no smiley face on my "vehicle inspection report"

Hi all, just bought my second xj, although I had to look up what xj stands for-all I ever knew was CJ, LOL, its a 2001 Limited, 4.0, 4x4, auto, with 122kmi (so I think I beat the cracked head problem). Anyway, I tried to smog it today and the report said, "Not Ready: Heated O2, Evap." Makes me mad because my '89 passed Calif smog with 240kmi.
The tech at the testing station, and the paper he gave me, says "Reset Readyness Monitors." WTF? No codes thrown, no lights on the dash(wife said engine light came on then went off the other day) so just DC the battery for a minute, reconnect, then drive it for a while and retest??? Then it talks about drive cycles, that it might require more than one cycle to reset the dang thing, how many cycles does a 2001 require so I can do them and not fail again just because of that?
Thanks in advance

I had a similar problem first time I went to smog my 2001 XJ also, and I am here in the Nashville area...had it smogged at Cool Springs.

Any time the battery is disconnected it will need to cycle to get enough code to send to the reader at the smog center.

That said, I don't know if the 2001 runs cycles on hours, miles, or on/off cycles.

I drove mine for about 100 miles and it was enough to reset the cycles for reading.

Just to be on the safe side, perhaps you want to swing by a local parts store and have them do a quick code scan.

I'd say, disconnect the battery, hook it back up, run it a hundred miles or so, and take it back in. You know, they don't charge for the retest, but if you fail the retest, they charge for the 3rd visit.

Download the Check Engine Light trouble codes, write them down, and fix the problems.

The exact codes will focus your trouble shooting and diagnostics. From you limited description, you have an O2 sensor issues and evaporative emissions system issues. Both are simple fixes.

You need a few start, drive 10 minutes, stop drive-cycles to achieve the system ready status.

"Not Ready" means the ECU was recently reset (as you confirmed). I had to drive about 120 mi after resetting mine before all OBD2 attributes were seen as "ready". Thankfully, I just moved back to TX, so it's no longer a problem

Tim is right though - you may need a few more stop/starts given that the O2 sensor heater is throwing that status.

Thanks guys, looks like I will be disconnecting/reconnecting the battery and going for a longish drive with many stops, and then a recheck At least I enjoy driving it

Tim_MN said:

The exact codes will focus your trouble shooting and diagnostics. From you limited description, you have an O2 sensor issues and evaporative emissions system issues. Both are simple fixes.

Click to expand...

Simple fix? Maybe - probably. The hard part with the evap emissions system is simply finding the culprit. There are a plethora of items that could cause it. Anything from a crack in a hose to a rotted adaptor to a poor fitting fuel cap.

I agree with the others though. Clear the codes, drive awhile, and retest it and cross your fingers.

Oh boy did this get easy/weird. Priced the TPS and was going to go get one next week. After work the next day it wouldnt start, motor would not spin, thought it was the battery but it wouldnt even turn over with a jump from the AAA truck! We finally looked at the battery terminals and they were caked with acid.
The AAA driver said,"watch this" and sprayed the terminals with windex! and it started without a jump. Went home, changed the terminals, cleaned acid crust out of the + & - wires, and the Jeep just started right up no problem, no check engine light! I drove it for two days to see if anything would show up, it didnt.
It passed "Retest" no codes, no questions asked. Now its registered in my name, woohoo!