Failed Emissions Today

[Dave2013M3]

Another drive, another fail. I'm starting to really lean towards it being the tune. Hopefully I'm wrong. I'd say I'm about 120 miles since disconnecting the battery. So I feel like it's either two things: the amount of miles driven is irrelevant and I actually have to complete the drive cycles, or it's the tune. My tuner never got back to me when I asked him to double check the file, but in his first response to me, he suggested always flashing back to stock before an inspection because the tune can sometimes make the monitors work harder to go into a ready state. I don't understand that...if emissions weren't touched in my tune, then they shouldn't be affected, but what do I know. And, if I do flash to stock, would I then have to drive a bunch of miles again afterwards? Because if that's the case, it's not really practical. I can sometimes take months for me to put a couple hundred miles on this car, especially if it's winter. So that would mean I'd have to flash the stock file 4-5 months prior to an inspection every year. What's the point of having it tuned if I have to drive around with the stock tune almost half the year?
... getting frustrated at this point.

What is showing not ready? Don't keep just taking it to get smogged. Do you not have an OBD2 scanner? You own one of these cars that is tuned you must get yourself an OBD2 scanner.

Here is an inexpensive one. These are a must have...notice all the letters at the top of the scanner. These are the readiness codes which must be green before you can smog. You can reach out to me via DM and I will leave you my phone number.

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[BlueThunder16]

I own two code readers and checked it with both. I mentioned that earlier in this thread already. And yes, I know not to keep taking it in to get smogged. I've only gone once before finding out my catalyst and both O2 monitors weren't ready. I'm not going back until everything is squared away.

Thank you though

 

[Dave2013M3]

I own two code readers and checked it with both. I mentioned that earlier in this thread already. And yes, I know not to keep taking it in to get smogged. I've only gone once before finding out my catalyst and both O2 monitors weren't ready. I'm not going back until everything is squared away.

Thank you though

Sorry missed that part. The02 sensors are the ones that go green pretty soon. Its the fuel trims that take time. I think your tuner mislead you and you are going to have to return to the stock tune. It wouldn't hurt. The AirRaid CAI with no tune required shouldn't cause any issues. If you were in Cali you would need a CARBEO# for the CAI.

 

[BlueThunder16]

No big deal man, all good

 

[Dave2013M3]

I read this for the Ford drive cycle.

The Ford drive cycle required to run the Catalyst Efficiency Monitor involves driving your Ford Mustang in stop & go traffic conditions. Include five different constant cruise speeds, ranging from 25 to 45 MPH over a 10 minute period.

 

[Boosted Pony]

So your tuner is ignoring you now, that does not sound good to me. Have you contacted the tuner by phone? Don't mess around with email because that lets them ignore you. You have a real issue and the tuner should be assisting you.

If this tuner has turned their back on you please name the company so others can decided if they want to chance doing business with them.

 

[BlueThunder16]

I read this for the Ford drive cycle.

The Ford drive cycle required to run the Catalyst Efficiency Monitor involves driving your Ford Mustang in stop & go traffic conditions. Include five different constant cruise speeds, ranging from 25 to 45 MPH over a 10 minute period.

Thank you. I think I read that too. I did some stop and go traffic, but idk if I exactly did 5 different cruise speeds for over a 10 minute period. I swear....why do these damn drive cycles have to be so complicated and specific?! And there are several to be done too for each monitor...

I also pulled this (seemingly general guideline) from my owner's manual this morning:

 

[BlueThunder16]

So your tuner is ignoring you now, that does not sound good to me. Have you contacted the tuner by phone? Don't mess around with email because that lets them ignore you. You have a real issue and the tuner should be assisting you.

If this tuner has turned their back on you please name the company so others can decided if they want to chance doing business with them.

It's a weekend... I'll give him that little bit of A grace period I guess. His first response to me Fri was pretty immediate. We'll see what happens after tomorrow.

 

[ORRadtech]

Another drive, another fail. I'm starting to really lean towards it being the tune. Hopefully I'm wrong. I'd say I'm about 120 miles since disconnecting the battery. So I feel like it's either two things: the amount of miles driven is irrelevant and I actually have to complete the drive cycles, or it's the tune. My tuner never got back to me when I asked him to double check the file, but in his first response to me, he suggested always flashing back to stock before an inspection because the tune can sometimes make the monitors work harder to go into a ready state. I don't understand that...if emissions weren't touched in my tune, then they shouldn't be affected, but what do I know. And, if I do flash to stock, would I then have to drive a bunch of miles again afterwards? Because if that's the case, it's not really practical. I can sometimes take months for me to put a couple hundred miles on this car, especially if it's winter. So that would mean I'd have to flash the stock file 4-5 months prior to an inspection every year. What's the point of having it tuned if I have to drive around with the stock tune almost half the year?
... getting frustrated at this point.

