Failed diagnostic inspection

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Willshak - 19 Feb 2007 15:30 GMT

97 Nissan PU 2.4 4cyl. 4x4 55,660 miles
My NY state inspection failed last week due to "Unit not ready". The
safety inspection passed. I had disconnected the battery a few weeks ago
when doing some electrical work and the inspector said that after
disconnecting the battery, the car must be driven at least 70 miles to
reset the computer. I got a 10 day extension and drove the truck for at
least 150 miles before taking it back to be re-inspected. The truck
failed for the same reason. "Unit not ready".
Here in NY, when the annual diagnostic inspection is done, it is done
through the NYS DMV computer and they print the failure notice so it
cannot be fudged.
Any ideas on why the unit is not ready? It has been below freezing here
for the past 3 weeks and when starting, the starter is slow, but the
engine does start within a few revolutions.
I have no check engine indicators showing on the dash.
Could the computer be dead, or a dead circuit breaker or fuse? The truck
runs fine. I only have
2 more days on my 10 day inspection, so I have to have it done fast or
get a registration suspension.

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Bill
in Hamptonburgh, NY
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C. E. White - 19 Feb 2007 16:00 GMT

See http://lyberty.com/car/maxima_tsb.html and
http://lyberty.com/car/Maxima_A32_docs/NTB98-018c.pdf. The second
reference is a Nissan Service bulletin. If you read the whole thing
you will find a driving pattern to complete the readiness.

Apparently fixing the "not ready" flag is a apin for the 96 and 97
Nissans. From http://www.smogcheck.ca.gov/ftp/pdfdocs/APPENDIX_J.pdf :

Nissan 1996- 1997 All Models :
The catalyst and evaporative monitors are difficult to set to
"complete." Nissan provides recommended drive cycles (drive patterns)
in its service information to assist technicians to operate monitors.
See Nissan Technical Service Bulletin #NTB98-018c, January 3, 2002.
[http://lyberty.com/car/Maxima_A32_docs/NTB98-018c.pdf]

Ed

> 97 Nissan PU 2.4 4cyl. 4x4 55,660 miles
> My NY state inspection failed last week due to "Unit not ready". The
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
> 2 more days on my 10 day inspection, so I have to have it done fast
> or get a registration suspension.

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Willshak - 20 Feb 2007 22:56 GMT

> See http://lyberty.com/car/maxima_tsb.html and
> http://lyberty.com/car/Maxima_A32_docs/NTB98-018c.pdf. The second
[quoted text clipped - 36 lines]
>
>

Thanks.
After reading what had to be done to reset the computer, this morning I
called 'Nissan of Middletown' where I bought the truck in '97. They said
they couldn't give me an appointment until next week (10 day inspection
extension expires Friday). I then called another local Nissan dealer
('Newburgh Nissan'). They told me to bring it in. I dropped it off at 11
AM and they had it in the shop before my friend arrived to pick me up.
I called after 3 PM to see how they were doing and they said they still
had it on the road doing that resetting procedure. They had completed
one trip and were on the second rerun of the procedure.
They called me at about 5 PM and said they couldn't get the computer to
reset after running through the road procedure both times. The guy said
all their techs were standing around the truck trying to figure out what
was wrong. I asked what would happen if they couldn't reset it and he
said he didn't know, because they never had a problem resetting it
before. He is going to call a district tech tomorrow. He asked if I
wanted to take the truck home and bring it back tomorrow or leave it
there overnight. I left it there.
More to follow.

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Bill
in Hamptonburgh, NY
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