Well, I took my car in for the 2 year ritual of emissions testing required by the state of California . I normally have no issue here because I am very diligent about not changing anything related to emissions and if the check engine light does come on I have always fixed the issue (i.e. O2 sensors).

That said, my car failed the emissions test today. Not because it was outside the limits of the emissions guidelines, but because a few of the OBD self tests did not complete successfully. Here is the actual text from the report:

"This vehicle failed the MIL/Check Engine Light due to failure to successfully complete all OBD self tests."

As was explained to me by the smog station, at least 3 of the OBD self tests failed for some reason.

I drove over the Porsche dealer to get a fix on the issue and they told me that they had a number of these since the California emission tests changed. The tests are now looking at OBD secondary codes rather the just the primary codes, thus causing these failures. The reason for the change was to make it more difficult for those that were removing car parts for various reasons and them putting them back on for the testing. He further asked me if I had changed my battery recently and if so how many miles had I driven the car. As I understand it, if I am to drive the car enough and doing the expected speeds, etc. the OBD computer will set itself including the secondary codes. Since I have not modified the car brain in anyway or modified the engine internally I am bit a frustrated by what has happened. The Porsche dealer wants 4 hours labor to reset all the codes and guarantees it will pass. This will be $420, Ugggg! Then I have to pay the $32 again for the re-test.

A friend of mine is also having the same issue and I have been told of others. Is anyone else having this issue (in California) ?

Anyone have any advance?

P.S. I was thinking the best thing to do might be to avoid the registration cost ~$600, the ~$500 for smog test and re-coding and the ~$650 for car insurance and just take the car off the street and simply track it. I mostly track it anyway. That is looking pretty nice at this point, but then again I am very frustrated at this point.

 

Just passed the test two weeks ago, no problems. Sorry for your struggle but certainly understand your frustration. Try an independent shop, they may be more reasonable or have a different fix in mind.

 

Not quite sure with this comment, but you should look into your warranty. Porsche by law has to cover emmission/pollution issues for 7 years/100,000 miles (I think this is the timeframe--go look at your warranty book). So your failure, may fall to the warranty.

 

Hi Kary,
I don't know if this applies to your case but I talked to someone lately and was told his car had the CEL and couldn't pass the smog test. He took it to the referee and they waived it. They are aware of the problem with P cars . I am not sure if your problem is the same but they may let you pass too. Bring the test result and show them.

good luck

 

Kary, I just had to deal with this whole exact issue, do a search and you should be able to find the answers........ what to do to reset all the codes to "ready" mode. I followed the crazy procedure and it really worked! The procedure consists of 2 approx. 20-25 minutes runs (SORRY, I CANNOT REMEMBER EXACTLY THE DETAILS BUT SOMETHING LIKE THIS...)
1) Cold start with the air cond. and rear def. (ON) and idle for 2.5 mins
2) Turn off air and rear def. & drive off slowly to ?MPH for ? mins
3) Back off throttle to 20(?)MPH without clutching or braking
4) Accelerate gently to 55MPH (in 6th gear!) for 15 miles
5) Come to stop in gear with the clutch in for 5 mins
During the the whole procedure YOU MUST NOT EXCEED 3000rpm OR 60mph!.....................sounds crazy? I did it and IT WORKS!

Another option is go down to the referee station and they will pass you, just tell them you either had a new battery installed not long ago OR you had disconnected the battery recently. But make sure you don't have any mods they can see easily i.e. open air box or exhaust etc. Good Luck!

 

Don't Lift,

Thank you for the heads up on the process. The Porsche dealer had said that there was something that would work but he did not know what it was.

When you refer to "do a search" I assume you are referring to rennlist? or the web in general?

I am not having much luck on the search with rennlist..........

Thanks for your help everyone!

 

Kary, do a search on rennlist using keyword "smog" or "emmisions". If you still cannot find the information, I can look up in my file at home tonight and post tomorrow.

 

Dont' Lift: Is this the one you might be refering to?

A thread

 

Kary,

That was my entry in response to jstahmann's need to run through the "readiness cycle". Our ever diligent fed & state smog patrol made sure that their evil constituents don't try to fool them by reseting the emissions trouble codes and dashing to the inspection station for a quick read before they trigger again.

At the same time the OBDII cpu codes are reset, the "readiness codes" are also reset. The readiness code indicates whether each of the 8 system sensors have completed it's diagnostic check. So the inspection station doesn't see a trouble code but also sees that the readiness code is off (actually it reads more than "0").

Once the CE light is cleared the following readiness cycle can be followed to reset the code or you could drive the car for a while in a variety of situations that would allow each system to do it's thing:

Start engine, idle cold 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 gear for approx 5 mins.



Following the start engine phase the sequence of test conditions may interchange.

routine will be discontinued whenever:


Engine speed exceeds 3000 RPM
Large fluctuations in throttle angle
Road speed exceeds 60 MPH


Hope this helps y'all.

JC

 

Kary,

I had this exact problem in June. The root cause was because the previous owner had the battery disconnected right before I bought it (battery was disconnected due to the wiring harness recall).

Like your 993, mine passed the emissions part w/ ease. However, the ready codes were not set. I think 5 out of the 8 have to be set in order to pass. I took my car into Pacific Porsche and they ran the car through various cycles (about 20 minutes each). But, according to them, this could only be done on the first start up of the day. They (Pacific) said that this was becoming more prevalent with the OBDII 993s. Anyhow, it worked and my car passed the smog test. The cost of the cycle test was $200-250.

I hope this information is helpful to you, Kary.

Rich

 

You might want to try running through the cycle outlined above before spending your $200+. This is the Porsche approved process. I've used it with success (although the CA inspection is likely more strict than ours).

Yes, as the instructions point out, the cycle must start with a cold engine.

JC

 

Most good OBDII testers will provide you the status of the
readiness codes without blindly running thru all the different
emission check modes.

Also, as has been stated, don't disconnect the battery or reset
the DME or the readiness state will be reset. Don't assume
that stating that your battery was just disconnected will "buy"
you a pass of the readiness state condition. This would be a
simple excuse used by all, and if accepted would be a major
violation by the smog station.

This might work if the smog guy is stupid and doesn't care about
his license or overrides the system. Here in SoCal, I think the tester
has no control over waiving the readiness test, as control of the
test is done remotely by the state.


Have Fun
Loren
'88 3.2

 

If you have the OBD2 software for your laptop, you can check these readiness codes. You can not change them, but at least you could see if you have an issue before you go to the smog guys.

 

Don't Lift,

If you have something different from the procedures posted here please post.

To those that have done this:
How exactly do you do this process when you must start with a cold engine and once you start moving you cannot stop the car except where indicated? I am thinking about my streets and locations to accomplish this task and cannot seem to come up with anything that makes sense.

 

Kary,

My successful application of the cycle seemed to allow for some variation (once you've done the cold startup idle step). You can perform each step in any sequence. I found that it doesn't seem to hurt if you exceed the time target for each step or interrupt the process with a stop either.

The main thing is not to accelerate quickly, exceed 3k rpm or 60 mph until you've run through each segment.

It's kind of like a mini gimmick rally. Have fun!

JC