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So this is getting crazy, took my car to local Smog station 4 times, failed 4 times. Took it o Bob Stahl Chev today which I Hate taking my cars to Dealers to begin with. So the car won't clear the ODB sensors and failed a 5th time. The Dealer states my battery must have been recently disconnected, ( I picked the car up in later December and have not had a dead or disconnected battery). The service rep quizzed me hard about any modifications I may have made it had done, to which I reassured him all I've done is add Black Lug Nuts..... He said he would have to charge me to research the problem further... They add $3,000 " Market Adjusment" which is why I go through this craziness to begin with, so any others in Kalifornia buying from out of state dealers (even with GM / Courtesy delivery) be prepared to deal with this also...
Just drive the thing for a couple of hours and you'll be fine. The system needs to go through a number of self tests and it just takes some mileage. Definitely premature to start Lemon Lawing.
You need to drive the car more, especially on a couple longer drives or it will never clear the monitors. It takes a series of warm up cycles, city driving and some highway miles to clear them. This is not a GM thing, it's a federal and state law thing.
Easiest way to get them to clear would be:
* From a cold start, allow the vehicle to warm up to normal operating temps.
* Drive the car normally for 5-10 miles in town and then 20-25 miles on the highway. During the highway drive, make sure to hover around 55 MPH for a couple miles and also coast down from 65 MPH to a stop without touching the throttle.
* Let the car sit overnight and cool to ambient temps and then repeat the previous steps a second time and that is usually enough driving to get them to pass.
With only 90 miles on the car in 3+ months, it won't hurt the thing to get out and actually drive it
You need to drive the car more, especially on a couple longer drives or it will never clear the monitors. It takes a series of warm up cycles, city driving and some highway miles to clear them. This is not a GM thing, it's a federal and state law thing.
Easiest way to get them to clear would be:
* From a cold start, allow the vehicle to warm up to normal operating temps.
* Drive the car normally for 5-10 miles in town and then 20-25 miles on the highway. During the highway drive, make sure to hover around 55 MPH for a couple miles and also coast down from 65 MPH to a stop without touching the throttle.
* Let the car sit overnight and cool to ambient temps and then repeat the previous steps a second time and that is usually enough driving to get them to pass.
With only 90 miles on the car in 3+ months, it won't hurt the thing to get out and actually drive it
If the fuel is also 3+ months old, couldn't it effect the test's outcome?
This scenario is 100% normal! There have been countless threads on this same scenario too. This is not a warranty issue or smog issue. It's just one of the hoops us folks in California have to go through when we purchase the car off the floor from an out of state dealer or from an out of state dealer inventory. Cars built for shipment to California bypass the need for the smog check.
Bottom line, the car needs some miles and engine cycles before all the smog systems in the car are going to clear a smog test. I had the same thing with my 2014 C7. I failed smog initially but needed to get some more miles and engine cycles on it before it would pass.
Just do as RichieRich suggested above and all will be well.
This scenario is 100% normal! There have been countless threads on this same scenario too. This is not a warranty issue or smog issue. It's just one of the hoops us folks in California have to go through when we purchase the car off the floor from an out of state dealer or from an out of state dealer inventory. Cars built for shipment to California bypass the need for the smog check.
Bottom line, the car needs some miles and engine cycles before all the smog systems in the car are going to clear a smog test. I had the same thing with my 2014 C7. I failed smog initially but needed to get some more miles and engine cycles on it before it would pass.
Just do as RichieRich suggested above and all will be well.
Mine was built for CA delivery and purchased through Kerbeck and it has to be smog-checked. Direct from BGAP. Comes with the CA emissions certified decal on the car.
This according to the person doing the registration for Kerbeck that has been doing this for 25 years.
Makes absolutely no sense!
just got mine smogged today after the CA DMV would not allow me to register W/O it. apparently the law changed recently, requiring all cars from out of state be tested. has nothing to do with it being built for CA delivery, although i suspect if it was not, they would not register it even if it passed smog.
the had no trouble accepting my $8200 check, but would not issue plates. just means another 4 hr wait at the DMV now that it has passed. most of this is to increase state tax revenue.
the CA DMV is very busy now that our governer has allowed illegal immigrants to get drivers licenses.
