Trying to pass smog in cali :(

[mattt]

A code can be "Pending" indefinitely. What a Pending code is a a fault that has not yet met the criterea to be a "hard" code. In other words, your problem seems to be intermittent. One drive cycle it's throwing a fault and the next (where if it fails again it becomes a hard fault and a code is stored as well as illuminating the "Check-engine-light") it somehow fixes itself and passes the testing for that monitor. Rinse and repeat. You need thourogh diagnosis for that system.

Well, I popped the hood on a cold start and I can hear and feel the air pump running, what i think is the air pump, right in front of the firewall on passenger side & has air injection tubing going from this 'pump' to the exhaust.

With how much this truck has been driven since May 2015, in different operating conditions, it just does not make sense that zero codes have reared their ugly head. The Sec Air System I/M test simply refuses to run or fault out. It always shows Inc(omplete). Could this go on for years like this....never run the Sec Air Sys self test, yet never set a hard or soft code either?

 

[SLCHOE]

Does your ECM have the latest calibration?

 

[mattt]

Latest calibration....as in, been to the dealer for a reflash? No. This truck has been pretty reliable over it's 15 year run and hasn't been to a dealer in probably 5 years. With ~160k on the ticker, it's only needed oil changes, tires, batteries, 1 water pump, & 1 fuel pump. The brakes are finally starting to squeak and will need to be done for the first time ever, soon. In addition, the A/C no longer blows cold,,,,dunno if it lost the refrigerant charge or if it's something else.

Tell me this though....even with it's original flash, it should still run all I/M readiness tests, correct? If it has factory original flash, did it not run all I/M's from the factory?

 

[SLCHOE]

1) You don't need to go to the dealer to have the latest calibration flashed. You can go to anyone with a subscription to GM's TIS service and has a compatible J2534 pass through tool.

2) Updates in calibrations are issued to correct problems that arise as the years pass for late model vehicles. The GM engineers assess the issues and validate them. If a problem is indeed need of attention on the ECM side, they issue a new calibration to correct those issues.

HAving said that, getting the latest calibration and then performing another full drive cycle for the SAI system would be my first move.

Save all receipts you have regarding this repair of the SAI monitor running and if it comes down to it take all of the receipts down to the "SMOG Board"**


** I have lived in CA most of my life but never had a smog license there. I have an emissions inspector license here in UT and if a vehicle cannot pass emissions there is a clause which allows a pass id the vehicle has been shown to have a certain dollar amount spent on attempting to correct the issue. Once you hit that dollar amount the car is exempt.

Might wsant to look into CA SMOG rules there and see what rules pertain there.

 

[mattt]

1) You don't need to go to the dealer to have the latest calibration flashed. You can go to anyone with a subscription to GM's TIS service and has a compatible J2534 pass through tool.

2) Updates in calibrations are issued to correct problems that arise as the years pass for late model vehicles. The GM engineers assess the issues and validate them. If a problem is indeed need of attention on the ECM side, they issue a new calibration to correct those issues.

HAving said that, getting the latest calibration and then performing another full drive cycle for the SAI system would be my first move.

Save all receipts you have regarding this repair of the SAI monitor running and if it comes down to it take all of the receipts down to the "SMOG Board"**


** I have lived in CA most of my life but never had a smog license there. I have an emissions inspector license here in UT and if a vehicle cannot pass emissions there is a clause which allows a pass id the vehicle has been shown to have a certain dollar amount spent on attempting to correct the issue. Once you hit that dollar amount the car is exempt.

Might wsant to look into CA SMOG rules there and see what rules pertain there.

Yeah, I guess I could go to another shop that has a Tech 2 and access to the software, but there still won't be much, if any cost difference. My truck runs fine and as it should with the current flash. Are you implying that there is a defect in the factory software flash that is preventing the I/M readiness test to run for Sec Air System? I've put a few batteries in this truck over the years and I don't remember having this problem in years past, which makes me think there is something specific with the truck that is preventing it from running that one test.

I don't think I mentioned it, but if A/C does not cool, that should not have an effect???? I don't see anything in the "drive cycle" that mentioned doing it with the A/C on and blowing cold.

One reason this was never a problem until early 2015 was that the Evil Big Gub-ment A-holes at C.A.R.B. just tightened the standards for smog check program, where you can no longer have any I/M's showing as Incomplete. Up until early 2015, the regulation allowed for one I/M as incomplete. Stupid overpaid gub-ment A-holes making living in CA more and more difficult and costly.

 

[mattt]

Moving this back up in hopes a solution pops.

