So here's the deal. '05 R53 had the check engine light come on at 95K miles. Dealership said that one cylinder sporadically misfired (so sporadically that the check engine light often goes out for days at a time) due to the valves in that cylinder (aka the head needs to be machined). They quoted me $3500 to fix.

But, here's the thing. As I didn't have $3500 to spend, and the car ran fine (expect for the check engine light would occasionally come on), I did not repair and the car has continued to run fine for another 20K miles.

Now here's the problem. With the light on, it won't smog. I've replaced the plugs and coil pack, and soon the plug wires as well, to rule out those as potential problems. Other than machining the head, what can I do to pass smog?

 

Just clear the codes by disconnecting the battery for ten minutes, reconnect, go smog...

 

Not so fast...
the computer will tell the machine they plug into it if it is "ready" to be tested....a freshly reset computer will be rejected unless the smog test places only looks for the test...most plug in.
I'm not sure how man times the car must be started driven, shutdown, but you need to get a couple hundred miles in....
much simpler fix is to fix the problem.....simply do a head swap....get a new headgasket in the process...find a good donor head, perhaps $1500, then add the gasket, and the labour...should less than $3500 buy lots....any shop can do the work...just a few bolts, and a gasket....

 

Hahaha.... Yea the smog machine can see how many miles since your last rest...no way. Ive done it many times with intermittent CEL. I am an ASE certified mechanic and can tell you that CALI smog equipment cannot go into your computer to see when the last time your battery was disconnected. What if you had a dead battery Reset the computer, smog and report back if you had a problem.

 

Time to go back ro school....
One of the features of obd2 is the computer, while not keep track of miles, it does switch from open loop yo closed loop/vise versa...when the computer has learned the basic running of the motor, it is ready to be tested, and reports so..

A basic obd2 reader will tell you if tye computer is ready to test....immediately after resetting, it will report not ready. Simply put the motor must be started from cold, run to operating temp, and shut off a few times...

 

Just a few bolts and a gasket..... Okay. In the Bentley, cylinder heat removal and installation is 20+ pages and literally hundreds of steps. The procedure starts with "Cylinder head removal and installation is an extremely complex job and requires special tools."

- Mark

 

Zippy is right, just disconnecting the battery will not work. If it was that easy there would be no point in testing as everyone would simply clear the codes this way. Happened on my Suby and I replaced the parts. Tried the battery disconnect (no dice) so I bought a reader that also checked emissions and it took a good week to get them back to a ready status.

 

All true, but an experance mechanic can do it in an afternoon.
i never suggested that it was a simple diy...just something worth doing if you plan on keeping the car...
longterm, running with a misfire will likely cause more dammage, to other compotents, like the catlyatic converter, and possible the piston....
Question is, do you pay lots later, or fix it while doable...
a independant shop might be able to swap valve, but after running many yhousands of miles with a misfire, i personally would not trust the head to be crack free, or the head gasket to be in good shape....doing the repair will get you a new headgasket, other stuff comes down to $$$...sometimes it is simpler to swap out a part than fix
Check with your local club or find referals here to a local shop that has dealt with mini's(that way you are not paying somebody to learn on your car)).
the $$$ you were quoted seems very high....that is on par with dealer priceing.

 

Ive smog tested many obd2 cars same day after resetting the computer, oh well whatever, agree to disagree, I say give it a try worst they can do is tell you to retest in a day or two...Especially a misfire code that is so intermittent and he doesn't want to fix.

 

Sure...if the light stays out for days at a time he could try it....might pass the plg in test, might even pass the sniffer part....key is might...with a valve that is burnt/not sealing..chances of it passing is not great, but certainly possible.

 

there's quite a few heads out there aftermarket wise, I plan on getting the "Jesus"Head from RMW, look around there's proformance heads that you could get for around the 2grand mark...thankfully i don't have to pay shop prices on anything as a friend of mine is a euro car tech, and has everything I ever need

 

Jeski, I am sorry to tell you this but being supposedly ASE certified does not mean you know everything about cars. Obviously this is one thing your test did not teach you much about. All (yes all) OBDII vehicles in the United States (1996 +) are required to complete what is defined as a "drive cycle" when codes are cleared or the battery is disconnected resetting the computer. Most scanners are capable of checking drive cycle status. Many are not.

A drive cycle is a very simple predetermined set of conditions which must be met for the computer to determine that all the emissions control systems on the vehicle are in proper working order. If this drive cycle is not complete, at least one or more of the system checks will list incomplete. This again is easily viewed with a decent scanner which I should hope that all emissions inspection capable shops posses. The drive cycle which a vehicle must complete does not take more than about 15 minutes to perform.

If the problem related to the code which was present is not a hard fault (a problem which is present here and now) the drive cycle may pass before a problem is detected. This would likely explain your ability to pass smog testing after clearing the codes.

Again, I am sorry to tell you that this is not something you can just disagree with. This is a government regulation required for every OBDII vehicle on the road. In future, I would also suggest checking your information prior to dropping you ASE card on the table.

 

The new scanguage II (or an old one that you send back with $25 to be reprogramed) is said to be able to send the computer into the "ready to be tested" phase. This should mean that you can use it and immediately pass smog test here in CT which is just a code check.

I have not tried it, but for the $125 and also having the guage to do other things might be the way to go. My car used to toss a 0130 code often due to the exhaust. I reset the car, drove 25 miles over a day or so with a few restarts and then it passed before I had the scangauge II.

I would give it a try. Even find one local to try it out and see.

 

Looks like blitzen joined OCT. 17, posted this on Oct.18, checked back for a week.

Didn’t get any help and has moved on.

ab

 

Jeski - as one who recently tried your approach, all I can say is that in California anyway, this is a good way to make yet another donation to your local neighborhood smog check mechanic. In other words, IT DOES NOT WORK!

 

I'm in Calif. and had mine smoged. I cleared a code and had it checked. Did not pass so I drove it for about 30 miles (started it once) went back and had it checked again and passed with flying colors. By the way my car is highly modded. BVH, header,exhust,cam,inj,s/charger ported, tuned and a few others.

 

Not that uncommon with a newbie..
they want something for nothing, they want it instantly, and they want a simple answer ...like add a bottle of x, then do the test, will save you $3000...lets face it, no "liquid mechanic in a bottle" can do a physical repair...sometimes a broken item is broken, and you cannot make a person fix it...they think if a car moves, they don't have to spend $$ on it....
Then to add insult to injury they don't hang around, to "give back" and help others...
I call them drive through members...ones who have a post that starts with an isdue, not a hello, i live in x, and drive y, nice to meet all of you. Community members, no, parasites perhaps....some folks are busy, but anytime you try to crowd scoure a question you must sort through a certain amount of bs, and obviosly wrong info, but free advise is woth what you pay for it........