Honda Car Forum

I'm having a problem getting my car approved in its yearly inspection and I
don't understand why.
My battery had completely discharged and the mechanic says the computer has
to go through its own calibration before the car can be accepted.
In particular he said that the car had to be driven for at least 20 miles at
60+ mph.
After this was done, he said there were still 2 problematic "monitors" that
had to be addressed. Which were:
1. The car may have excessive gasoline in the tank. He recommended burning
off gas till the tank was half full.
2. He said that its possible that there may be excessive vapor in the fuel
system. (wouldn't that be influenced by item 1.?)
I am completely puzzled by this whole thing. I always thought that, if there
was a problem, a sensor would indicate an out range error and point to a
possible problem component via an error code.
Why is this situation not conventional?
The mechanic claims that he has a bulletin document from Honda which
describes this. Does anyone out there have any knowledge about this?

On 3/19/09 11:51 AM, in article 49c2781d$0$22505$607ed4bc@cv.net, "murray"
<murraysch@optonline.net> wrote:

> I'm having a problem getting my car approved in its yearly inspection and I
> don't understand why.
> My battery had completely discharged and the mechanic says the computer has
> to go through its own calibration before the car can be accepted.
> In particular he said that the car had to be driven for at least 20 miles at
> 60+ mph.
> After this was done, he said there were still 2 problematic "monitors" that
> had to be addressed. Which were:
> 1. The car may have excessive gasoline in the tank. He recommended burning
> off gas till the tank was half full.
> 2. He said that its possible that there may be excessive vapor in the fuel
> system. (wouldn't that be influenced by item 1.?)
> I am completely puzzled by this whole thing. I always thought that, if there
> was a problem, a sensor would indicate an out range error and point to a
> possible problem component via an error code.
> Why is this situation not conventional?
> The mechanic claims that he has a bulletin document from Honda which
> describes this. Does anyone out there have any knowledge about this?
>
>
>
Its pretty normal for all OBD-II cars to have to execute a predefined "drive
cycle" after the ECM has been reset before the monitors come up "ready". It
varies from car to car exactly what the sequence is. Be glad you have a
Honda. Some of the mid-90's Nissans have incredibly convoluted sequences
that usually take weeks of driving before they come up "ready".

"murray" <murraysch@optonline.net> wrote in
news:49c2781d$0$22505$607ed4bc@cv.net:

> I'm having a problem getting my car approved in its yearly inspection
> and I don't understand why.
> My battery had completely discharged and the mechanic says the
> computer has to go through its own calibration before the car can be
> accepted. In particular he said that the car had to be driven for at
> least 20 miles at 60+ mph.



You need several days of dead-cold to full-hot running which includes as
many driving situations and speeds as possible.



> After this was done, he said there were still 2 problematic "monitors"
> that had to be addressed. Which were:
> 1. The car may have excessive gasoline in the tank. He recommended
> burning off gas till the tank was half full.



This is required because the EVAP tests are not run until the gas tank
is between 3/4 and 1/4 full. Therefore the EVAP monitors will report
"not ready" until the tank level declines and those tests are run.



> 2. He said that its possible that there may be excessive vapor in the
> fuel system. (wouldn't that be influenced by item 1.?)




That assertion doesn't make much sense, unfortunately. Perhaps you've
misunderstood his words?




> I am completely puzzled by this whole thing. I always thought that, if
> there was a problem, a sensor would indicate an out range error and
> point to a possible problem component via an error code.



That's correct. But those error codes are generated when a particular
system fails the test that is run by the engine's computer. If the
computer never runs the test, you won't get an error code, but you'll
also have a "not ready" flag in the computer for that monitor.



> Why is this situation not conventional?
> The mechanic claims that he has a bulletin document from Honda which
> describes this. Does anyone out there have any knowledge about this?
>


I'm not personally aware of any such TSB for the '05 Accord. If your
mechanic could give you the TSB number and you could pass it along here,
that would be really nice.


--
Tegger

The Unofficial Honda/Acura FAQ
www.tegger.com/hondafaq/