One additional piece of info I just picked up this weekend. I have a handheld Actron code reader that also shows live data when the engine is running. I plugged in to see if Secondary Air I/M monitor had run yet....still inc. I also checked to make sure engine temp was getting up to ~200*.....it is. The piece of info I found when viewing live data with the engine running was that under the heading "Sec Air" it said "Atmos." There is no explanation for "Atmos" in the manual for the reader, so I'd have to ask....what is that telling me?

Thanks in advance.

 

[afpj]

Taking a wild guess, but might mean you have a leak? My 02 yuk is not a California car so that 2ndary air is n/a on my I/m. Good luck

 

[mattt]

Not seeing/feeling any leaks. I did a little more nosing around tonight. At startup, the air pump turns on, has suction on short inlet hose. I then checked for vacuum, and had vacuum on the small plastic vacuum line that goes to the diverter valve. Next step was to remove the outlet hose coming from the diverter valve, which was removed right at the alum. tubing T where it splits from pass. side manifold on it's way over to drivers manifold. It had a high volume of air coming out of the outlet hose. The pump ran for about 1.5 minutes to maybe 2 minutes, then turned off.

It appears the system is working as it should. What is NOT happening is the ECU running it's own self test separate from the Secondary Air System working as it should at engine start up.

What a pain in the @$$ this has been. In May of this year, it will be ONE YEAR that this crap has been going on.....all simply from changing a dead battery.

Still hopeful someone sees this and knows the solution.

 

[4x4van]

Techs/shops hate when customers do this. They come in and get a diagnosis. A diag usually costs about $90-$100 so basically 1 hr shop labor time. I'd say 60% of the time it's pretty simple and I can figure it out in under an hour. No problem

The other 40% of the time it usually goes on 2+ hours to figure out the issue and with those cases you can only test what you can test (going back to my radiator/thermostat analogy). You may have indeed had a failed pump and check valves but there could have been more. You decided to take the diagnosis and run with it and maybe something else was faulty that couldn't be tested at the time?

Getting a diagnosis from a GM dealer in order to do your own repairs should not relegate a customer to 2nd class status. If that's something that is routinely costing the dealer too much money, then they should increase their diagnostic charge. Let's face it, most dealer rates are significantly higher than private shops, and of course much higher than a DIYer. Not all of us can afford to pay a dealer big bucks to keep a necessary vehicle on the road, so an accurate diagnosis followed by our own repair is the best that we can do.

I paid GM for a diagnosis on a transmission that seemed to be suddenly dropping into neutral while driving. Their diagnosis was that the tranny was toast; they quoted me $3500 to rebuild or $4200 to replace. I took it elsewhere and had a used trans installed for $1500 (didn't even ask THIS place for a diagnosis, since I already had a diagnosis; who better than GM, right?). On the way home, it dropped into neutral! Turned out the issue was the transfer case encoder motor; the trans was perfectly fine. I have no doubt that the dealer would have charged me the full $3500 for the unneeded trans rebuild, AND then another $800 for the "additional" encoder motor problem that they conveniently "found while rebuilding the trans". In fact, they may not have even touched the trans (yet still would have charged me for it).

On another forum (a Hummer forum), a female owner took her H3 in to a GM dealer to diagnose a rattling sound. They told her that the timing chain needed replacement, to the tune of $4000. They also told her that ONLY they could do the repair "because they had a patent on it"!!! After informing them that she was going to take the truck elsewhere for a 2nd opinion and wanted a printout of their diagnosis, suddenly the service manager changed the diagnosis to a serpentine belt tensioner for a few hundred $. And then he STILL upsold the woman for an overpriced brake job!

Sorry, but while dealers may hate it when a customer gets a diagnosis and then runs, customers hate it when they get jerked around by dealers for unnecessary expensive repairs, and with the complexity of today's computerized vehicles, even backyard mechanics that may be perfectly capable of doing their own repairs still often need some help with the diagnosis.

 

[4x4van]

1)

Save all receipts you have regarding this repair of the SAI monitor running and if it comes down to it take all of the receipts down to the "SMOG Board"**


** I have lived in CA most of my life but never had a smog license there. I have an emissions inspector license here in UT and if a vehicle cannot pass emissions there is a clause which allows a pass id the vehicle has been shown to have a certain dollar amount spent on attempting to correct the issue. Once you hit that dollar amount the car is exempt.

In CA, I believe that the exemption is only good for one (or two) years, and that the vehicle must still be made to pass for the next smog check. They will not give 2 exemptions in a row, regardless of $ spent.