Range AFM Delete and Emissions

[wsteele]

Don’t think about your cats, they’re fine. That monitor takes the longest to reset. All those steps are just a suggestion, normal driving for a few days to a week will put the vehicle in all of those ‘parameters’.
It will reset, give a few more days of drive cycles. Drive cycle meaning cold start and take a normal drive.

When I originally put my range on my 13 I never thought about it causing a fail inspection and pulled it right before I went for an inspection.
Realizing I’m a moron, I drove around for another week without it and got it passed.

Not sure if it was mentioned but NY you can have 1 (or 2??) monitors not ready and pass.

I went through this with my fil’s pos 02 suzuki aerio just last summer because I let the battery die. I drove around for 4 days before work, got them all ready except 1 or 2 and went and passed.

good luck on your ‘quest’

Thanks for your experience on this, I really appreciate you posting it.

I will say, I wasn’t getting ready to put new cats in the budget yet. , actually I was just reporting what GM said it might require more trips than the one, if the cats were weak.

What I am actually trying to get at, other than filling in as many blanks as possible on how the Range device affects emissions readiness, is to minimize how much driving around I do in AFM mode (Range device out) every couple of years, resetting the flags before getting tested.

One of my concerns with using the Range device is my bi-annual emissions test. Specifically, what concerns me is a VLOM charged with oil that is not flowing for like 700+ heat cycles and then expected to work perfectly through the galleys and solenoids of the VLOM, delivering its uniform oil pressure with precise timing to the AFM lifter.

Likely this concern is born out of ignorance on my part with how the VLOM works and how the AFM lifters fail, as all I have ever read on the subject was that AFM lifter failures were usually related to timing issues in the VLOM setup. I could see a gummed up VLOM, causing timing errors when my week of driving around comes up and seeing an AFM lifter failure, caused by the very device that was charged to eliminate the risk.

In the end, I seriously doubt I will know every detail of how these things work. But if I know a lot more “for sure” and not just internet opinions (like the notion I picked up that Tow Mode might get me through the whole flag reset cycle, without ever seeing the dreaded V4 on the DIC), then honestly, I will probably consider time well spent.

My penchant for posting all this stuff is just that it helps build a stronger knowledge base for all on the myths versus realities of how these things actually work.

Some fun.

 

[George B]

For the record: It took me two weeks of daily driving and a few highway runs to get all but the EVAP monitor to set. I was able to drive in M5 with my six speed and not have the V4 activate. I can pass with one monitor not set here in Wisconsin. If I had the 4L60 I would have already done a black bear tune, Diablo tune or sent my PCM off to have the AFM disabled.

 

[wjburken]

I have been driving around with tow mode, while the Range device is out, to force V8 mode (poor man's AFM disable). I was hoping I could complete the ECU's Trip criteria and get the readiness flags that appear to be set when I remove the Range dongle, to understand how much driving I actually have to do to ready the car for emissions testing, all the while, not running in AFM mode.

Today I had a kind of disheartening occurrence as while in two mode, I glanced down and the AFM system was functioning like normal, switching between V4 and V8 mode! Somehow, it seems the ECU got confused about tow mode and didn't disable AFM mode.

I looks like it won't be a reliable strategy for forcing AFM disable while driving the trip criteria miles before an emissions test.

I haven't had the opportunity to do the exact GM Trip test, but so far, around town and a tiny bit of freeway driving, 25 miles and counting, the flags are still set.

Yeah-Tow/Haul doesn’t disable AFM. That is an urban myth.

 

[wsteele]

For the record: It took me two weeks of daily driving and a few highway runs to get all but the EVAP monitor to set. I was able to drive in M5 with my six speed and not have the V4 activate. I can pass with one monitor not set here in Wisconsin. If I had the 4L60 I would have already done a black bear tune, Diablo tune or sent my PCM off to have the AFM disabled.

Sounds pretty right to me.

 

[wsteele]

Today I passed 100mi and 3 full "Trips" and still all four readiness have yet to be reset. I will keep at it and report when I do get the readiness flags cleared.

I am looking forward to it as my Y cable came, so I will be able to see all my ODBII stuff, while the Range is in place.

 

[89Suburban]

Today I passed 100mi and 3 full "Trips" and still all four readiness have yet to be reset. I will keep at it and report when I do get the readiness flags cleared.

Well shit!

 

[wsteele]

Well shit!

Well, I suppose I actually may have some emission gear issues...

We will know pretty soon. I have to say, the flash route is looking better and better.

 

[89Suburban]

Well, I suppose I actually may have some emission gear issues...

We will know pretty soon. I have to say, the flash route is looking better and better.

I dunno man nobody who has changed their tune and deleted the AFM has responded about getting it to pass these tests.

 

[iamdub]

Thanks PG01.

Pfft. "PG01". He ain't foolin' nobody. Still the same ol' greasy eye-talian moron.

What's goin on, "Peege"? You in hiding now?

 

[wsteele]

I dunno man nobody who has changed their tune and deleted the AFM has responded about getting it to pass these tests.

I agree. I think I may give it a try though. The Diablo unit uploads your stock “tune” before you download anything from it.

