I hope this is not 'old business' as I am a new member and have not seen this in any searches against this forum. If it is 'old business', I apologize.

I have a 1996 Avenger with the 2.0 DOHC and auto trans. This car belonged to my daughter and she recently bought a new car. This car had the battery replaced roughly 3 months ago and had not been driven until my trusty 1994 Saturn SL2 went to 'Auto Heaven'. I have put about 500 miles on the car and it needed a state inspection (NY). The inspection station said it failed because of 'readiness indicators'. They said to just drive it. However, after just going through this with my Dad's 1997 Mercury Sable, I discovered a section in the Merc owner's manual that had an 'idle re-learn' procedure. I performed it on the Merc and it passed when tested next.

The only Dodge procedure I found was on a truck forum:
1 - Disconnect the battery
2 - Turn the key to the START position for 30 seconds to reset the PCM
3 - Reconnect the battery
4 - Start the vehicle but DO NOT touch the gas pedal
5 - Let the vehicle idle for about two minutes - again without touching the gas pedal
6 - Shut the car off
Driving the vehicle 50-200 miles or so, the PCM will learn the fuel curve, etc....

Does this apply for Dodge cars, too? Or can anyone tell me if such an 'idle re-learn' procedure exists in the Avenger manual and what it is. Or do I just 'drive it' to fix the problem?

Sorry for the length!

TIA
AAC

 

You can do all of that or just disconnect the battery for the same amount of time. This does drain the capacitor. Then reconnect the battery and go for a drive. Getting it on the highway/freeway worked the best for me. I also drive it around town to be sure, since the computer learns your stop and go style too. You may get a CEL (check engine light) from disconnecting the battery but that can be reset too. Go to autozone and ask them to check your codes (they do it for free). If your CEL is on, for removing the battery, then have them reset it. If it's anything else, I would do the maintenance.

Hope that helped.
John

 

Oh yeah, another thing you can do is...do the "keydance". Turn the ignition to the ACC position 3 times, on the third turn, leave it on the ACC position and look at the "Check Engine Light" light. It will blink the code or codes.

First set of blinks 1 through 9
Second set of blinks are the same

Blinks will pause and if there are more codes it will give you another two sets and when it's done...you will get the end sequence which will end in 5-5 (AKA 55 which means....well, end sequence). If you have a Haynes or Chilton's manual, the codes are spelled out in both books.

Good luck sir/ma'am

 

There is no CEL and there has not been since I changed the battery. I will take it for a long drive this weekend and hopefully that is it. And I bought the Haynes manual......

Thanks!
AAC

BTW - It's sir..... ;^)

 

That just means the ECU and the TCM were reset recently. You car will not pass until the codes there are cleared (after the ECU and TCM stop the Learn Process)

 

It turns out the computer needs to be re-flashed by a dealer because of 'not ready' codes. It affects most 1996 Avengers, Neons, Sebrings, etc. models built prior to November 21, 1995.

Thanks to all that responded!

AAC

 

Good to hear.

Hmmm, the Eclipse of the same years had the same problem too.

 

Just to update everybody that's interested (ZZZzzz...), I had the ECM 're-flashed' by a dealer and drove the car about 300 miles. The car passed NYS inspection yesterday. And, the gas mileage has increased 10 to 15%.

AAC

 

EXCELLENT

 

Actually xtrmdrm, this is great info for future Avenger owners of the same year, that is if they use the search option. Thanks for the update bud.