reseting codes after battery replace

[kennyrayandersen]

So, we've been out of the country a bit and the Battery dies, so I loaded up an Optima and they's back on the road. It was due for an inspection though, and the dude told the wife 3 of the codes came back with a catalyst not ready, O2 sens not ready and O2 sens htr not ready. Dude at the smog check place just said drive it 50 miles? Anybody know how long it takes for those to reset?

[ASmartMan]

kennyrayandersen


I just went through the same thing (car idle for 13 months).

You have to drive the car at least 100 miles for the data to be collected, then the OBD codes should be "Ready" and will inspect OK.

Leaving the battery disconnected/dead for an extended period of time will clear/reset all the static memory that this data is stored in and it will take a while for this data to be re-accumulated.

Hope it helps

ASM

[kennyrayandersen]

Thanks, I'll tell her to keep driving!

[Leroy]

When you try to start the car with a low battery it is amazing all the codes you can get. As long as the light does not come on the dash there is no problem. They will go away after a while and become history codes.

When your state does its emissions inspections do they look at the pending and history codes or do they look at driving cycles of the last codes erased?

You can simulate the driving cycles by driving certain speeds and stop and go traffic. There is a list someplace on the Internet to tell you how to drive to get it to reset itself.

Leroy

[kennyrayandersen]

Originally Posted by Leroy

When you try to start the car with a low battery it is amazing all the codes you can get. As long as the light does not come on the dash there is no problem. They will go away after a while and become history codes.

When your state does its emissions inspections do they look at the pending and history codes or do they look at driving cycles of the last codes erased?

You can simulate the driving cycles by driving certain speeds and stop and go traffic. There is a list someplace on the Internet to tell you how to drive to get it to reset itself.

Leroy

Thanks for the tips, since the battery was low, and then removed and fiddled with by my buddy to get it back in a snug, I think it must have dropped all the past codes. Right now it hasn't thrown any codes, just says it's not ready to give a code. The guy made it sound like that wasn't too unusual for a car that had just had the battery replaced. I'll have her try again next week and see how that goes. I'm not sure what the inspection looks for. It passed last time and it's only been driven several hundred miles. I can't imagine it won't pass once it gets up and running.