tbil

Feel your pain here, 96 in CA as well. Cheep Actron and the drive cycle have usually worked well but some years I've had to take it over to Black Forest and let them work their magic to get it to pass.

Ed Hughes

Two sets of numbers is what I have to add:

95!!

High 70's the next few days.

On the plane back from Dallas after a couple of days there. I don't miss Texas. Sure. There are good things there, but 8 years there made me appreciate Calif more, when we came back. Same for a few years in AZ in the late 80's. I hope it doesn't get too bad to justify the added costs, etc to endure Calif.

B-Line

I have been through this more times than I care to admit. I also live in California and have had my OBDII 993 here since 2002. Please, listen to this advice:

1) I have an Innova OBII readers. They work just fine. You do not need to go to your Porsche mechanic. This little device will give you all the information you need. All your flags are either reset or they're not. If they are not, you have to redo the process until they are.

2) Doing a 200 to 300 mile drive does not reset all the flags. Don't waste your time. I tried it several times. I'm not mad cause at least I got to go on some nice drives. But I never cleared smog and I wasted time checking. This was before I bought the OBDII reader.

3) YOUR CAR MUST BE COLD START never try to do it after you've been driving around. If you tried to reset the flags and some but not all flags reset, park your car, OVERNIGHT... And try again. Do not bother trying to go through the process when the car has any heat in it.
I usually try to do the flag reset at 2am to 3am when I have the roads all to myself.

The OBDII scanner will alert you when all the flags are gone. Don't try to isolate what flags are still up and direct your driving towards clearing those flags... Just start the process over again.

Now that I know how to do it and I know to COLD START, follow the entire procedure, have the OBDII scanner on my lap so I can see if the flags have all gone green... It's much easier.

The hardest part of this entire situation was getting the information. Now it's all in front of you and you just have to follow the instructions. I spent days and days at referee stations, smog stations checking flags, etc. And the best two pieces of advice I got where buying the scanner and cold starting.

Give it a try... I bet you see the results you want.

Jeff U

I just went through this and it IS A PAIN! It is crazy that the actual exhaust would probably be below the pollution threshold but you still fail.

I had the dreaded CEL light (SAI issue). My mechanic cleaned out the ports and we reset the OBDII on a Thursday. On Friday I roughly did the cycle on the way back and forth to work by staying under 3K RPM and slower than 60MPH.

I had the same 5 of 8 showing incomplete ("incl").

I did the real drive cycle twice, first early on Saturday morning, then again on Sunday. While doing the final 5 min idle step on Sunday the 5 remaining monitors reset.

Here's what I used: (I'm not sure if it's the same as the BMW cycle but it did work last month)

• Start engine, let idle for approx. 2 min, 10 secs
• Accelerate to 20-30 MPH, Maintain steady speed for approx 3 min, 15 secs
• Accelerate to 40-60 MPH, Maintain steady speed for approx 15 mins
• Decelerate and come to a stop
• Idle in Neutral for 5 mins (manual trans)
• During the drive cycle, do not exceed 3,000 rpm or 60 mph

You have to lug the motor and not exceed 3k RPM or 60 MPH (some say 55 MPH) at any point.

The two long idles, one at the beginning and the one and the end, seem to be particularly important. Why? I have no idea.

Slow Guy

Posted this a couple of years ago

OBDii Readiness indicators

mcipseric

In my experience over the last 2 smog checks (4 years) I had all readiness codes not set before the test. Before both smog tests, I had some upgrades that triggered the readiness codes (new light weight flywheel and new lightweight battery - yes bad timing before the smog test.....) My bad dual mass flywheel was causing CEL for misfires.
I have an OBD2 scanner which I used to clear the CEL then check the readiness codes before going to the smog check.
Driving 200-300 miles DID reset all but one of readiness codes and I was able to pass smog. In CA you can have up to 2 readiness codes not reset.

goldcountryboy

Just went through this last year after my battery died. Ditto on getting up early to do the drive cycle. Four a.m. and no one on the road up here in the foothills. For me the cruise control worked best at keeping the rpm's under 3000.

Lorenfb

No wonder all the problems, total confusion in this thread!

"All your flags are either reset or they're not. If they are not, you have to redo the process until they are."

Actually, the default state is having monitors RESET, i.e. none of the tests
have been completed. Monitors are SET when the tests are completed.

