need advice on the "drive cycle"

[jeep-N-montero]

Just so you all have an idea of what the ECU might be looking for, this is the readiness drive cycle for a Volvo 850:



The Mitsu won't be exactly the same, but you can see the variety of situations that must be recorded in order for the readiness checks to compete. If yours is still having issues, hopefully the new ECU will fix it. Good luck!

The link I provided is similar.

 

[Mudrunner]

My understanding is it was done to prevent people from clearing a code to try and pass an emissions test.

Yes and no the readiness statuses are actually called C.A.R.B readiness. Which stands for California Air Resources Board. This was a set of rules determined to make sure a car was running the lowest base amount of emmisions. I think it was more of a bonus that it also makes it hard to clear a code just to pass.

 

[off-roader]

Yeah, it was a long time smog tech that told me it was to prevent people from trying to pass a test by simply resetting the ecu for a problem that doesn't trigger a code immediately... So I'm not 100% sure of the truth of his statement but it makes sense since that's how many were able to pass with intermittent issues.

FWIW when I encountered this, I was talking to said buddy who said well, we can check if the readiness codes are set now if you want? I had the original smog test done someplace else and had a free smog retest from them so I wasn't exactly keen to try again until I was at the other smog check station. Well, we checked it and the codes were set, so I went ahead and just had him do the test there. I passed just squeaking by.

 

[jlocster]

So did you ever get your ecu replaced jeep-n-montero?