I think you are worried about nothing here. Your current problems came about because of replacing the battery. Changing the battery won't be a yearly thing.
Just flash your stock tune and drive enough to meet the readiness requirements. Once you have passed the emissions test, reflash the tune you want and go about your normal driving habits. By the time next year rolls around the car will, or at least should, be ready again.

To help prevent this problem in the future I recommend two things.
First, if you don't drive the car all that often, something I struggle to understand, get yourself a battery tender/ maintainer.
Second, when changing the battery and you don't want to lose any of the cars settings keep power applied to the system. You can do that a number of ways. Hooking a jump pack to the battery leads (or suitable connection points) will do it. Or look into a dedicated "car memory keeper". They're $25ish on Amazon.

And finally, did you reset the BMS (battery monitor system) after changing your battery? It's probably not contributing to your problem but it should be done. Some scan tools will do it but there is a way to do it without one.

 

[BlueThunder16]

I think you are worried about nothing here. Your current problems came about because of replacing the battery. Changing the battery won't be a yearly thing.
Just flash your stock tune and drive enough to meet the readiness requirements. Once you have passed the emissions test, reflash the tune you want and go about your normal driving habits. By the time next year rolls around the car will, or at least should, be ready again.

To help prevent this problem in the future I recommend two things.
First, if you don't drive the car all that often, something I struggle to understand, get yourself a battery tender/ maintainer.
Second, when changing the battery and you don't want to lose any of the cars settings keep power applied to the system. You can do that a number of ways. Hooking a jump pack to the battery leads (or suitable connection points) will do it. Or look into a dedicated "car memory keeper". They're $25ish on Amazon.

And finally, did you reset the BMS (battery monitor system) after changing your battery? It's probably not contributing to your problem but it should be done. Some scan tools will do it but there is a way to do it without one.

Yea I was thinking a little more after I vented this morning and decided to just flash the stock tune tomorrow and drive it until it's all ready and then bring it in later in the day or Tues morning for an inspection. Then I'll flash the 93 tune back and won't have to worry about it again for a year. In that time, hopefully the monitors will go ready naturally over the course of a year on that tune. If not, then I'll have my answer on whether or not I will have to flash to stock every year before inspection... annoying and it shouldn't be that way, but it is what it is if that's the case.

As for how often I drive it, it's not a daily driver. Nice days when I'm off and that's about it. No rain, salt or snow. I do have a battery tender which I hook it up to from time to time when I go stretches of not driving it. I do like the idea of the battery memory keeper you mentioned. Thanks for that . I don't foresee any work in the future though that will require me to disconnect the battery again. I only did that to swap steering wheels last week.

 

[ORRadtech]

I do like the idea of the battery memory keeper you mentioned. Thanks for that . I don't foresee any work in the future though that will require me to disconnect the battery again. I only did that to swap steering wheels last week.

Keeping the system powered up for a battery exchange is one thing. Which is what i apparently misunderstood that you did. Keeping it powered up when messing with anything to do with the airbags is another thing altogether.
The SRS scares me enough that I won't short-cut anything when I'm anywhere near it.

 

[BlueThunder16]

Haha...yea I understood what you meant lol. But yea anything with airbags scares me too. I disconnect it and don't take the chance.

 

[BlueThunder16]

If this tuner has turned their back on you please name the company so others can decided if they want to chance doing business with them.

I should add, to be fair, in his initial response to me he said: the emissions weren't touched in the tune, "but sometimes changing anything can make the monitors harder to run. So to make life easy I just recommend running the stock tune for emissions testing"

So I guess he did get back to me and I already got my answer, maybe just not a good or thorough one. And idk if he answered off the top of his head or if he actually went back and double checked my file like I asked in my response to his first answer. Also, it was never recommended to me beforehand when I first bought the tune to flash it back to stock before going for an inspection. That suggestion could have been useful to me before this ordeal.

Whatever though. It's moot at this point. Like I said, I'm going to flash to stock tonight and get it squared away. Then I'll have a year to see if everything eventually goes ready on the 93 tune.

 

[BlueThunder16]

Just flashed back to stock and now it threw a P0315 code (crankshaft position system variation not learned. I guess I have to do a crank relearn on it now? Or will this resolve itself if I clear it now and it starts relearning all the parameters on my long drive tomorrow?

 

[BlueThunder16]

I'm thinking I should clear this code and do a crank relearn before going for my drive today. Any thoughts?

The more I thought about it, I just don't feel comfortable driving the car too long while this code is present and not resolved.

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