Permanent/ historic fault codes and smogging in CA

In the weird panoply of types of OBD-II trouble codes, 'legacy' isn't one.

Depending on which ECU you're looking at, there can be 'historical' ones or 'permanent' ones. 'Permanent' is a bit of a misnomer—they're only there until they go away—but so help me, that's what they're called.

The ECU for the engine in a Gen 3 does 'permanent' codes. Each permanent code is set when the problem is detected, and only goes away by itself after there have been three drives in a row where the self-test that detects that code had a chance to complete and confirm that the problem was fixed.

What's needed for that self-test to run and complete is different for every code. So when you're in that "I want a smog test, but I still have these permanent codes showing" situation, it really matters exactly what codes you have. You can look up the confirmation driving pattern for each one in the repair manual. Literally, under every trouble code, there is a section called "confirmation driving pattern".

Toyota Service Information and Where To Find It | PriusChat

So for a typical code, you'll need to make three drives in a row that all include enough of the right kinds of driving to make the self-test for that code able to run and complete, and when it completes it has to have a passing result each of the three times. When that happens, the code goes away by itself, you don't have to do anything special.

If you are in a hurry, you can look up the confirmation driving pattern, do a manual code clear with a scan tool, then drive the specified confirmation pattern for that code, just once, then drive a "universal trip" (which is the same for all the codes, hence the name, and is explained once at the front of the ECM diagnostics section), and the code should be gone.

I should mention there was one permanent code I was stuck with for more than a year, because I was looking in an old-edition copy of the repair manual that was missing a step in the confirmation pattern for that code. It took Elektroingenieur looking up the same pattern in an up-to-date repair manual online and mentioning the extra step that wasn't in my old copy.

 

Yes, drive the car for the computer to relearn. Then reSMOG. I dont't know what 40 minutes south and north means, just drive for an hour in the highway and then reSMOG. 2000 and new cars are exempt from the Tail pipe emissions now, so SMOG for your car is just reading the OBD2 port.

 

What’s the miles on it?

 

The confirmation pattern shown in the repair manual for P0A80 involves the car seeing the battery get to a pretty low state of charge before charging it back up. Probably that just hasn't happened yet in the type of driving you're doing.

 

Is that a code that will fail a smog test? Not all codes will cause you to fail smog.

 

Maybe someone who's comfortable with posting sections from the repair manual will see this thread and post the P0A80 section with the confirmation driving pattern, or if that doesn't happen, you can do self-service:

Toyota Service Information and Where To Find It | PriusChat

 

The reader should have a list of smog sensors or related and all should say available-ready. Only available -not ready will fail smog. The cat is the one I have trouble with last to be ready. Not available means car doesn’t have the test. It takes about 5 mins of 60 mph driving or so to heat the cat enough so the system can test it to be ready. I went through this with my 96 several times. I think it allows one monitor to be not ready don’t remember exactly. My 03 Ford always had evap not ready and it always passed as it was just that one. Nothing about historic or legacy is involved I don think. Just ready or not ready.
I also had a car that would jerk all of a sudden, like a split second, then run. It was the same as disconnecting the battery. Wouldn’t pass smog due to not being ready even though I could get it all ready, then it jerked before I could get to the smog, and all reset. I junked the car.

 

Your scanner calls them "Historic Codes" but they are actually permanent codes. You can pass a CA smog check with permanent codes in place as long as you have driven 200 miles and have 15 warm up cycles since you last cleared the codes. YOur scanner might be able to display your miles and warm up count. Look under "DATASTREAM" or "Live Data" menus. Here is what mine looks like after 1 warm up cycle and having driven zero miles:

IMG_20230425_022325 by smwalker posted Aug 28, 2023 at 7:48 PM

If you go to a smog shop and they see the permanent codes and refuse to test you file a complaint on them and keep going till you find an inspector that reads the updates the State sends out.

 

See this thread for the specifics, you will have to combine the "Universal Trip" Pattern then do the specific part of the Confirmation Driving Pattern" for that code (which is not much, just waiting for the charge to drop)

How to clear Permanent P0A80 Code? | Page 2 | PriusChat