Rubi-Con
Member
- First Name
- Mike
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2025
- Threads
- 2
- Messages
- 8
- Reaction score
- 10
- Location
- Rockaway Beach, NY
- Vehicle(s)
- 2021 JLR
- Thread starter
- #1
Greetings. New Poster here.
I was shocked and super stressed last week after my '21 JLR (manual) failed it's annual NYS Safety Inspection for emissions at my Jeep dealership on Long Island. It generated a report stating that the "On Board Computer System (OBD) was not ready to make a determination of the condition of the pollution control system on the vehicle." More specifically it stated that the O2 Monitor and the EGR Monitor were not ready.
My Jeep is exactly five years old and has only 29,000 miles on it.
Back in July I had the auxiliary battery replaced that runs the annoying ESS Start Stop. I had a warning light on the dash about it and the dealership said it was due to that battery being dead. So now the guys at the dealership told me that when they changed the battery it cleared the DTCs on the computer and I just had to drive more. Meanwhile, that was months ago and I had put about 1000 miles on since then (local and highway).
They told me to drive 50 miles at 60 mph steady and come back. Skeptically I did that, came back, and it failed again! I left unhappy to say the least. I've never had a car fail inspection before and I've had some clunkers over the years. Now I was stuck in some emissions test limbo with an inspection sticker expiring in 2 days.
Kudos to the Jeepers on this forum because I was able to find previous posts regarding similar issues that saved my butt!
Unbenownst to me you need to complete a series of Drive Cycles so that the monitors in the OBD sytem reset and become "ready".
This is what I did:
First i bought a cheap OBD II scanner / reader on Amazon for $19 which arrived in a day.
Then I performed this Drive Cycle to clear the EGR monitor:
1. Cold Start
2. Idle (parked) for 5 minutes
3. Drive at a steady speed between 40-60 mph for 2 minutes
4. Coast to under 20 mph before applying brake and pull over.
5. Park & Idle for 3 minutes.
A few days later I performed this Drive Cycle to clear the O2 monitor:
1. Cold Start
2. Idle (parked) for 5 minutes.
3. Drive to 35 mph and come to a complete stop.
4. Get on a highway and drive at 55 mph for 3 minutes shifting into 6th gear (manual)
5. Decelerate to 20 mph (no braking, no downshifting)
6. Accelerate to 55 mph for 5 minutes. (I did shift into 3rd gear and back up to 6th for this step)
7. Decelerate down to 20 mph (no braking, no downshifting)
8. Park & Idle for 3 minutes.
9. Turn off engine for 3 minutes.
Shockingly, these both worked for me the first time. I plugged in my OBD II reader and both monitors were showing as ready. Back to the dealership and it passed Inspection! What a relief!
Again, I want to thank those on this forum because I would have not figured this out.
The dealership was not this specific and basically just told me to keep driving.
The only thing in the vehicle manual that refers to this is on page 133. "If your OBD II system is not ready, you should see an authorized dealer or repair facility. If your vehicle was recently serviced or had a battery failure or replacement, you may need to do nothing more than drive your vehicle as you normally would in order for your OBD II system to update."
Not sure if the manual trasmissions are more finicky with this. I rarely use 6th gear. I wonder if that had something to do with the O2 sensor not resetting this whole time.
Anyway wanted to post this in case someone else out there comes across this problem.
Lessons learned:
1. Don't wait until the very end of the month that the Inspection sticker is expiring to have re-inspected
2. Don't disconnect any batteries as the time nears for an annual inspection / emissions test / smog test, etc.
Happy Trails!
I was shocked and super stressed last week after my '21 JLR (manual) failed it's annual NYS Safety Inspection for emissions at my Jeep dealership on Long Island. It generated a report stating that the "On Board Computer System (OBD) was not ready to make a determination of the condition of the pollution control system on the vehicle." More specifically it stated that the O2 Monitor and the EGR Monitor were not ready.
My Jeep is exactly five years old and has only 29,000 miles on it.
Back in July I had the auxiliary battery replaced that runs the annoying ESS Start Stop. I had a warning light on the dash about it and the dealership said it was due to that battery being dead. So now the guys at the dealership told me that when they changed the battery it cleared the DTCs on the computer and I just had to drive more. Meanwhile, that was months ago and I had put about 1000 miles on since then (local and highway).
They told me to drive 50 miles at 60 mph steady and come back. Skeptically I did that, came back, and it failed again! I left unhappy to say the least. I've never had a car fail inspection before and I've had some clunkers over the years. Now I was stuck in some emissions test limbo with an inspection sticker expiring in 2 days.
Kudos to the Jeepers on this forum because I was able to find previous posts regarding similar issues that saved my butt!
Unbenownst to me you need to complete a series of Drive Cycles so that the monitors in the OBD sytem reset and become "ready".
This is what I did:
First i bought a cheap OBD II scanner / reader on Amazon for $19 which arrived in a day.
Then I performed this Drive Cycle to clear the EGR monitor:
1. Cold Start
2. Idle (parked) for 5 minutes
3. Drive at a steady speed between 40-60 mph for 2 minutes
4. Coast to under 20 mph before applying brake and pull over.
5. Park & Idle for 3 minutes.
A few days later I performed this Drive Cycle to clear the O2 monitor:
1. Cold Start
2. Idle (parked) for 5 minutes.
3. Drive to 35 mph and come to a complete stop.
4. Get on a highway and drive at 55 mph for 3 minutes shifting into 6th gear (manual)
5. Decelerate to 20 mph (no braking, no downshifting)
6. Accelerate to 55 mph for 5 minutes. (I did shift into 3rd gear and back up to 6th for this step)
7. Decelerate down to 20 mph (no braking, no downshifting)
8. Park & Idle for 3 minutes.
9. Turn off engine for 3 minutes.
Shockingly, these both worked for me the first time. I plugged in my OBD II reader and both monitors were showing as ready. Back to the dealership and it passed Inspection! What a relief!
Again, I want to thank those on this forum because I would have not figured this out.
The dealership was not this specific and basically just told me to keep driving.
The only thing in the vehicle manual that refers to this is on page 133. "If your OBD II system is not ready, you should see an authorized dealer or repair facility. If your vehicle was recently serviced or had a battery failure or replacement, you may need to do nothing more than drive your vehicle as you normally would in order for your OBD II system to update."
Not sure if the manual trasmissions are more finicky with this. I rarely use 6th gear. I wonder if that had something to do with the O2 sensor not resetting this whole time.
Anyway wanted to post this in case someone else out there comes across this problem.
Lessons learned:
1. Don't wait until the very end of the month that the Inspection sticker is expiring to have re-inspected
2. Don't disconnect any batteries as the time nears for an annual inspection / emissions test / smog test, etc.
Happy Trails!
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