cricket Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 I have a 2005 Legacy GT, manual transmission. I was in an accident, which needed some body work, the repair went well. My car failed its first inspection, I was told, because the computer needs to "self-set"; and to do this I must drive about 500 miles of highway driving. Or they can manually reset it at $300. Does this make sence to anyone? cricket Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsme Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 How about taking it to the dealer you are still under warrenty? Racer X FMIC for '05-'09 LGTs, '08+ WRX and '10+ LGT,'14+ FXT, and '15+ WRX TMIC Racerxengineering.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laz Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 Sounds like BS to me, but RI laws may be different. Do you have a CEL on? X --- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lookslikeanevo Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 I have a 2005 Legacy GT, manual transmission. I was in an accident, which needed some body work, the repair went well. My car failed its first inspection, I was told, because the computer needs to "self-set"; and to do this I must drive about 500 miles of highway driving. Or they can manually reset it at $300. Does this make sence to anyone? cricket no it doesnt make sense...but i am unfamiliar withyour state laws, but it seems like the person was just trying to make money Current:MY05 SWP wagon - 253/290 UP, AEM CAI, Invidia Q300, tuned@yimisport OLD: MY06 GRP - 274/314 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilh Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 I'm not sure if this is what you're talking about, but your ECU needs a certain amount of time/miles on it after a reset before it will give proper emissions readings. Basically, with OBD-II, they are trusting the ECU to tell them if the emissions are clean enough, and if everyone just reset the ECUs before going in for the inspection to mask real problems that wouldn't be terribly useful. We had this happen in MA to our V70. We had to put 300+ miles on it after a reset before they would pass us. We had to drive around with a FAIL sticker during that time. In MA, the retest is free. --Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
underpowerd Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 my girl had a silly o2 sensor give a cel in her old car (saturn, bleh), so i replaced it/reset ecu, took it to SI, failed with a very similar explanation...passed later. i believe they can tell if the ecu has been reset very recently; might the shop you used have done a hard reset while doing whatever...? (i'd take 500 mi. of lgt driving over paying someone 300$ anyday ) good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derffred Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 it makes sense... when you reset the ECU, all of it's adaptation values are erased as well, so you have to drive it so the ECU can determine the what's needed to make it run "better". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lookslikeanevo Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 it makes sense... when you reset the ECU, all of it's adaptation values are erased as well, so you have to drive it so the ECU can determine the what's needed to make it run "better". but it doesnt amke sense that he was being asked to pay $300 to do a hard reset? Current:MY05 SWP wagon - 253/290 UP, AEM CAI, Invidia Q300, tuned@yimisport OLD: MY06 GRP - 274/314 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leggtnut Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 same thing happend to my wife's 98 forester when we moved to CA. But they said to just drive it more and try again. at least the mechanic only charged us only $20 for the first failed inspection and $60 for the second passing inspection. We had reset the ECU because the MPG was getting really bad on the CA gas (10mpg before and 20mpg after). Ben (2014 Outback SAP w/ eyesite, 2014 Tribeca Limited, 2006 LGT limited sedan) Subaru Ambassador PNW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derffred Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 but it doesnt amke sense that he was being asked to pay $300 to do a hard reset? that was probably a.. "gimmi 300 and i'll pass you"... kinda thing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Codean Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 All obd II vehicles have what are called "readiness" tests. These are the tests the vehicles run so that when the emissions guys plug in there scaners they can see if the car is running correctly and the reason why they don't do an exhaust "sniffer" tests anymore... the ecu does it for them. If you disconnect the battery these tests all have to be re-run and this could take quite a few miles of both city and highway driving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STG Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 How about taking it to the dealer you are still under warrenty? He had an ACCIDENT (nothing to do with Subaru). If the computer needs to be reset as a result of an accident, or milage accumilated before RI will test for emmissions, how is this Subaru's fault, responsibilty, or warranty responsibilty? If the car didn't pass the test and it was stock and not involved in an accident, a warranty claim would be justified. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rao Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 It is absolute BS, the ecu needs some time to set the "readiness" codes. It takes several cycles so just drive the car arund for a few days. Charging you $300 to set them is absurd and is likely a violation of the Federal Clean Air Act. Rob IF YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR CAR YOU SHOULD NEVER DRIVE IT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b4wantab Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 While you were getting the car fixed they probably disconnected the battery or left a light on and had to jump the car. Either way it sounds like the ECU was "reset". I am unsure of Subaru's cycle but I know that DCM vehicles had to cycle completely through all sensors 3 times before the ECU would go into running mode. Drive around for another week, you should be fine. Peace, Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DriverX Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 The body shop probably disconected the battery when they were working on the car, that would re-set the ECU....drive the car and get re-tested Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitestar Pilot Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 Sounds like BS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwmiller Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 Just curious, Running stage 2, what would the ECU test show? Would it read the car is modified???? Or would the test not beable to read the ecu mod?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robinlsb Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 The body shop probably disconected the battery when they were working on the car, that would re-set the ECU....drive the car and get re-tested +1 on the above. It has to be driven for a while. Same problem in Mass! Its 300 bucks for them to drive it around. "Belief does not make truth. Evidence makes truth. And belief does not make evidence." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cricket Posted November 1, 2006 Author Share Posted November 1, 2006 all set. With 200 extra miles it reset itself. The car passed the inspection with no further cost to me. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beanboy Posted November 1, 2006 Share Posted November 1, 2006 Modified maps will pass just fine for emission testing purposes. Gotta love computers, hehe. -B http://www.standardshift.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98impreza2.5rs Posted November 1, 2006 Share Posted November 1, 2006 I love nebraska! No emissions testing here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTTuner Posted November 2, 2006 Share Posted November 2, 2006 I'm in RI and my car passed the em test on TDC stage 2. As someone stated before, it's all about OBD II readiness monitors. If you "reset" the ecu the monitor data is erased and you have to drive the car and get the monitors to run and pass. I run across this all the time at our shop. We take the car for a 9 mile road test that includes 4 or 5 miles on the highway. This is all you need to reset them. The trick is to drive as smoothly as possible. The monitors have "enabling" conditions which must be met for them to run. Conditions include run time, coolant temp, road speed, RPM, and throttle position. Throttle position is very important to run. You cannot go out and drive like a nut and reset monitors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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