yamagirl

Hello, well great... our 98 3.4 auto 4x4 4runner failed smog today, the tech said he did not have with him the scanner he needed to find exactly why its not passing at idle speeds. I do not understand how a scanner will tell whats up, when theres never never been any codes thrown, and theres never been a CEL either... or am I wrong on this assumption??.
They seem to think it s 02/ Cat issue, but again how is it any of these are bad? would it not give me a CEL?? Any thoughts before this fiasco costs us a months pay to pass smog.

J2F42C

I had an O2 once go bad on me on a Camry and it did not throw a CEL but made the car run something awful.

I'd look into cleaning the MAF, along with the IAC if they have never been done or lately. How about plugs, fuel filter, etc....

I'd go see a different tech who has the right equipment to get a second opinion who is able to produce a concrete answer.

tunnelmotor99

Just remember that you want to find out what the problem is first. A lot of shops will try to sell you a fix without diagnosing the problem. If it failed, it either has a code stored or the readiness monitors are not complete. In GA when a vehicle fails the printout says why it failed, not sure about other states. Has the battery been disconnected recently? Take it to autozone, they will read the code for free. If you do some of your own repairs, a good code reader is a necessity. This is the one I use: http://www.scantool.net/launch-creader-v.html

yamagirl

The visual was a pass, high speed was good but the idle speed test had high HC's, thats all the print out says. What are the readiness monitors??

PismoJoe

Idling is harder on the cat, sounds like its about to go

Cats are good to about 200k/10 years ish

You should be throwing P0420, cat deficiency b1, if its bad though (in a perfect world scenario)

eddieleephd

High HC's can simply be a dirty MAF Basically means at an idle you have too much Fuel and this is directed by the MAF and o2's!!!
I would suggest cleaning the MAF and rechecking to see what happens!!

As tunnelmotor99 Said in Georgia the Equipment says what is wrong and their are required to tell you what to fix and retest the vehicle at least twice!!

yamagirl

Well oddly enough it threw a CEL yesterday then went off after 30 miles or so, now seems to be running better then ever power wise also. The MAF was cleaned a while ago also BTW. In the short of it the original shop who smogged and failed it cannot do the diagnostic, now im taking it to another Asian only shop for round #2. So now here in Ca thay have passed a law requiring actual facotry only replacement cats on some cars,Im not sure what makes one need a factory cat only, but this sounds like its gonna get expensive possibly...this stuff never comes at a good time does it.

eddieleephd

It is Ca. they are trying to stop the use of high flow cat's and there is no other reason for this law as far as I know!!