mytwo

Some of you may know that I had a problem getting my 96 miata inspected
I finally got a waiver from the state because it had not been driven over 5000 miles in the last year
I never had a Cel light come on nor did I pull any past or present codes
I had three not ready monitors. I did all the test i could do on parts and timing ,good connections and about anything and everything I could find on any miata site or general search.
Six or seven different drive cycles or variants of them ,more testing and cleaning Nothing worked.

I have a laptop with software that lets you monitor a lot of items. It did show O2 sensors as weak
Replaced the front one then the rear
Replaced the EGR valve and gasket
Replaced Egr Booster and all related parts
Ran a rod through the opening in the intake where the egr flows and made sure it was clear
Replaced the throttle body
Tired to adjust the TPS by using the Haynes manual as well as other manuals we fiquered out the book and some stuff on the internet is wrong did get it adjusted properly
checked the ISC
Drive cycle after drive cycle and still no results
After getting the waiver I continued to search and try different things and settings to no avail
I started out on my upteenth drive cycle and started smelling coolant,stoppped and checked and saw the brown radiator boogy man had attacked me. Got back home without it overheating.


Changed out the radiator and decided to do a idle set again
Filled the cooling system with antifreeze and water started and while idling I jumped the ten and gnd this time the car died I started it back up and it died again. I started it back and slowly let it idle and saw that it was only idling at 350 not 850 like it should.
I realized at that time that my other idle adjustments the jumper was not good .The car would idle down but not sure why it would not stay and I think the Computer was taking back over during the adjustment This time it was good
I got in the car and did not drive 200 feet till all three monitors went ready
One of two things was my problem all along
The idle was not correct which I do not understand why the computer would not correct that so they could set, or second I did have water wetter in the cooling system before and it would not get to temp and hold the correct temp in time and long enough


I noticed a one to two degree higher temp after changing the rad and fluid
If you have these three monitors and test do not show anything check the cooling temp and see if it is getting hot enough,getting hot in the alloted amount of time and staying hot for the alloted time needed for everything to set
I can't say this will hold true on anything but a 96 miata but this is the second time I actually found it was a simple minor fix on a 96 model
I do not think the drive cycle is critical either
The O2 sensors must set first the the EGR and catalyst will be tied for second and third place. If the O2 sensors will not set then the other two never will
The last 96 I worried with for well over a year and found it had a different year ECM in it and only a 96 will work in a 96 and I understand a 96 will not work in any other year
So if you have not ready monitors check the simple basic things first,before buying a bunch of parts and do a simple drive cycle . Check the temp before doing anything . I think the monitirs have tis et in 13 minutes or the ECM has tos ee them when the temp is right if it does not get there then the EAcm will noot set
Try to stay off of the brake unless you are under 20 mph
Idle till warm start off at a slow steady speed and gently speed up to around 60 drive a couple of miles holding it steady at 60 then slow down and stop try to not hit the brakes until under 20 mph .then do a few stop and goes
I found out that hitting the brakes above 20 is like disconnecting the battery and hitting the brake