Drive Cycle

Found the procedure for setting the EGR monitor. Worked for me the first try.

https://www.2carpros.com/images/external/vKJohEt.jpg

Thanks alot Steve Walker. That TSB drivecycle worked first try. My mechanic was stumped and I had one more day before smog check. This was the solution after hours of searching. Thanks again!

Great to hear UHSSTUDENT. Tell me what kind of car did it work on? A Borrego? OR another KIA/Hyundai 3.8?

It worked on my 09 Kia Borrego EX 3.8L V6. It was a little scary getting it done on the freeway. I asked my mechanic if he could get it done on a dyno but he said he couldnt for some reason. He was even skeptical it would work and kept reccomending more driving. The KIA dealer also said there was no special drive cycle for my car and to keep driving with a 3/4 full tank. Boy was he wrong. Again I am so glad you were nice enough to make your post, really helped me out of a jam.
By the way do you have any idea how I completed the egr/vvt readiness in the first place?

Yea most smog dynos while capable of 55MPH many folks have never done it so they might not have the experience and extra items it would take to do it safely. For any future readers if you do not want to tackle it on your own on the freeway at 3am take it to a performance shop that does dyno runs for high performance testing. They would have no issues taking it up to 55mph.

Ha! the 3/4 full tank is needed for the Evap Monitor setting not the EGR, just shows you the misinformation that is rampant with these monitor issues. But they would have been glad to charge you $120 to do a drive cycle on it, suckers.

On how it got set in the first place. I would imagine when the car was built the last step is a computer controlled dyno that runs the drive cycle and sets all the monitors to make sure everything is operational. Then once you get it there are only two ways you can clear the monitors:

1. If you clear them with an OBD scanner - This is usually done after a repair is done that caused a check engine light. Most consumers do not want to leave the shop after paying for a repair with the light still on so mechanics typically clear all the codes and that clears all the monitors to get the light to go off. They could actually do the repair and leave the light on and it would eventually go off if the repair was correct. But few do that because it's just too much to explain to the customer why they have to drive around with a warning light on for a few days. With most cars its not an issue because you clear the monitors and typical driving will set them in about 100-200 miles. But that's not the case with the Kia 3.8 EGR monitor as we have seen.

2. If you disconnect the battery - Anytime the Engine computer loses 12 volts the monitors clear. This could be with a battery change or if some other electrical repair was needed that required disconnection of the battery. How you avoid this problem is any time you have a battery change or disconnection you use whats called a "Memory Saver" which is basically a 12 volt backup for the computers in the car. Video of it in action here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPGyV7T4SR0

Many do it yourself types and AAA roadside techs fail to use this item, heck even some shops don't use them. So when you are getting your car worked on specify you want that used because you do not want to have to get up at 3am and do some weird diving on the freeway again!!

I am going to look into a memory saver now. Thanks again for sharing more of your knowledge Steve!

Hello, Steve, I'm been try to do the cycle drive without a luck, I have a question on the step 3 to 4 if this has to be immediately after the 5 min. Because I live 5 min from the freeway?

Kialoco a 5 minute drive to the freeway probably puts your coolant temp over 104 as stated in step 1. I am in a similar situation and drove the car near the freeway on ramp then shut it off and monitored the coolant temp from my scanner till it went under 104. That took about 30 minutes of waiting. If you do not have the capabilities to monitor coolant temp just maybe park it by the freeway at 8pm and go back to it at 3am when you do the drive cycle.

Steve Thank for the information I will try to park my car close to the freeway and see what happen.

Hello Everybody, unfortunate I have not be able to complete the EGR Monitor, I did the Cycle Drive in a Dyno and do not clear the monitor. Any suggestion?

Your next step will be to take all your paperwork from your failed smog and all receipts for all the money you have spent trying to complete them. Also bring a copy of the PitStop Cycle along with all the drive cycles you have tried. Make an appointment with a local Smog Ref. What you will be trying for is to get a 2 year exemption (EDIT: Not Exemption - Repair Cost Waiver) to the smog. Meaning they let it go this year and two years from now hopefully the monitor will be ready. They may ask that you pay to have the Manufacturer give the drive cycle a try and or update any software they may have come up with to solve this issue (they are continually making tweaks to ECM software). If you have not spent the threshold of $650.00 you may have to do it to satisfy them. But hopefully if they see you have made a good effort they will give it to you.

CA BAR Referee Program:
http://asktheref.org/

Keep us updated on how it goes.

I am sorry not a exemption but a repair cost WAIVER is what you are seeking. It is usually for people that have spent money to repair parts that needed replacing but it also applies for people that have spent money trying to get stubborn monitors to set.

KiaLoco, Any updates on this?

An Update to this saga. The California BAR has admitted defeat! They have programmed their smog testing equipment to ignore the EGR monitor on the 2009 Kia Borrego. What this means is that even if your EGR monitor is incomplete you can still go for a test and it should pass.

However what you may find is a smog technician who does a pretest with a handheld scanner, sees the EGR monitor incomplete and turns you away saying you will fail. You need to ask them to please run the test and to see the "CA OBD reference guide" as the Borrego is now listed in there as a problem child. (image below shows the entry) Link:
https://i.imgur.com/bD4r21Q.png?1

So overall this is good news. No more paying for the dealer to get it ready. We have seen this issue with Hyundai's with the 3.8 V6 as well. No reprieve for them in the OBD guide yet.

Link to the complete CA OBD Guide : https://www.bar.ca.gov/pdf/Smog_Check_OBD_Reference_Full_Version.pdf