QuestionI have a problem getting my wife’s 2004 Tiburon (GT V6) to pass an emission inspection. I took it to test the last week of the month and it failed which I was not expecting. A couple of the monitors were not ready. I took it home and put my OBDII scan tool on it to check the I/M readiness and it said the catalyst and heated O2 monitor tests were incomplete. Nothing had been done to this car other than the battery running down while we were on vacation two months prior.
I have since put 750 miles on the car (two weeks of that on expired tags). I have tried different driving styles, but the two monitors still show incomplete. I called the dealer and they told me just to keep driving it.
Do you have a description of what Hyundai defines as a driving cycle for these monitors? I really hate driving it on expired tags, but I feel have no other choice. It’s hard to perform driving cycles without driving it.
AnswerI could tell you where to find information on the drive cycle, but you wouldn't believe the cycle if you saw it. To top things off, the cycle specifications don't make it clear what specific situations necessary for each particular readiness monitor.
In your case, the O2 monitor will need to complete before the catalyst monitor can run. This is because the ECM uses your O2 readings to check the converters. Hence, it won't even attempt to check the catalyst until the oxygen sensors pass. Usually, highway driving (steady speed about 50MPH with only very minor acceleration and deceleration) for a significant distance (at least several miles) is necessary for the completion of these tests. If you can, take the scanner with you so you can monitor whether the tests complete while you're driving the vehicle. When the O2 test completes, slow down or stop, and then restart the highway drive to hopefully begin the catalyst test.
You might also contact your state's emissions testing department. Different states have differing regulations on how many readiness tests can not run and still have the vehicle pass. I believe the range runs from zero to two. So, for example, if it's one in your state, once the O2 test runs and passes, you should be good to go on the emissions test.
You should also not need to drive the car on expired tags. If the reason that your tags are expired is that you don't have a current and valid emissions test, you should be able to get temporary tags from the state's MVA to use until you're able to pass the test. Obviously, if you need to drive the vehicle to pass, and the state doesn't want to give you tags because your vehicle doesn't pass, there's a catch-22 here.
