Clearing Drive Cycles

A forum for the legendary Nissan Pathfinder and Infiniti QX4.
BigJim1
Posts: 31
Joined: Tue Apr 30, 2019 6:05 am
Car: 2003 Pathfinder
2008 Sentra SE R

Post

I have a 2003 Pathfinder RWD, I just replaced the catalytic converters and 02 sensors and need to know approximately how many miles I need to drive in order to clear the drive cycles so I can get my truck inspected. Anyone have any information or links I can check out?


MisterH
Posts: 279
Joined: Thu Mar 03, 2016 5:04 pm
Car: 1999 Infiniti QX4

Post

It could be in ready state after as little as 15-20 minutes of freeway driving at a sustained speed of 55-70MPH. My general observations about proper drive cycles to reach ready-state for most modern cars is:
- From cold start, let engine idle 3 minutes; run AC with lights on to put electrical load on.
- Drive 5 minutes at around 25-30 mph
- Press the accelerator to roughly 3/4 travel until you reach 55-60mph and drive at that speed for around 3 minutes and then decelerate
gradually without touching the brake pedal and coast to a complete stop (for most people this will mean gradually exiting a freeway).
- Return to freeway and complete the sustained speed cycle.


I also highly recommend having an OBD-2 diagnostic tool with you and plugged in. The newer generation make it really simple because they have a built in readiness state test routine that in many models is just a series of lights that signify when you've successfully cleared each monitor. I don't know what state you live in but here in California you can perform emissions testing once nine out of ten monitors are cleared. With some cars you may end up being unable to clear all monitors in one cycle and need to spread it out over a longer period; sometimes over a 24 hour period with multiple attempts, which is why the OBD tool is so invaluable: you can see what's cleared and what isn't. Good luck

BigJim1
Posts: 31
Joined: Tue Apr 30, 2019 6:05 am
Car: 2003 Pathfinder
2008 Sentra SE R

Post

Thanks MisterH, I appreciate the information. I just bought this unit, I hope it works well:
https://www.amazon.com/ANCEL-Vehicle.../dp/B07DDD2CKV

Before I replaced the two front catalytic converters and two upstream 02 sensors the CEL would come on at about 27 miles. Now I have driven about 60 miles and so far no CEL. I hope it will stay off. The truck does seem to have a little more pep.


Return to “Nissan Pathfinder Forum / Infiniti QX4 Forum”