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1996 Saturn SL Base SL Manual

1996 Saturn SL
Trim Info:
Front Wheel Drive, 4 Door Sedan, Compact
29 mpg city / 40 mpg hwy
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January 23, 2013, 8:38 am

Melinda L
 

Question: there are codes not ready to be inspected.

I have driven my car 250 miles and the codes will not reset for inspection. The codes keep saying incomplete. I have tried to get it inspected 3 times not over the past three weeks and the car keeps coming up as "5" codes incomplete.


January 26, 2013, 8:52 pm

Ron W
Expert Mechanic

I think you mean monitors are not complete. You need to drive in the drive cylce to get them to run.

The drive cycle is designed to run the OBDII monitors for your car. Monitors are basically tests that the computer performs to check if it's systems are working properly. The O2 test (usually at cruise for a couple of minutes) checks the switching ability and the switching speed of the O2. If it fails any part of the monitor, the SES comes on. Some people's driving habits may not let the car meet the criteria to run one of the tests, so if the test doesn't run, the computer doesn't know it has a problem, and the SES light doesn't come on.

The best thing to do to try and run all the monitors is to drive 50 or so miles mixing up highway and city driving, then have the monitors checked. If they all haven't run, you'll have to continue driving and checking until they run.

There is a picture of a typical drive cycle in this link.

http://www.trustmymechanic.com/forum/b1/does-driving-30-miles-sound-right-to-fix-car-and-pass-smog-t/35669/

Try running that cycle and see if you can get the monitors to run.


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