Failed Texas State Inspection

[Vip1]

I have a 2008 Viper that failed Texas State Inspection. The only mods are Random Tech High Flow Cats they are throwing codes P0420 bank 1 and P0430 bank 2, has anyone else had this problem and is there a fix???. Thanks

 

[Martin]

How long ago did you install them? About 50 miles after I installed mine, I got the P0430 CEL - and it showed up after I had left my car idling for a while. It didn't go away after many, many drive cycles. I manually cleared the code, and it seems to be gone now - about 100 miles with no code. One thing I've done is not let the car idle for too long after starting - I start it up, let it idle for a 'reasonable' amount of time (maybe a minute) and then rev it up to around 1500-2000 RPM for thirty seconds or so to get the cats nice and hot. Then I drive with with those cats in the back of my mind - stay in lower gear than I normally would and keep them nice and hot.

Theoretically, your PCM will eventually 'learn' what the 'normal' operation of your cats is. It might take a few cycles of triggering the CEL, clearing it, etc. Hope that helps - it's definitely the downside of running high-flow cats...

One thing you might consider if you have a Droid device is to get a Bluetooth OBDII connector and link it to your Droid (running the Torque application). You can graph the voltage pattern of your upstream and downstream O2 sensors and that will tell you real quick whether it's just the PCM that needs to learn the new cat, or if you have a busted wire or bad connection someplace.

 

[lxadeuce]

isn't that the o2 sensor code? if so, i have heard that putting spark plug non foulers as a spacer pulls the o2 sensor from the exhaust stream and it'll go away

 

[Vip1]

Thanks for the responce, I put the HFC on a year ago with the CEL lighting up and going off depending on driving I'm going to try the non foulers but was told they might not seat in, but will try anyway just don't want this problem every year.

 

[rpm9000]

Troy,
You might get some O2 simulators from Roe Racing. That would probably correct it.

 

[Vip1]

Thanks Paul I'll call them.

 

[hou99gts]

My 2006 Vert failed inspection with O2 sims when I installed HFC and a Corsa cat-back. They kept the CEL from coming on, but the inspection computer would not pass it.

 

[345s-bspinnin]

Vip1. You have a PM.

 

[FLATOUT]

I always have a problem just getting the systems to report. I have to drive the car for awhile for them to show "ready". I just have a corsa catback. I need to find a friendly location next time.

 

[Bird325]

Flatout, you might try letting people know where you are... that way someone local may have some ideas.

 

[Vip1]

Andy. You have PM

 

[FLATOUT]

Lol Sorry Bird I'm in Houston, and everyone else in this thread is local to me.

 

[Martin]

Here's a question related to this - on a Gen IV, if you get the cat code (0420 and/or 0430) and you clear it with whatever type of scantool you use, and you drive the car for 20 or 30 miles with no code coming back, will it pass? I know with other cars, I can just clear the code and as long as the code stays away long enough for all the parameters in the PCM to reset, it passes. You got me wondering about my Gen IV... In Cali, if you fail something obvious like the cat efficiency, they'll do a very detailed visual - and if you have an aftermarket cat on the car, you could get flagged, which isn't pretty. I'm wondering if the new PCMs store old codes long enough to screw up the test. Older ones seemed to be fine, but I don't know much about the newer ones.

 

[chiurw]

Here's a question related to this - on a Gen IV, if you get the cat code (0420 and/or 0430) and you clear it with whatever type of scantool you use, and you drive the car for 20 or 30 miles with no code coming back, will it pass? I know with other cars, I can just clear the code and as long as the code stays away long enough for all the parameters in the PCM to reset, it passes. You got me wondering about my Gen IV... In Cali, if you fail something obvious like the cat efficiency, they'll do a very detailed visual - and if you have an aftermarket cat on the car, you could get flagged, which isn't pretty. I'm wondering if the new PCMs store old codes long enough to screw up the test. Older ones seemed to be fine, but I don't know much about the newer ones.

Thought so too but from my experience with my Z06, it did not work. My Z06 was throwing a CEL for a faulty air check valve. I cleared the codes, drove it hard for 20 minutes and then took it for an emission inspection. It failed. The dealer told me they were surprised that it failed their emission test yet there were no fault codes stored on the car's computer. Turns out that the emission tester hooks up to the OBDII port and exercises the emission system on the car. In my case, the emission computer remotely turned on the air pump but did not see the O2 sensor voltage rise. That is what triggered the failure. I imagine that something very similar is happening to the OPs Viper.