Drive cycle question

[ELoomis]

According to The Bentley manual, it takes three complete drive cycles to clear the MIL. It takes 40 fault free drive cycles to clear the memory for a non catalyst damaging fault and 80 fault free drive cycles for a catalyst damaging fault. A drive cycle is defined as a cold start and engine oil temp brought up to 160F at least 40F above it's starting temp. I would suggest starting the engine cold, allow it to warm up for a couple minutes then take it for a 20 to 30 min. drive, shut down allow to cool and do again 39 more times. Enjoy the ride!

[jmatta]

My friend went through this after disconnecting the battery over the winter (which is why it is not recommended). In his case, it took over two weeks of weekend driving cycles to get the car "ready". Not only is this an emissions problem, but it re-sets the ECU to default, so you have no idea if it had been compensating for unknown issues.

Good luck and only driving will get you "ready".