Help, please, with Expeditions West Tacoma drive cycle/sensor ready issue

[Ford Prefect]

Mike,

I have had the "not ready" on several vehicles (ok, well, three) but ultimately what that useually means (in my experience) is that you have simply not driven the vehicle enough for it to have sampled enough data to report back the needs of the computer.

This can also be a result of a faulty device. IE if you had a broken evap and then the light came on, Dave reset the light, and now it can not read so it just repots not ready.

How much have you driven it since it got to you? My old chevy required a minimum of ten starts that reached fifty or more miles per hour to be able to read the evap. My WJ only took five starts (with no miles needed at all) so I would just say take it for a few drives, go out to the interstate, drive it down to the next exit, then take surface roads home. Do that a few times and you should be good to go. (hope you have a temp tag on that thing...)

Hope that helps.

Brian

 

[mhiscox]

Mike,

I have had the "not ready" on several vehicles (ok, well, three) but ultimately what that usually means (in my experience) is that you have simply not driven the vehicle enough for it to have sampled enough data to report back the needs of the computer.

Brian

In spite of the fact there's about a thousand miles on it since the error code, that's pretty much the same story I got from the dealership, so I'll be driving the heck out of it over the weekend in a whole bunch of different ways to see if we can make some progress.

Sadly, when told it was an Evap Canister error that Dave cleared, the dealer's mechanic was, like, "Oh, yeah, friend of mine had that and it took FOREVER. They're the absolute hardest." Lucky me.

 

[mhiscox]

Yippee Skippee!

Well, it was a fight, pa, but we won. :sombrero:

The Tacoma passed emissions testing today, so we've got plates and are good to go.

Since the last post, I'd added several hundred miles of varied driving, but (according to the ScanGauge) to no avail; the catalyst and evap sensors still reported not ready. So on Saturday night around midnight, we took it out and followed the elaborate and time-consuming pair of "drive cycles" outlined in a Toyota technical service bulletin that'd been posted on the Tacoma Owner's forum. About 75 minutes of precise driving.

This involved lots of laps around an empty business park, stops, starts and, most annoying, 16 minutes of fluctuating between 35 and 45 mph without stopping . . . so it had to be done on the freeway with the hazards flashing and the sincere hope that all the LEOs were otherwise occupied.

The happy ending is that the catalyst sensor eventually reported ready, which was tolerable (they let one sensor be "unready") and it passed with no troubles.

A total pain in the butt, but all's well that ends well. Thanks to everyone for their help.

 

[4Rescue]

You guys are . . . sniffle . . . true friends, and it's a real comfort to know that there are Expo members willing to step in and take this old truck off my hands. In fact, I'll bet I sleep better tonight knowing that it's hardly important trying to license the truck for my own use. :sombrero:

Still, given that Dave went to all the trouble to drive the truck up here, I suppose I really ought to make the effort, so I'll still appreciate any additional advice people happen to have.

Man Mike, with all the traveling you do you should make the state give you another adress in another part of Oregon and just register it there ... That way you just get your tags in the mail every year. I'm about to re-register my truck down to my Cabin on the Alsea river/Central coast so NO MO emissions...I don't think I'll miss it eh Basicly, rural oregon has no emissions,wich I'm sure you know... Don't know if maybe you have some other property somewhere you could do this with but...

On another note, couldn't you just re-set the ECU somehow??? I'm not familiar enough with the modern Toyota ECU's but I'd think there'd be a way to "wake up" the sensors besides some odd, convolutes manor as described above. It's just so wierd to have specific sensors just stop working unless htey shorted or got zapped somehow???

So the Former E-west Taco is now in Portland??? I gotta see this thing...

Cheers

Dave

EDIT: WELL guess I should read the thread through eh Glad to hear you got it sorted eh.

 

[mhiscox]

Basically, rural Oregon has no emissions, which I'm sure you know... Don't know if maybe you have some other property somewhere you could do this with but...

Yeah, well, we almost had an ExPo raffle to see who got to keep the truck at their non-emissions-controlled house and loan it out to me occasionally. :sombrero:

To be honest, if the weekend's weird driving hadn't worked, it might have come to that, as there wasn't anything that could be "fixed"; just drive it until it got happy.

 

[AlexJet]

I have a Scangauge II attached, but it's principal role right now is telling me I have a "NOT READY" condition.

Is it in SCAN/CODES menu?

 

[AlexJet]

Yippee Skippee!...So on Saturday night around midnight, we took it out and followed the elaborate and time-consuming pair of "drive cycles" outlined in a Toyota technical service bulletin that'd been posted on the Tacoma Owner's forum. About 75 minutes of precise driving.

This involved lots of laps around an empty business park, stops, starts and, most annoying, 16 minutes of fluctuating between 35 and 45 mph without stopping . . . so it had to be done on the freeway with the hazards flashing and the sincere hope that all the LEOs were otherwise occupied.

The happy ending is that the catalyst sensor eventually reported ready, which was tolerable (they let one sensor be "unready") and it passed with no troubles...

CAn you post up this Toyota "driving cycle" or place a link to it?

 

[mhiscox]

CAn you post up this Toyota "driving cycle" or place a link to it?

The most comprehensive copy I came across can be had by going here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?g4z0zgwn1mq

and clicking on the "download" button to download the .pdf from Toyota.

 

[mhiscox]

Is it in SCAN/CODES menu?

If you have non-reporting sensors, when you go to the "Scan" function, the display will read "No Codes" in the top line and "Not Ready" on the bottom line.

There is a somewhat complex method described here . . .

http://www.scangauge.com/support/OBDIITestStatus.shtml

that you can use to have the ScanGauge identify which sensors are not ready.

 

[slooowr6]

Dig up this old post cause my friend just had the same issue with "Not ready". Is there a better way to get it "Ready"? I can't imagine asking a 70 old grand-pop do the driving cycle to get the car ready for smog check.
BTW I'm in California.
Thanks.