1. First, make sure that the MIL (Malfunction Indicator Light) is not commanded on. Having stored or even pending diagnostic trouble codes active may prevent a monitor from running to completion.
2. Second, make sure that you have enough fuel in the car. Some monitors, for instance the EVAP monitor, may require the fuel level to be between 35% and 85% to initiate the diagnostic testing.
3. Third, complete the so called “drive cycle”. About one week of combined city and highway driving is usually enough to allow the monitors to reach complete status. The drive cycle is explained in more details in the next paragraph.
OBD drive cycle
The purpose of the OBD2 drive cycle is to let your car run on-board diagnostics. This, in turn, allows monitors to operate and detect potential malfunctions of your cars’s emission system. The correct drive cycle for your car can vary greatly depending on the car model and manufacturer. Also, the monitor in question affects the required drive cycle.
Today, many vehicle manufacturers include these drive cycles in the vehicle owner’s manual. Typically, a few days of normal driving, both city and highway, will make the monitors ready. The following generic drive cycle can be used as a guideline if a specific drive cycle is not known. It will assist with resetting monitors when a car specific drive cycle is not available. However, it may not work for all cars and monitors.
The drive cycle can be difficult to follow exactly under normal driving conditions. Therefore, it is better to drive it in restricted area!
1. The universal OBD-II drive cycle begins with a cold start (coolant temperature below 50 C /122 F, and the coolant and air temperature sensors within 11 degrees of one another). This condition is easily achieved by letting the car to sit overnight.
2. The ignition key must not be left on prior to the cold start. Otherwise the heated oxygen sensor diagnostic may not run.
3. Start the engine and idle the engine in drive for two and half minutes, with the A/C and rear defroster on if equipped.
4. Turn the A/C and rear defroster off, and accelerate to 90 km/h (55 mph) under moderate, constant acceleration. Hold at a steady speed for three minutes.
5. Decelerate (const down) to 30 km/h (20 mph) without braking or depressing the clutch for manual transmissions.
6. Accelerate back to 90-100 km/h (55-60 mph) at 3/4 throttle. Hold at a steady speed for five minutes.
7. Decelerate (const down) to a stop without braking.
To avoid being rejected in the annual inspection, you can prepare your car for it yourself. Do not wait until the annual inspection with your issues. If the check engine light comes on, read the diagnostic trouble codes and engine status immediately. It could save you a lot of time as well as future repair and fuel costs. You can do all this with OBD Auto Doctor diagnostic software. You can read all the monitors statuses even with the free version.
follow that drive cycle chart and the readiness monitors will all pass after a 20 minute drive. if not, a few days of driving will eventually get them set.
This scenario is 100% normal! There have been countless threads on this same scenario too. This is not a warranty issue or smog issue. It's just one of the hoops us folks in California have to go through when we purchase the car off the floor from an out of state dealer or from an out of state dealer inventory. Cars built for shipment to California bypass the need for the smog check.
Bottom line, the car needs some miles and engine cycles before all the smog systems in the car are going to clear a smog test. I had the same thing with my 2014 C7. I failed smog initially but needed to get some more miles and engine cycles on it before it would pass.
Just do as RichieRich suggested above and all will be well.
Sorry but that's wrong. All new cars being registered in CA need to be smogged. New Corvettes with RPO YF5 meet CA emissions but still require a smog test before DMV will register. If you buy it in CA, it will have already been tested by the selling dealer. If you bought a YF5 car out of state, you have to have it smog tested yourself.
If the fuel is also 3+ months old, couldn't it effect the test's outcome?
California doesn't actually care about emissions. They care whether the onboard computer gets along with the test equipment at the smog inspection station. It's all about control and revenue.
03-17-2015, 03:36 PM
2015 Z07 Failed Smog Cert
