So I have a 2000 Jeep Wrangler with a 2.5l 4 cylinder and for the last 2 months I have been struggling with getting the cat monitor to ready. So to start off at the beginning, I went to get my Jeep smogged and it failed due to the cat monitor not being ready and after doing some research I came to the conclusion that my 20 year old converter was no longer working. It was reading about the same temperature upstream and downstream, using a thermal gun. I then replaced that along with the 2 O2 sensors (NTK) since they hadn’t been replaced since I have owned the vehicle (2013). I did some driving and tried to perform various drive cycles and to my dismay none of them worked. Took it back to the smog station to see if they could get the monitor to ready up and they couldn’t because the MAP sensor wouldn’t stay in the correct range for the monitor to begin it’s test. We came to the conclusion that is was due to me having 35 inch tires and that my speedometer difference was too great from what it actually should be for the monitor to run so I ordered the correct speedo gear and replaced it. Brought it back to the smog station and they ran 2 different drive cycles 3 times each, for a total of 6 attempts and never could get it to run the monitor. I have taken temperature readings since I put the new cat on and upstream reads around 400-500 degrees after getting off the freeway and downstream reads anywhere from 750-900 so I know the cat is good. I read the 02 sensors on my scanner and the upstream sensor goes up and down like a wave like normal and downstream is as steady as a steal rod. I never once had a CEL for a cat or 02 sensors, or for that matter any emissions related code. So my next step is the dealer, but before I do that I figured I should ask here and see if anyone has any suggestions. Out of options and frustrated. I see lots of people with the same problem but it looks like a lot of people have found solutions, I have not.
Catalytic Converter Monitor Incomplete
- Thread starter bajafresh3
- Start date
If you search the internet for that monitor you'll find all ways to make that monitor flip ready. The solutions may or may not be 2.5/4.0 related, but really it's all the same when it comes to that monitor. Luckily, I'm in VA and they will let one monitor slide for older cars, but I'm slightly OCD and wanted to have it set to ready regardless before I took it for my emissions test.
Here's what I did, I took my TJ on a 150 mile each way road trip to Ocean City, MD. By the time I got home it finally showed ready. This was after nearly a month of trying every trick I could find on the Internet. A nice 65/70 MPH sustained long highway road trip was the key in my case.
Here's what I did, I took my TJ on a 150 mile each way road trip to Ocean City, MD. By the time I got home it finally showed ready. This was after nearly a month of trying every trick I could find on the Internet. A nice 65/70 MPH sustained long highway road trip was the key in my case.
Yeah I’ve put almost 2k miles on the Jeep since it failed smog on September 10th, I’m really just trying to figure out if I need a new computer or not. Everything else has been done already.
Hello, you have a cheap ass cat for one. I only sell obd compliant cats, Why? Cause I charge alot and cats cost me alot and they go up by the phucin day! Literally. You got a cheap ace dude do do your sheet and you got what you paid for ,,,,,period. Dont go cheap, lesson learned, Do you fill up at half tan or three quarters? yeap, you got bad gas. Stop run close to e. Get Chevron. Do you have the grey sticker under your hood for the recall? Yeah, you gotta run a cat or find a tuner. I never got the recall done on my 99 and run catless. I also run chevron 93. 89 will work. Ive never replaced my O2's. Why would I? I get at least 10 people per day for 20 pls years that want to replace O2's because auto zone said so. No reason. Most or the time the code is because the O2's are actually reading what they are suppose to! Unless you have a heater code, dont replace O2's. Just stop
Reading this is killing me. You have wasted sooooo much money on bone heads. Cats that probably never even graduated high school. Stop!
Alright well to start off I bought the oem replacement for the cat, not a weld on universal. Direct fit and bolt on. It is the specific cat for my engine family number and it has the correct executive order on it. Second off I only run chevron 91 because I have one of those super chips. Even before then I only ran Chevron 87 so cheap gas is out of the equation. I meticulously maintain my tj, oil changes every 5000 miles. Plugs and wires changed out every 35-40k miles. I get great gas mileage for having 35’s, somewhere around 13-18 depending whether it’s city or highway driving. I don’t see how running the gas tank to low or E has any correlation to the catalytic monitor or converter. I don’t think I heard one bit of educational advice in your post, just a lot of empty assumptions and finger pointing at what you think is going on. You failed to even ask a question to further your response.
First off, you do not have an original cat. The manufacturer is required to produce them for 19 years only. Not one single manufacturer produces an oem cat after ten years that meets the same criteria as their initial design, Not one! Second, at or below sea level a 6 cyl tj will detonate on 87 octane. Here in new orleans I HAD to run 89 or higher. Third, pay attention, the hypertech unit will allow you to run 87 when you switch it to 91 octane! Yeap, been there done that. My best recorded mileage was with a hypertech on 91 (if memory serves me right thats as high as it goes) and ran 87 octane. Yeap, no bs thats just fact. All tests were done from the same exact gas station same pump. Block from the shop. Why go down to e? Not empty just low then fill up. This is to make certain your starting out at a baseline which is a clean tank. You could have an injector or injectors clogged or bad. Lean makes power but it also makes heat. Heat smokes cats. You could have an injector hanging open also. This also makes heat in the cat.
I said I bought the “oem replacement” not the original cat. But it is the correct cat for my Jeep, which is a 2.5 by the way. I’m telling you bro I am not running lean or rich. My fuel trims are all normal, my 02 sensors are showing completely normal ranges. If it was running rich I would be able to smell it.
I missed this thread last Wednesday. Today when I first saw it (on my monitor at my desk) I started out wondering WTF is a cat monitor and WTF is it doing being part of a TJ. The Chrysler Drive Cycle Information didn't help me with any of it except it sucks to even exist. At some point I gathered that California also apparently sucks, at least regarding testing and I'm not surprised by that. All that was followed by someone that seems to know every detail about this particular TJ while being fairly far away from it and here I am just shaking my head at the whole thing while I'm probably making it all worse.
My suggestion for bajafresh3 is Move East young man! at least a state or two, and Good Luck with the TJ !
My suggestion for bajafresh3 is Move East young man! at least a state or two, and Good Luck with the TJ !
I know right man?? I don’t want to give up such an awesome vehicle but I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place
Ok I’ll give that a shot, thanks for the advice. I’m actually at the dealership right now and they found that the rpm’s aren’t being relayed to the computer, they are being displayed on the dash but the ecu isn’t receiving any input so we removed the chip to see if that helps.
Low and behold, bang! As soon as the super chip was removed, Jeep was taken out for a spin and the cat monitor ran and passed. This entire time the chip was not relaying the rpm’s to the ecu which wasn’t allowing the monitor to run. I have a middle of the road scan tool and the shop I was working with had a snapon scan tool and both of us could clearly see the rpms being displayed on our scanners but the dealership has something called a BRP scanner which is specific for Jeep models from 97-06 and that scanner was showing no input to the ecu for rpm’s. It’s crazy to think some stupid performance chip would be the answer to all my problems lol. In other words I will never use one again!
And now you know you can buy 87 octane wherever you want at whatever altitude you want to boot! Glad it got fixed man.
Glad you got it fixed.
For future reference, this is now the second time that I've heard of these type of issues with piggyback chips.
For future reference, this is now the second time that I've heard of these type of issues with piggyback chips.
I’ll make sure to keep that in mind when someone asks whether I recommend them or not!