6E–60
6VE1 3.5 ENGINE DRIVEABILITY AND EMISSIONS
D
For the 3.5L w/automatic transmission, the
pre-catalyst sensors are designated Bank 1 HO2S 1
and Bank 2 HO2S 1. The post-catalyst sensors are
Bank 1 HO2S 2 and Bank 2 HO2S 2.
Catalyst Monitor Outputs
The catalyst monitor diagnostic is sensitive to the
following conditions:
D
Exhaust leaks
D
HO2S contamination
D
Alternate fuels
Exhaust system leaks may cause the following:
D
Preventing a degraded catalyst from failing the
diagnostic.
D
Causing a false failure for a normally functioning
catalyst.
D
Preventing the diagnostic from running.
Some of the contaminants that may be encountered are
phosphorus, lead, silica, and sulfur. The presence of
these contaminants will prevent the TWC diagnostic from
functioning properly.
Three-Way Catalyst Oxygen Storage Capacity
The Three-Way catalyst (TWC) must be monitored for
efficiency. To accomplish this, the control module
monitors the pre-catalyst HO2S and post-catalyst HO2S
oxygen sensors. When the TWC is operating properly,
the post-catalyst oxygen sensor will have significantly
less activity than the pre-catalyst oxygen sensor. The
TWC stores and releases oxygen as needed during its
normal reduction and oxidation process. The control
module will calculate the oxygen storage capacity using
the difference between the pre-catalyst and post catalyst
oxygen sensor’s voltage levels. If the activity of the
post-catalyst oxygen sensor approaches that of the
pre-catalyst oxygen sensor, the catalyst’s efficiency is
degraded.
Stepped or staged testing level allow the control module
to statistically filter test information. This prevents falsely
passing or falsely failing the oxygen storage capacity test.
The calculations performed by the on-board diagnostic
system are very complex. For this reason, post catalyst
oxygen sensor activity should not be used to determine
oxygen storage capacity unless directed by the service
manual.
Two stages are used to monitor catalyst efficiency.
Failure of the first stage will indicate that the catalyst
requires further testing to determine catalyst efficiency.
The seconds stage then looks at the inputs for the pre and
post catalyst HO2S sensors more closely before
determining if the catalyst is indeed degraded. This
further statistical processing is done to increase the
accuracy of oxygen storage capacity type monitoring.
Failing the first (stage 1) test DOES NOT indicate a failed
catalyst. The catalyst may be marginal or the fuel sulfur
content could be very high.
Aftermarket HO2S characteristics may be different from
the original equipment manufacturer sensor. This may
lead to a false pass or a false fail of the catalyst monitor
diagnostic. Similarly, if an aftermarket catalyst does not
contain the same amount of cerium as the original part,
the correlation between oxygen storage and conversion
efficiency may be altered enough to set a false DTC.
Misfire Monitor Diagnostic Operation
Misfire Monitor Diagnostic Operation
Misfire is monitored as a function of the combustion
quality (CQ) signals generated from the ignition current
sense system. Combustion signals represent the degree
of combustion in each cylinder. Misfire is detected when
the combustion signal is below a predetermined value.
The misfire ratio is calculated once every 100 engine
cycles. For example, on a 6-cylinder engine, 600 ignition
plug sparks occur every 100 cycles and if a misfire occurs
12 times during that time, the misfire is 12/600
×
100 = 2
%.
Misfire Counters
Whenever a cylinder misfires, the misfire diagnostic
counts the misfire and notes the crankshaft position at the
time the misfire occurred. These “misfire counters” are
basically a file on each engine cylinder. A current and a
history misfire counter are maintained for each cylinder.
The misfire current counters (Misfire Cur #1-6) indicate
the number of firing events out of the last 100 cylinder
firing events which were misfires. The misfire current
counter will display real time data without a misfire DTC
stored. The misfire history counters (Misfire Hist #1-6)
indicate the total number of cylinder firing events which
were misfires. The misfire history counters will display 0
until the misfire diagnostic has failed and a DTC P0300 is
set. Once the misfire DTC P0300 is set, the misfire
history counters will be updated every 100 cylinder firing
events. A misfire counter is maintained for each cylinder.
If the misfire diagnostic reports a failure, the diagnostic
executive reviews all of the misfire counters before
reporting DTC. This way, the diagnostic executive
reports the most current information.
When crankshaft rotation is erratic, a misfire condition will
be detected. Because of this erratic condition, the data
that is collected by the diagnostic can sometimes
incorrectly identify which cylinder is misfiring. Misfires are
counted from more than one cylinder. Cylinder #1 has the
majority of counted misfires. In this case, the Misfire
Counters would identify cylinder #1 as the misfiring
cylinder. The misfires in the other counters were just
background noise caused by the erratic misfire rotation of
the crankshaft. If the number of accumulated misfires is
sufficient for the diagnostic to identify a true misfire, the
diagnostic will set DTC P0300 – Misfire Detected.
Use diagnostic equipment to monitor misfire counter data
on OBD-compliant vehicles. Knowing which specific
cylinder(s) misfired can lead to the root cause, even when
dealing with a multiple cylinder misfire. Using the
information in the misfire counters, identify which
cylinders are misfiring. If the counter indicate cylinders