1996 Saturn Fails NY Inspection

My friend's 1996 Saturn has failed the new NY state inspection, which
uses the car's on-board diagnostics.

The OBDII Trouble Codes are as follows:

P0301 Cylinder 1 Misfire Detected
P0327 Knock Sensor 1 Circuit Low Bank 1 or Single Sensor
P0733 Gear 3 Incorrect Ratio
P1406 Manufacturer Specific Code

Of course, the service engine soon light is on. He says it has been on
for a few years.

Any ideas?

Thanks very much in advance

 

Try some injector cleaner for a tank-full.
Replace plugs, wires. Check spark intensity (if it has a distributor - cap
and rotor)
Anything mechanically loose will look like a knock and retard the spark. I
had a loose A/C compressor that was triggering the knock sense. A worn
engine mount can do this too. Listen and feel closely for anything that
doesn't sound right. Check the torque on the knock sensor mount. This sets
the sensitivity.

No idea what causes the P0733 code
obd2 codes decipher P=powertrain, next number is 0 for generic codes and 1
for manufacturer specific codes. The shop manual should explain what code
P1406 is. Alldata had something that referenced the EGR valve.
96-T-31 JUN 96 Engine Controls - Revised DTC P1406 Diagnosis,
EGR
Good idea to pull the EGR and check that it is not stuck or otherwise
defective. A leaking EGR will cause a bad idle and possibly give your
problems.

Check out these hits on Google
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=saturn+P1406

 

They really check the trouble codes in NY?

I wonder why he passed in previous years, then. Not to be too cynical, but here in Hawaii when
that sort of thing happens we look for a different state inspector. ;-)

 

Just started this year. Statewide, too...

Prior years, upstate NY didn't have any emissions, downstate didn't
ODBII check. Now, the OBDII code scan is a statewide thing.

Repair shops upstate just LOVED having to buy the $$$$ state mandated
code scanner machine / state computer hookup, just to check a couple of
cars a month. I'm sure motorists love it too...

 

Started 4/1 of this year for any vehicle '96 and newer. Older vehicles
still have to have emisions checked on the dyno as done previously (at least
downstate). Basicly, it's a pretty fool proof way for NY to inspect the
vehicle. In the past, you could shove the emmisions probe in teh tailpipe
of another car, or find other tricks to fool the emisions machine. Now,
they basiclly use the on board computer to check how your vehicle is
performing. You can't fool it because the onboard computer has the car
information (VIN, etc) and the inspector has to scan the bar code on the
registration sticker in the window. If they don't match, it fails. The
other thing is that the onboard computer keeps a list of trouble codes in a
que of some kind, so even if you've fixed the problem, you have to drive the
car for about 30 minutes in normal traffic before it'll clear out. In
addition, if the mechanic resets the onboard computer, you again have to
drive it for about 30 minutes before it'll start "recording" anything. If
you try to inspect the car before the 30 minutes, it'll come up as a
failure. Techinially, on a good car, Inspection time goes a lot quicker.
They just do the safety, and plug in the computer and off you go. But if
you have a code issue, they could be chasing the problem around for hours or
days. My suggestion for all NY'ers is to get your car inspected at least
3-4 weeks before it's due if it's a older car and if you've have the service
light come on at all.

 

Thank you for the very informative posts. We had the pleasure of
learning all of this yesterday. At first, the car had a number of
diagnostic codes set, as I originally posted - these were determined by
the testing center. Autozone did a reset, so we could eliminate the
'symptoms' and find what was wrong. Turned out to be the knock sensor,
a $22 part on the Saturn. However, "P0733 Gear 3 Incorrect Ratio" is a
problem with the transmission, which the owner knows of but hasn't
repaired yet, as he is waiting for it to completely fail (the car has
almost 250,000 miles on it!). New York state requires that no codes be
set at all, (ie. Service engine soon light = off) I believe, so to fix
the car requires a new transmission. This I can't understand... would
it really have that much of an impact on the environment? I am all for
protecting our environment, but this seems more like bureaucracy to me.
Fortunately, there is a week left in the month, plus a few weeks extra
extension, I believe, so that the car to be brought into line with the
standard.

After the car was reset, it did take about 5-10 minutes of driving for
the service light to come back on.

The system does indeed seem quite cheat proof for the moment. But
should we really be testing to make sure everyone's transmissions are
operating perfectly?

 

Regarding the 0733 code and incorrect gear ratio, I am guessing there may be
a defective or failed transmission solenoid so the transmission is not
shifting to the proper gear as the computer would like. I posted a
procedure for measuring the solenoid resistance about a month back. It only
requires removal of the connector which is held on by a 7mm? bolt and a
basic ohm meter. It would take no more than 5 minutes to check these
resistances. there are 5 solenoids and 10 pins in the connector. Each
solenoid uses adjacent pins and all should measure 4-6 ohms when cold. If
you find one, like I did with a higher or lower resistance (mine was 1600
ohms) it has opened or shorted so needs to be replaced. The procedure was
not too difficult and parts cost was about $80 for the solenoid and trans
cover gasket. I'd suggest they do the diagnostic to see if a solenoid is
not working so would leave the trans in the wrong gear...given the lack of
other symptoms, it is likely this is the overdrive (4th) gear.

Bob

Good luck!

 

P0733 Gear 3 Incorrect Ratio

Have you tried driving it with the transmission only in 2? You only
gotta do it for 30 minutes after the reset, as I understand the rules.
Driving in 2 is not a major (only minor!) PITA as long as you don't
have to go at highway speeds.

Tim.

 

Here in Ohio,they have a lame-o emission test that is quickly losing
popularity,but,the county I live in HAS TO do it.Yours sound more