Again:

Porsche 993 Cycle Flag Basics

1. CAT Efficiency - monitors rear O2 sensors, must drive @ medium load & RPMs < 2500
2. O2 Sensor Aging - monitors O2 sensors' waveform period, must drive @ 2 load ranges,
i.e. light/medium loads
3. SAI - monitors front O2 sensors' minimum voltage, done @ idle or via Short Test
4. Tank Venting - monitors tank vacuum, done @ idle or via Short Test
5. Adaptation - monitors TRAs & FRAs, done @ idle RPM & @ 1500 < RPM < 3000
for 15 seconds @ each RPM (driving not required)

The above cycle flags when completed (set) comprise one trip. After completion of the
1st trip, the engine is stopped (cycle flags reset) & restarted to begin the 2nd trip, followed by
a 3rd trip if necessary. If the engine is stopped, e.g. stalled, before completion of the trip, the trip
must be restarted from the beginning & all completed cycle flags are reset for that trip. Once all the
necessary trips have been completed, the readiness codes will be indicated by an OBDII scanner.

The cycle flags do NOT appear on an OBDII scanner and as such provide no info
on what test (monitor) is failing. So one could drive 500 miles and still not know that the
key SAI, for example, never completed resulting in NO readiness/monitors appearing on
the OBDII scanner. So all the driving was a TOTAL WASTE!

Additionally, without a Porsche tester, one cannot 'force' the SAI test and
thus must wait until the engine is cold to begin the next trip. So typically,
the completion of the driving will require multiple days to allow the engine
to cool for the SAI test.

Bottom line: Most have been lucky to complete the driving and SET the readiness/monitors,
as it appears most don't really understand the process.

Slow Guy

I've taken my battery out for ~18 hrs and the codes stayed set, I was surprised by it too. I was all prepared to do the drive cycles but when I hooked the reader up after starting the car they were all still set.

Did have to enter the radio code though.

niche

Can you still pass via referee? That's how I had to do it for my 993 c2.

mgianzero

Loren -

Thanks for the info. I did see a SAI short test somewhere on my PST-2 tester. So I could essentially expedite the resetting of OBD codes using my tester, correct?

Could you walk me thru the steps to do all this with a PST-2, since the order of doing things seems to be particularly important as well as completing the drive cycle?

Lorenfb

"I did see a SAI short test somewhere on my PST-2 tester."

That's right.

"So I could essentially expedite the resetting of OBD codes using my tester, correct?"

Once 'in' the DME ECM, select 'Short Tests'. Then select "SAI'. After that's
complete, select 'Short Tests' again and then do the 'Tank Venting'.
Having completed both of those, you now have two of the monitors
completed and can begin the driving. You can check the overall status
of the trip by selecting 'Cycle Flags' and then determine which monitors
are completing. Once all the cycle flags are complete, you have completed
the first trip. You now stop the engine and repeat all the previous steps
and begin the next trip. Once that's complete, you check the OBDII readiness
and see if all readiness (monitors) codes are SET. If not, you need a third
trip (some early '96s).

Remember, the Cycle Flags are the OBDII monitors within a trip, and only
when ALL trips are complete do the monitors (readiness codes) appear as
being SET when using an OBDII scanner.

Bottom line: It's simple when using the tester.

goldcountryboy

I took my car to the California referee and he told me he would test it but not pass it. i would have pay at least 400 dollars at a shop trying to fix the problem. They seem to have changed the rules.

2ndof2

Yes, CA is a tough gig, especially for the many of us who aren't so rich.

Yes, the canyon roads are pretty sweet (although I'm sure there are other states with great roads).

Yes, you WILL get the car to pass and the codes to reset. Just a matter of TIME and MONEY.

I paid about 11 large including many "while we're in there" expenses, but guess what? It passed! And its still less than buying a brand new 911!

In all seriousness, go seek out the smog ref and see if that approach works for you. I scheduled an appointment when I knew the top end job was almost complete just in case it didn't pass immediately with flying colors. Turned out not being necessary but I've heard the ref has helped others here in past whos cars otherwise ran clean - except for SAI issue at start up.

goldcountryboy

Yes expensive......however yesterday I found myself done with my weekend chores and still the afternoon in front of me. Went on a run in the foothills where I had clear road almost the entire eighty miles. From my place down to Brownsville then across Bullards Bar Dam to Petersons corner and then through the Yuba River canyon. Very invigorating!