driving so you can see when all the sensors are ready.

Get on the slow lane of the freeway when there is no traffic and set your cruise control to 55mph and make sure you are in a gear that will put you at under 3k rpm.... after about 5 minutes your last two sensors should be come ready.

There should be a program to generate readiness while your parked as well.

I'm sure dealers don't drive around just to pass inspection.

On vw/audi there'sa program called vcds where you can go through a set of instructions until everything passes but im not sure for bmw

[E180M3]

.

[Fearce]

For my ESS supercharger I had to install a specific readiness tune to get the car to pass as the stock tune does not allow those readiness codes to be set.

[dreamspeed]

Originally Posted by GRUESOM3

There should be a program to generate readiness while your parked as well.

I'm sure dealers don't drive around just to pass inspection.

On vw/audi there'sa program called vcds where you can go through a set of instructions until everything passes but im not sure for bmw

I'm sure the dealer has some kind of machine that can force readiness. Although when i took my car in for some warranty work they reset my ecu and i got the car back with 3 sensors that were not ready...

Anyways, i'm mainly speaking of when you reset the ecu on your own to clear a code.

[dreamspeed]

Originally Posted by BeamerBimmer

Great post and thanks for sharing! May I ask how and where did you get this information from?

Also with the app can I use the Carly OBdII adapter or do I need something else?

I took my car to get it smogged and the mechanic said i had a sensor that wasn't ready and to drive it some more. I drove 200 miles took it back and still not ready...drove another 200 miles and took it back and still not ready.

I did some research online and it seems that the O2 sensor usually doesn't become ready with normal driving. Out of all the methods I found, the one i listed above seems to work the best.

I actually ended up resetting my ecu and testing the method 3 separate times and every time it worked perfectly for me.

The Carly dongle should work, the OBD Car Doctor app is free so it doesn't hurt to try. Just DL the app and see if you can connect with the OBD car doctor app. This is for an iPhone, i don't know if that app is available for android. Although i'm sure there are other free apps that have this feature.

[dj_dub]

To sum things all up...just Google: BMW Drive Cycle and it'll explain everything and how to get each monitor to be in ready state.

I had to do this recently for SMOG, but could not get the o2 sensor to kick on no matter what I did.

[Mvy]

question. once readiness is set for all sensors, does it hold those settings until you flash the ecu again, or do you need to do the cycles over again and get smogged right after readiness?

[BPMSport]

Originally Posted by Mvy

question. once readiness is set for all sensors, does it hold those settings until you flash the ecu again, or do you need to do the cycles over again and get smogged right after readiness?

Will stay ready until a fault appears, until battery is disconnected, or until its flashed.

[Devilzmantis]

Very annoying... I drove 55 mph under 3000RPM for 15minutes. In 7th gear, Did not brake and only changed to 6th gear once.

Still not Ready. I have to try again tonight. Will see if autostore has OBDII Tester I can buy.

[XKxRome0ox]

Originally Posted by dj_dub

To sum things all up...just Google: BMW Drive Cycle and it'll explain everything and how to get each monitor to be in ready state.

I had to do this recently for SMOG, but could not get the o2 sensor to kick on no matter what I did.

if this is what's required
i don't know how i would be able to achieve "readiness" on any public roads around me
there's no way i can maintain such speeds for such times

[codinge90]

Originally Posted by Devilzmantis

Very annoying... I drove 55 mph under 3000RPM for 15minutes. In 7th gear, Did not brake and only changed to 6th gear once.

Still not Ready. I have to try again tonight. Will see if autostore has OBDII Tester I can buy.

Is your car stock?

[dj_dub]

Originally Posted by XKxRome0ox

if this is what's required
i don't know how i would be able to achieve "readiness" on any public roads around me
there's no way i can maintain such speeds for such times

The key is doing it late at night. It's only way to avoid issues with other cars especially in the areas we live in.

The 20-30mph one I did on empty side streets in industrial areas I knew wouldn't have any stop lights or stop signs. The 40-60mph one I did on the freeway of course, cruising 55mph in the slow lane both around 1am.

[M3LISSA]

Originally Posted by dj_dub

The key is doing it late at night. It's only way to avoid issues with other cars especially in the areas we live in.

The 20-30mph one I did on empty side streets in industrial areas I knew wouldn't have any stop lights or stop signs. The 40-60mph one I did on the freeway of course, cruising 55mph in the slow lane both around 1am.

As an owner going through this myself. I will NEVER, take my cats off again, and I will never do anything other than a stage 1 tune... that's about all we can do and still be able to pass, right? This shit is a nightmare...
ridiculously frustrated right now who needs a drink

[Devilzmantis]

Originally Posted by codinge90

Is your car stock?

It is stock. The car was not driven for 3 years, battery died and check engine light was on. Gave it to dealer and they replaced battery, cleared the check and reset the sensors. I now have to smog it and it's a pain. Will try driving again tonight.

[Oreo Cat]

I’ve been having problems with my secondary air pump being “not ready” need to register my car so I can drive it without it being impounded but of course there’s always something. Driven it well over 1000 miles and let it idle for 10 minutes every day when I wake up. Running out of ideas and might just sell the car out of state if I can’t get it to pass smog
Car is stock

[akkando]

Originally Posted by Oreo Cat

I’ve been having problems with my secondary air pump being “not ready” need to register my car so I can drive it without it being impounded but of course there’s always something. Driven it well over 1000 miles and let it idle for 10 minutes every day when I wake up. Running out of ideas and might just sell the car out of state if I can’t get it to pass smog
Car is stock

Try drive cycle rather than idle the car every day.....

Take it to bmw, obviously it should be fixable. What do you think people do if they have this problem in CA? They just get rid of the car? No way.

[Oreo Cat]

Originally Posted by akkando

Try drive cycle rather than idle the car every day.....

Take it to bmw, obviously it should be fixable. What do you think people do if they have this problem in CA? They just get rid of the car? No way.

I did take it to bmw and they told me the only thing they can do is reset the computer if it doesn’t set, but that might not even work.
I did do drive cycles. Nothing. The first portion of it is “let the car idle for 2 minutes and 10 seconds, this should set the secondary air pump”

[akkando]

Originally Posted by Oreo Cat

I did take it to bmw and they told me the only thing they can do is reset the computer if it doesn't set, but that might not even work.
I did do drive cycles. Nothing. The first portion of it is "let the car idle for 2 minutes and 10 seconds, this should set the secondary air pump"

That's rough man I don't know. A different bmw shop?

[dfwashere]

i found one of the best was to keep moving and get the cycle done in one shot was to drive on the freeway later night-early morning, and then drive through the airport terminal a couple times if you need. that way you dont ever have to complete stop midway through. worked for me at least, hopefully this works for you!

[nrubenstein]

Do you have an OBDII scanner? Something like this would let you watch the monitors live: https://www.amazon.com/Autel-MS309-U...omotive&sr=1-6

Remember: LIGHT throttle, LOW rpms. SMOOTH driving. My wife's 993TT is really hard to set the readiness monitors on. (They're famous for this.) Many drivers simply can't make themselves drive in a way that will set the last monitors. I've really had to practice this in order to succeed in that.

[pjk380]

I had to reflash from Stage 1 tune back to stock for smog check. As mentioned you need to be light on the throttle and smooth driving. All I did to get readiness set was drive up and down the freeway late at night staying between 55-60. Approx. 15 min one way, turn around and 15 min back. When I pulled back into the dwy, hooked up the OBDII scanner, all readiness monitors were set.