I'm trying to smog my 01 maxima in California, and I'm getting a Not Ready for the catalyst. The only wierd thing is that the MIL light is not on. The P0430 code reads when I scan it but my MIL never comes on (it does work BTW, when I turn the key to ignition) I read somewhere that it might be that the car is no longer detecting the problem. If thats so does anyone know how long it needs to run without detecting the problem for the Catalyst to show as "ready"? All other components are showing as ready, so I'm clueless (02 sensors, misfire etc) Please Help!!

 

You might need a dealer to flash the ECM program with updated code. There's a TSM about p0430. Take a look and see if it applies to your car.

 

How can I view TSM (or TSB's). When I go to Nissans website it asks me to pay for it. Sheez anything to get the consumers buck, huh?

 

There's a sticky post in this forum with the TSBs. Here's link to the one I think might help in PDF format:

http://maxima.theowensfamily.com/tsb/NTB00-070a.pdf

 

But thats for a p0420, not a p0430

 

Sorry about that. Then reset the ECM and see what happens after a few days.

 

Did the mil ever come on before with this code since you have owned the car?
if not then it might just be a stored code that needs to be reset.

 

Typically speaking, "catalyst not ready" means that the car hasn't run the test to see if it'll fail or pass yet. (typically you get this note ready after disconnecting the battery, or resetting the codes) Usually you need to drive the vehicle under a certain set of conditions for each of the tests. There is usually a procedure in the service information on what must be done for the vehicle to self run the tests. Usually the only codes that can be read by a "generic" scan tool are codes have turned on the MIL. Yes a code does usually have to fail 2 or 3 times in a row to turn on the light depending on the type of code, but most unenhanced scanners won't show you any "pending" codes..

I don't know alot about the emissions procedures, so I suppose it may be possible that once the PCM detects the first fail (while waiting for the second fail) that the catalyst goes into "not ready" mode until the vehicle runs the test a second time to see if it'll fail again or clear the code.