What I might do, after I am done running down all the blind alley’s with my current setup, is give flashing a try. If, like gooffeyguy said, the Diablo unit resets all the readiness red flags when you flash your ECU, I think I may give it a try and when my emissions test comes up, head on over and get tested. Worst case, if I fail, I can reset everything to stock and start over. Frankly, the way I use this truck now, other than maybe the shift points, I probably wouldn’t be looking to change much “tune” wise.

But first, I really want to know exactly what I need to do to get that readiness status back where it was before I plugged that Range dongle in and later pulled it out. I am pretty sure somewhere in there, those readiness red flags were set. I really would like to know when that happens.

The other bonus for me is if the flashing route goes smoothly through emissions testing, when the time comes, I can either do a rebuild or reman and do the physical delete, the ECU will be ready and waiting for that setup.

 

[gooffeyguy]

I've been running the Diablo I3 for a couple years now on the 2012 with the performance tune and AFM disabled, and a Diablo Predator on my 2001 for like 10 years or more with the canned tune and tire size changed. I never restore the stock tune before getting emissions tested, it tests fine.

If I were to make changes to the tune, or uninstall it, I would have to wait until the readiness monitors were ready before getting emissions done.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[wsteele]

I've been running the Diablo I3 for a couple years now on the 2012 with the performance tune and AFM disabled, and a Diablo Predator on my 2001 for like 10 years or more with the canned tune and tire size changed. I never restore the stock tune before getting emissions tested, it tests fine.

If I were to make changes to the tune, or uninstall it, I would have to wait until the readiness monitors were ready before getting emissions done.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Sorry I misread your previous post about the readiness monitors being reset when you flash your PCM. I don't mind doing a week or two of driving to reset the monitors to ready after changing a "tune", when I don't also have to go back to AFM mode during that week or two. I really don't want to drive in AFM mode for a few weeks every two years, after having it shut off for the previous two years. It may be an irrational fear, given the empirical evidence of others that have had no problems, but to me, it seems like a bad idea.

A while ago now you told me going with Diablo would be better than the Range device. I think I understand now.

 

[wsteele]

I ordered a Diablo Predator and after I am done with my readiness monitor resets, I am going to give the PCM flash route a try.

I have done a little checking on our state's website regarding emissions regulations and for $14, I can go in for an "informational" emissions test anytime I want, so it will be pretty clear whether I will pass or not in my mandatory test, after the flash disable.

Our state follows the EPA rules as far as Readiness Monitors, allowing one to be not ready and still pass. Even CA allows an EVAP monitor to not be ready and still pass the test there.

After I flash the PCM with the AFM disable with the Diablo unit, I will do the same road tests to see how long it takes to reset the monitors and compare it to my experience with the Range device.

Anyone looking for a "like new" Range device, hardly used, blue LED's, shipping included...

 

[randyg]

x

 

[randyg]

I may have missed this in the thread (which is great, BTW) but can the Range company provide any info on this issue?

 

[wsteele]

I may have missed this in the thread (which is great, BTW) but can the Range company provide any info on this issue?

I haven't reached out to them.

I think my experience so far jives with many here, that some of your readiness monitors will be cleared when either plugging the Range device in or when you remove it (I haven't gotten to the point where mine are reset yet, so I can use the Y cable to see if it is after plugging it in that you get some readiness flags, or when you remove it).

I am at 4 complete GM "Universal Trip" cycles and about 175 miles and I still have the four readiness monitor flags showing "Not Passed" as I did when I first removed the Range device. On one GM document I read, it stated readiness monitors can take up to 1000 miles in at least 5 drive cycles from cold start to reset.

No matter what I find out (and I will post all my results), I am going to sell my Range device and move on to using the Diablo Predator I ordered to shut my AFM off. I just don't want to have to drive around for a couple hundred miles plus, in AFM mode, to get my truck ready for its bi-annual emissions test.

 

[Sparksalot]

SMH there is a smog check function. Here’s what I have.

device has only been in place a short time and 2-3 cold starts.

View attachment 268880 View attachment 268881

Another few cold starts and another hundred or so miles, and I still have the evap warning.

 

[Sparksalot]

I did a quick test on theothertwin today with the blue driver. The evap is fine. Only one warning for O2 test not done.

 

[wsteele]

I did a quick test on theothertwin today with the blue driver. The evap is fine. Only one warning for O2 test not done.

View attachment 270154

I am at over 200 miles and 7 cold starts and I have all four monitors not ready still. This week is going to be better, so I will give a full GM "Universal Trip" a run each day. Hopefully they will clear and I can move on to testing what plugging the Range device in does to the monitors, versus pulling it out.

In any case, I am convinced with my model year and revision level of the Range device, removing it before emissions testing means at least a couple weeks lead time.

My Diablo Predator Platinum came the other day and after I get done with the Range tests I wanted to do, will move on to that as my AFM disable. I have to say, startup with the Diablo unit didn't instill a great deal of confidence. Downloading the latest revision using their Mac download tool, didn't work at all. I pulled out my trusty HP laptop with Windows 10 and while I did get the latest revision downloaded and updated, it was a very glitchy process with a few user interface loops in it. Not the most confidence inspiring process when I consider it is going to be screwing with the ROMs in my PCM.

 

[89Suburban]

@wsteele did you give up on this investigation?