nnnnnnnnnNNNNNNNNNNRRRRRRRRR!
hear that? right over my head?
Funny Guy. Took my two looks.
OKOKOK, New "Catalytic" converters!

"Easy" Ed
I'm a dog person, so gullibility is natural.

Been watching this for awhile. clearing codes and seeing what comes back etc. Got a secondary air fault.
I replaced that "blower unit" probably 3 years ago, so I looked it over again, and found what I believe is a vacuum hose which controls the flow of air from the secondary air supply had deteriorated to the point it was obviously cracked.
So I replaced about 8" of vacuum line.
Could this be why I was getting a precat O2, and threshold errors? We'll see.
I'm sure that vacuum line was for something, and it definately was not able to do it.
Anybody know what a "large evaporatorleak" would be? I thought I saw that one time and it was because somebody fogot to screw down the gas tank cap properly.
Just updating this topic for future reference.
Ed

Ed,

Yes, I do think the large evap leak could be cause by a loose gas cap. Also, the vacuum hose you mention could cause a secondary air fault. I doubt it would cause an O2 sensor out of range problem, but I could be wrong. For that, check to see if you have a bad hose off the bottom of the oil seperator. It goes to the dipstick tube to drain. That *may* cause enough of a vacuum leak to throw a code (at least it did for me).
PM me if you want to talk more.

Ken

I'm sorry I didn't review this whole thread, but if the idea is to pass the emissions test, just null out the converter and when it shows up as "not ready", it will pass emissions as long as you don't have 3 items "not ready". Am I missing something?

I've got til Oct to worry about emmissions/license. What are use using to null out emmissions? OBD.COM? I'm in no rush yyet, this is an excercise in diagnostics!

I guess that I have assumed that "pending codes" will not fail an emissions test, but a "not ready" will.
I could easily be wrong about that, though.
Ken

I can attest to "not ready" will fail you, unlss the garage is a friend and will let you drive the car(in this case my E46) for about a week and a half to get the "not ready's" "ready".
I'm not sure why I cleared the codes last Nov. but I did not know about the "Not Ready" status. After a week it passed just fine and I have thrown no codes since with the car. I think I might have failed to tighten the gas cap and got a check engine light. It went out after I tightened it, and I thought I could just clear all the codes so as to have a clean slate when getting it inspected.
Lesson learned. Don't clear code immediately before inspection.
OBD.COM software says it will show "ready status of sensors" which Peake tool does not. I haven't had a chance to play with it yet.
Ed

Ed,

Did you pick up an OBD.com tool?

Ken

Yep!
For sale 1 FCX Peake tool OBDII only in parts for sale board.

Just noticed this friday will mark the 1yr anniversary of this post. Mixed feelings no?
After about 5 days of light driving, OBDII show three sensors either failed or not ready yet. Evaporative, Catalytic, and O2 sensors. No codes so I assume not ready.
Research on the internet reveals a "test" cycle to get these sensors to cycle probably requires a dyno or test track or approximately 40 starts and stops. rather complicated. like 15 continous min at 30 to 60 mph.
This happen to me on my other car and it took about 12 days of driving to get it down to 2 sensors not ready.
I'm beginning to think "If you can't win by the system....cheat".
Just tried to get evaporative to cycle by letting idle for 3min 10 sec according to chart. no luck

Ed,

You may have tried this already, but if not, give it a go: Pull up the graph function and set one graph to bank 1, sensor 1, and the other graph to bank 2, sensor 1. Start the car, and watch for the O2 sensor start cycling up and down voltage as they come up to temp. They should start to cycle at about the same time, and cycle at roughly the same amplitude. If not, that may help you locate a dead sensor, or one on the way out. It can also help you find if the front or rear groups of three cylinders (bank 1 is cylinders 1-3, and bank 2 is cylinders 4 -6) is running rich or lean, helping to pinpoint stuff like a dead injector. That's what happened in my e39, at least.
Keep digging, I'll bet you solve it!

Ken

I actually did try that Ken, but not really knowing what I was looking at, I was just entertained watching the pretty red and green line graphs .
I may go back with what you have said now, and see if I can understand more.

Meantime.... I just checked OBDII again. The catalyst and O2 are now off the "unready or failed" column and in the Monitored. If I under "non-continuous tests supported" column. I'll take this as a good sign, but I wonder if that means enough time has gone by that the computer says OK it's ready, but it may still actively test the sensor when the appropriate conditions exist. So I'm not declaring "cured"
The Evaporative system is still "not-ready" but at this point the car would pass inspection.
So perhaps the 8"s of tubing was the culprit. Amazing. I'll let you know as soon as the Chk engine light come on. I'm expecting it.
If this really did the trick, I wonder if Michelle will let me spend the savings on some Konis for her car ?
Thanks again for the info!
Ed

Ed,

Those sound like good assumptions, and good results to me. I'd just try to drive the car a lot, and under differing conditions, to see if you get any more CE lights. I think you've solved it, though. In a sick sort of way, it is kind of an interesting challenge to work your way through the diagnostics, no?

Ken

At least we don't have to anesthetize the patient!
And it took a year to diagnose.(again, maybe more to come)
I'm just amazed a vacuum leak (cheap piece of rubber hose) caused an O2($$$) and catalyst($$$$) sensor fail. I guess the secondary air sys failure was the tip off. That's where experience (IE Autohaus techs) comes into play. Evap sys leak I hope is/was a separate coincidental prob. Possibly the gas cap was not tightened when refueling, or it leaks.
Fun to learn, but I'm not going to quit my day job at this rate.
Keep your "mental" fingers crossed.
Looks like it takes a little more than a week of driving to get the O2 and Cat sensors in "ready" state. I'll have to watch that too around next Oct/Nov for license purposes.
Ed

NUTZ!
CEL back.
Interesting. OBDII says P0430 "Catalytic converter efficiency below threshhold- Bank 2

Peake says see table 11
EA Catalytic converter effienciency below threshold cyl #4-6 (That's "bank 2" I think)
E5 Precat O2 sensor response time cyl #1-3
E6 Precat O2 sensor response time cyl #4-6

I get more info from the Peake Tool initially, but I'm guessing I can do some testing on the O2 sensors via the graph functions. I'll have to do a little reading the manual and try that first.

But I'm thinking the next step is replace the Precat O2 sensors, and cross my fingers.
If it was post cat O2, I would think that might be more indicative of a bad O2 sensor or catalytic converter.
And if I have to replace the converter, I should replace the O2 sensors as well.