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I got a 2015 1.5L 3 cylinder turbo for myself a few years back and have loved it ever since. My 2015 has gone smooth for a few years with minimal maintenance and for the most part, runs excellent. The Issue I started facing since April is when I needed to smog this for the first time in CA. I got a P0456 code (Evaporative Emission System Leak Detected -very small leak) I replaced the "purge valve" and checked for leaks on all the hoses. I ran a multitude of drive tests at that point, as the P0456 code went away. But the Fuel Monitor has still not complete it's cycle. I understand that this is a "constant" monitor, and how it measures fuel trim. Since April, I have replaced Both Oxygen sensors, replaced the air filter, cleaned the MAF, replaced the spark plugs, got a new Gas Cap, ran injector cleaner through the fuel system. Probably have driven this thing well over a 1000 miles and had done every conceivable drive test that has been posted. I have a Innova 5610 scanner, and have gone through all the key monitors / devices that are related to Fuel monitoring, and they all seem within normal parameters. I do notice that, while driving with the scanner hooked up in the OBD2 mode, the CAT, EVAP and the O2S monitors are still incomplete (as pictured). I also note that the O2S B1 S1 (upstream O2 sensor) is reading -.03 mA, which leads me back to a possible vacuum leak. I have ordered up a smoke machine this weekend to do a proper test. Like I said, I have racked my brain on this issue, as well as months of expired tags :( Any further thoughts on this issue or solution would be greatly appreciative
So I decided to invest in a smoke machine and it paid off Found smoke coming from the timing cover below. There was a pretty bad Oil leak to pin point the problem as well. Ordered a new cover and will install this week...fingers crossed
I managed to fix the timing cover leak over the weekend and did another smoke test. No leaks present. I recorded the "since DTC Cleared" pictured below as all monitors have passed "except" fuel monitor. When I first had this issue back in April, I immediately contacted my Smog guy and he said that it would "NOT" pass because of this. I even crossed checked with a few other stations, and they said the same thing. Again, since then, I have drive over 2000 miles, a bulk of it traveling on the freeway as well as all the Drive cycles. I did manage to look up the CA "BAR" website on this monitor and came up with the following attached below as well. I just wanted to make sure I was not wasting time and money on an issue that needs further fixing to pass. But at this point, I am all ears...
Your 2015 MINI F56 is obviously not a BMW E46, but it is a BMW, so finding this thread, entitled "Fuel System Monitor Incomplete" over at E46 Fanatics while Googling around got my attention, especially this pair of statements within one of its posts:
"Misfire, Fuel System and Component Monitors should almost immediately be in the Ready/Clear/Pass state. No amount of driving will typically cause the Fuel System to become Ready/Clear/Pass."
"A Pending code can stop the Readiness Monitoring process"
I have some experience chasing readiness codes around on both MINI (R series, to be fair) and not-MINI (multiple makes/models/years) and not once (on a vehicle with no problems and no findable codes) did I run into the "Fuel System Monitor" sitting in an Incomplete state for any meaningful amount of time, much less 2000 miles of driving.
That Innova scanner you've got -- does it read BMW-proprietary codes? If not, you could be sitting on a pending code and not even realize it (or even a non-pending code and not realize it). There are a good number of proprietary codes that will not throw a check engine light, and won't throw an OBD-II code, pending or otherwise, either. But your ECU/etc being made by BMW... are absolutely going to pay attention to those proprietary codes and do whatever to Readiness that BMW's programming tells them to do (or not do, like clear up).
Separate from the fix-the-car technical, the next to last post in that same thread says:
"Just wanted to provide some information on this topic as it does not seem like it was resolved. The OP is from CA. In CA you actually do not need to have the fuel monitor completed to pass a CA smog check. It is not mentioned often because this is such a rare occurrence but the continuous monitors are ignored during a CA smog check. See section C footnote 3 in the link below."
I'm not going to play legal here, but if you are in California, it seems someone else came to exactly the same basic "does actually it matter to pass the emissions test" question for that state that you did.
