987 Cayman S Evap or Secondary Air System Readiness Trick?

I'm starting to get frustrated with these last 2 monitors on my 2006 CS. I had to swap the battery because I had not driven it much lately. I didn't bother putting on the scanner because in the past on all my cars the systems were ready for emmissions within usually 25 miles or so, which I had put on even before showing up. I showed up and they could not give a passing result because Evap and Secondary not ready. The other 6 monitors were set and in success status with only those 30 miles on it broken up over a few drives. 250 miles later of mixed driving city/highway and grandma/race car over about 7 trips over 7 days and both still in "Not Complete". I just need 1 of the 2 to ready to get it through emissions. I know the Secondary is working, because on a cold start is idling at ~1,100 RPM, with the scanner indicating the command for secondary being Upstream, and then after about a minute it drops to the 700ish standard idle and the secondary command is reported as something along the lines of "not requested/using outside atmosphere" - it cold starts and behaves just as it always has since it came off the dealer lot in 2006. Seems like a lot a witch craft techniques posted on specific cycle to get emissions tests ready which are actually hard to do. These two are both related to more to non driving conditions for the most part - just the start up leaning and a passive measurement of fuel level relative to consumption (or possibly pressure?). I've tried mixed driving with just over 1/2 a tank getting it down to 1/3. I've tried it with starting 1/3 getting it down to 1/8. I've never replaced my battery or cleared codes so close to needing emissions so I'm not sure if it is normal for my car to take so long to verify those last 2. Anyone have a procedure that is directed just at either of these to expedite it or force it to test? I have zero DTC or faults reporting on anything. All live data looks as expected. Tags are expired now and I keep paying for 3 day temps thinking I just need more time, but there has to be some technique, either through my Pcar scanner or one of these resolved. If anyone has a logic chart on how the emission ECU test procedures are sampled/set that would be huge. I just don't have time right now to go on an all day road trip and try to log another few hundred miles in one shot. I know the last resort is the dealer, supposedly either driving your car for you or forcing the car to perform a test, or flashing a DMU. I'm trying to avoid that ofc. Thanks.

I went through this last year. First and foremost, mine was a loose gas cap , a new cap is cheap I’d replace it. Second, not only are the combo driving conditions important, the number of ignitions are as well, how many times it’s been started is part of the data restoration. Lastly, my friend who works for a major manufacturer told me to back off from a given speed and allow the car to coast back down to idle, do this a few times. I was lucky as my emissions center was helping me out as I went along. They read it a couple times free and told me how much closer I was getting to goal. There are several milestones within this process, I believe the number is four. Each benchmark is reached based on all of these driving factors that you must complete. I didn’t know if I was ever gonna get there either and then right before you know it everything is fine. My advice for all others is tighten your gas cap in the spring before you even fire up the car, you will save yourself a lot of headaches, sometimes they loosen from heat cycles even in your own garage. PS I can tell you for fact, 250 miles wasn’t enough for me, I believe it’s over 300.

Ok, I will replace the gas cap . It's tight and the o ring is in good shape. I made sure it was tight. It looks like I have to keep driving. What a pita. I had to replace a Nox sensor on my Audi and clear the codes and it was in full ready state for emissions within 40 miles, ignition started probably 4 times and all city driving. I will run it for another 50 miles and keep my fingers crossed. I've been starting everyday cold to let secondary air do its thing and idle down and then take a drive since I thought ignition/cold starts might have minimum number for that one.

You don’t have to do the cap it’s just insurance, my OEM cap looked flawless but the new one has never duplicated the visit engine shop warning. The decelerations that I recommended in my post are supposed to be done from 60 miles an hour down to zero that takes a certain area of anybody’s personal geography to accomplish. You’re not wrong about it being difficult and lengthy. My Ford of the same exact year did it quicker. The multiple ignition events is strange in my mind too. I don’t understand why that’s a factor. Hang in there and keep on driving. PS I remember you are supposed to also let it warm from idle to operating temperature which is contrary to what Porsche recommends but helps the data population.

I feel your pain. My Porsche service adviser told me that noone really knows what it takes to bring Porsche OBD to full readiness status. Wow, thanks for that! I will say, the two areas you are having trouble with do not generally require lots of miles. My reading of Porsche literature about these sub-systems tells me they both are something that is "tested" by the OBD software generally "once per key cycle" i.e. once every time you start the car. This would lead me to believe that cold starts are better than just piling on the miles. Keep in mind there is a chance there is actually something wrong. The system check for the Evap system does check to see that the system holds a pressure i.e. gas fumes are not escaping in a bad way. There is a pressure check that a dealer or an Indie can do to confirm that the system is operating correctly. I agree with you that if you hear the Secondary Air pump kick off and/or you get the desribed high idle followed shortly by a normal idle, that sounds like it is functional. The OBD is probably logging a current draw through the small motor that drives the pump. I'm not sure what else there would be to check.

Another 80 mile single cycle today. 20 miles of city, got on the highway and did a 40 mile loop, and 20 more city back home. No change, not ready on the same two, no pending error/fault codes. I let it rest for about an hour, took it on another short drive around town, no joy. I am starting to wonder if those last two are done in order. ie: secondary has to become ready before EVAP is tested? It just doesn't make sense that both, which should be seemingly completely unrelated systems are both hung up. You would think there would be some sort of way to probe the ecm to see what it going on with the tests, but alas it seems like it is black boxed so you either drive until it readies or go to the dealer and flash a dmu. Super frustrating. I haven't done any EVAP checks yet just because I didn't want to mess with the process since I'm not getting any codes and secondary appears to functioning properly.

OK, this is shot in the dark. Attached is the discussion of the DME code P0491. It does discuss a Instrusive Check of the Secondary Air system. All the Diagnostic Conditions look pretty doable (temperature wise) but what jumps out at me is Idle Speed and Time after engine start >590 seconds i.e. > 6 minutes! I would start the car and let it idle for 6 minutes and beyond, like maybe 10 minutes. If I understand the 2nd sentence, the Secondary Air Pump is going to be activated, which you should recognize when it happens. It also looks like someone with a PWIS can force the activation. Whether this sets the SAS to Ready, I do not know.

Thanks, yea I've tried all sorts of cold starts. Start, let it idle for like 10 minutes. Start, let it idle until the RPMs drop from SAI kicking on from around 1,100 until and shuts off (per scanner) and drops into normal idle around 680 RPM, wait about 30 seconds and then drive. Start cold and immediately back out and start driving. I've found lots of docs that show the MAF rate and RPM and/or speed thresholds and how long each test is supposed to last. I replaced the gas cap and did the procedures I've found trying to get EVAP to come ready. There are no pending faults and now over 300 miles later these last two won't ready up. I've tried all the drive cycle routines, regular driving, etc. I don't normally drive it often and spending time just driving to put miles on it driving around town and on the highway. I'm going to give it another 100 miles and then I'm taking it to the dealer to try to ready at least one of them so I can pass emissions, too much time spent on this and I just need one of two and neither will come ready.

Finally, EVAP came ready. I put a new gas cap on it about 5 drive cycles ago. I'm not sure if it was coincidence or was the reason. Again, no errors were present so who knows. SAI still not ready even though it is activating, but no worries because I can get through emissions with up to 1 not ready. What a PITA, I was planning on dropping it off at the dealer this evening so I'm happy it readied just in time before they got it.