Manager Forum

After I repair an engine with a DTC, lets say a vehicle comes in for emissions inspection, the check engine light is on. It has a PO301 code. I diagnose the code and replace the spark plug. Now the misfire on cylinder #1 is gone. I erase the code. But, by doing so, all the readiness monitors revert back to not ready. So, I need to do an OBDII Drive Cycle to reset the monitors for an emissions inspection. My question is: Is there any way to erase a code without disturbing the readiness monitors so I need not take the time to drive an OBDII cycle to reset the monitors? Or is there a way to reset the monitors without driving a complete OBDII drive cycle?

Not to my knowledge; we charge for running the drive cycle because that is the way OBD is designed. I see it as a a new profit center.

ricmorin wrote:Not to my knowledge; we charge for running the drive cycle because that is the way OBD is designed. I see it as a a new profit center.

Well we currently do the same but when you get several of these at a time it majorly disrupts the schedule an I was hoping for a guicker way to get the job finished.

No possibility if doing it differently? ...................... what a bum deal.

ricmorin wrote:Not to my knowledge; we charge for running the drive cycle because that is the way OBD is designed. I see it as a a new profit center.

Ric I was wondering what you mean by a new profit center. Do you mean you charge additional for resetting those monitor above your diagnostic and repair fees?

Pauls Automotive wrote:

ricmorin wrote:Not to my knowledge; we charge for running the drive cycle because that is the way OBD is designed. I see it as a a new profit center.

Ric I was wondering what you mean by a new profit center. Do you mean you charge additional for resetting those monitor above your diagnostic and repair fees?

Paul, for us, we have a minimum 1/2 hour charge to reset readiness monitors. Some take longer than that an it is strictly time on the clock an customer gets charged for it cause he wants the car to be ready to roll when he gets into it.

I'll let others chime in.

Same here. Run monitors is .5 at diagnostic rate. I have developed a specific road route that gets 99% of them done.

I've been charging for resetting monitors for years. Like Ric said I also have a preset route that well reset 90% of vehicles. In my opinion it's a necessary evil basically because there are times when there are other issues that won't allow monitors to reset. There have been times when a thermostat is weak and vehicle will not reach the necessary temp to reset as well as other issues. I know thee are going to be times when the light will trigger again for another reason or the monitors will not reset but I want to keep that issue as low as possible. A customer comes in for an inspection with a check engine light on and we do the repair I want to make damn sure it's going to be successful so we drive it and charge 1 hour for it. I'd rather deal with the charge knowing all is well as opposed to have the customer return. Sometimes the road test charge keep the bargain hunters at bay. Another key point here is I ALWAYS ask if the customer has had any other shops or even himself dinking around. A few times I had issues where the customer had disconnected the battery or had other shops reset the monitor causing a bit of an issue when the light came on for another reason than the one we serviced.

The other way is not to reset the monitors and the light will reset on it's own within a cycle if the problem is fixed.