shah123

Hello:

I own a 2001 RX 300. I haven't been driving it too much and it had expired inspection. One day I decided to renew the inspection. But when I tried to start it the battery was dead. So I jumped it using my other car and took it to the inspection guy. The vehicle failed inspection - 2 of the tests did not pass. The report said Catalyst: Not Ready and Evap: Not Ready.

The inspection guy told me that it could happen because of low battery. I told him that I had just jumped it. He said I should drive around for about 100 miles or so and then come back and it should be ok. So I drove it for about a week continuously and I did not have any problem with starting the car or something. However I did notice that the clock is always reset whenever I started the car.

Today I took it back to the inspection since it had been over 100 miles. He tested the vehicle immediately before starting the formal inspection process just to make sure it is ok (He used a hand-held device and hooked it up to somewhere under the dash board). And to my surprise he told me that the car is still giving two faults.

I came back home and tested the battery with my multi-meter. With car not running, it gave 12.38V. I waited for a few hours (3 to 4 hours) and tested again and the battery read 12.25V.

So my question is, could the inspection problem be really because of the battery? Second question is do I have a dead battery and I need to replace the battery with a new one and run the car again for 100 miles or so and then take it back for inspection?

Any help will be appreciated.

Privacy

no idea if the battery is causing this but low battery causes lots of car problems with the rx

and yes your battery is dead if the clock resets.

buy a new one

salimshah

If you have been reading the forum, you would have picked up that by removing the battery terminal for a bit, you can reset your computer. For inspection, you want the computer to have recorded history, else it will say "not ready" for certain tests.

You need to tell us about the fail codes for the second time. It may or may not have to do with the battery. If he had "not ready", it means you need to drive some more or some how the ecu is getting reset.

Salim

Lexmex

Let me know those codes.

Those readiness monitors (i.e., catalyst not ready, evap not ready) can be reset with about 15 minutes of driving, about 50% highway, 50% city.

Enz

iTrader: (1)

I just had a smog check today and the tech asked if my battery was dead (it was disconnected for 3 weeks while I was away) because it almost failed. So yes there is some validity to what your tech said. Maybe just borrow a fresh battery for the inspection?

MarkG2000

Failed inspection..what was the cause of the fail...emissions! High Hrdro carbons or CO? The Dio should reveal which BANK is the problem. You are running RICH and that means the gas is not converting into energy. Check your O2 sensors as well as you may have a vacuum leak. Did you have a tune up? Several causes of this problem....not easily fixed with one. Could even be wiring.

code58

What Privacy says is true. Battery problems if the clock is resetting. Also, 12.25V is not dead, but it also shows a weak battery if it has been driven that much recently. Most people don't realize how fast a battery sulfates when it is run down. That means sufation starts at over 10V and increases rapidly as the voltage drops. Once a battery has lost voltage to about 8 or 9 volts it increases dramatically, and especially if it is allowed to drop near zeroV (quickly with something left on or slowly from parasitic drain or simply not being run). It is very difficult to desulfate and even if you're able to, it has done damage to the battery that WILL shorten it's life. The worst possible way to deal with it is to jump it and simply run it to charge it up. It needs to be slow charged even if it is not sulfated. An alternator was NEVER designed to charge a battery from a dead condition, it does not give a proper charge. A generator did, an alternator doesn't. I have charged and tested 1000's of batteries in my career and "I jumped it and now it's fine" (so often stated) is about as far as you can get from the actual truth.
As Privacy said, buy a new one.

BTW, the ONLY way to truely test a battery, once charged, is with a CARBON PILE load tester. It will put the actual load on the battery and reveal (quickly) a weak battery (or totally failing battery) that a universally used "conductance tester" won't. A multi-meter only gives you the voltage in the battery, the amperage you're able to actually get out (the only useable thing) is the important part and a multi-tester won't begin to tell you that.