Hello. Im working on an 03 subaru forester ej25 Auto tran. The problem is the monitors are not setting as ready. Ive drove this car over 2,000 miles. separate trips. Have driven it the recommended drive cycles over and over again. At this point ive tried to use romraider and ecuflash with the open port 2.0 cable to try to see if something is wrong with the ecu or something??? Unfortunately i wasn't able to pull the rom or log for some reason. Not sure why. 

 

The only not ready monitor is the o2. This happened after the cat was replaced. 

Any ideas would be helpful. Thank you in advance. 

No one has any suggestions? 

I have never had to spend time with these (other than the 1996 specific issue with readiness monitors), so these are more generic than specific. 

1. first question is are you absolutely positive this car drove thousands of miles for years before the cat replacement with no inspection issues?  Was this car bought with issues and repaired or had a known history of passing inspections and then failed?

2. Are you positive all components are original?

Back to your specific questions

How many readiness monitors are unready? exactly what are you seeing?

N/A may indicate unpopulated fields reserved for turbo cars or something like that, rather than unset 

I think you’re allowed an unset readiness monitor or two and maybe 100% don’t always set concurrently.  

so that’s why I ask how many are ready, not ready, and NA?

Is there any chance your reader isn’t displaying accurately or is showing NA as not ready?
 

If the car runs well, perhaps get an ELM327 BT reader and a smartphone app. Not too pricey to try if you suspect the romraider cable or car definitions.

NA. naturally aspirated. 

I was the one who sold the car to the current owner.

I had a problem 2 years ago to get the same readyness to pass. Its only the o2 that won't "ready". In CA, for this car. It won't pass smog inspection with this one in particular not ready. Before i sold the car i needed it to smog. And i was able to get it to become ready with normal driving. 

Its time for them to smog it now. Then the cat was not working correctly, they had a shop weld in a new one. Everything els including the evp monitor all become ready. Just not the o2 for some reason??? So.... I was going to use romraider to see if i can log any other issues as i already have it. The cable works fine on my turbo cars. This is the 1st time ive tried it on a non-turbo, NA car. I know the car has driven alot of miles. I have personally drove it 600 miles trying to set the readyness for that monitor. 

Edited November 27, 20205 yr by nicksubaru
Miss sent

I have a basic code reader. 

Car runs great! 

maybe there is a problem with the definition for that car. Maybe contact romraider's support?

or there's an ECU problem?

beyond me - just spitballing.

there's a good tuner guy over at subaruoutback.org, user west_minist , he might have an idea.

Quick check on romraider doesn't have your 03 NA ecu listed.  Either doesn't have a definition or the ecu is unsupported.  

https://www.romraider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=7591

 

That is where im at on things. I don't have definitions

If it's not throwing cel's, there's not much more info you can get from romraider that you can't get from a live data odb2 reader.  It's usually the long and short term fuel trims you'll need to look at.  They shouldn't be unusually high after the car has warmed up.

Did you replace the O2 sensor at the same time as replacing the cat? 

If not, I’d be starting there. A dead O2 sensor doesn’t always throw a code. 

Cheers 

Bennie

I thought that too. But i looked at the car again lately. Its not the 02 monitor like i thought. It is the Catalyst. So, what sensor or sensors are in charge of that monitor? Could the ecu its self not functioning correctly? Im not trying to use romraider or ecu flash anymore because i dont have definitions for it. If i did, i would just check the "monitors always ready" box. The car runs perfectly well and zero CEL. I wouldn't be polluting any differently then if that one monitor would be "ready". 

 

My main focus is to get this car CA smog legit. 

Also, i dont have a live feed obd2 reader. But i do have a laptop and cable. 

Does anyone think that if i change the ecu out, would that possibly fix the not ready issue? 

I’d be swapping the O2 sensors first as if suspect these are dead before the ECU had issues.

My 20c on the matter.

Cheers 

Bennie

nope, dont think changing the ECU is going to solve the problem...

I agree with el freddo... change the o2 sensor.. and check all related wiring for damage... on my 02 Foz, I had broken wires that were causing the O2 code

Im getting zeros codes. The front or back 02 sensor is in charge of the catalyst monitor? 

i think it is the back one, but dont quote me on that.. hopefully someone else will chime in shortly

 

xxS2 , if a code looked like that , the S2 part would be after the cat and, on most cars before about '05 or so, ONLY use that sensor for cat conv monitoring. Isn't even used for A:F parameter. Only for conv 'light-off'/function. it's the conv. nanny sensor.

S1 is before the conv.

some cars can have 2 converters in-line, I dunno how those are designated.