All - '98 T & C with the 3.8, after battery disconnect for tranny swap I need to pass Cal emissions so I can sell. Despite all my best efforts at drive cycles, trickery, (even jacked the front wheels off the ground and simulated driving at 30-45 MPH for two minutes multiple times), 2 tests remain stubborn; catalyst, and O2 sensor heater. Spoke to crack mechanic friend of mine and he says low-lying fruit would be to just change both O2 sensors, and that the catalyst may be hung up waiting for the O2 heater test. I decided to test both O2 heaters for resistance on the vehicle and both registered real numbers, not infinite or OL on the gauge. I think the front one was like 1.3, or maybe 13 (not enough hands available) and the downstream was 16 ohms. I figure ok, mechanic talked about ECMs being sensitive to where the readings are in relation to parameter extremes, so they may wait, thus his idea to change them even though they're not fried would make sense...except that I couldn't get the downstream one loose...

Don't think I want to try the front one at this point either, so perhaps I'm back to cycles, except now I think HEAT cycles for the O2, rather than DRIVE cycles for the cat, since the cat test may not run until the O2 heater runs first. I guess I could try just firing up the engine and letting it idle until warm a couple of times per day with plenty of time in between to cool off. If that doesn't work, I guess I can cut the wires to the (probably perfectly good) downstream sensor and get a 1/2 drive deep socket on it and wail on it until it goes, and see if a new sensor works.

I would sure appreciate any help out there if you've been through this but please don't guess if you don't know. I've done enough guessing for 3 lifetimes and it hasn't worked. Thanks!

MT