Hi all, I tried to get the emissions inspection done twice on my new-to-me '96 Miata (132kmiles),once after I picked it up and drove it down from NJ to NoVA (around 200 miles maybe) and the second time this morning after I drove it for about 3 days and 100 miles of Capital Beltway commute and some short drives with lots of stops and starts. Both time the Catalyst, O2 Sensor and EGR System came back N - Not Ready.
The check engine light only illuminates when I start the car and immediately turns off and so far it hasn't turned on when the car is running.
Is this something as simple as I need to drive it more to get the system ready for inspection or do I need to worry that the OBD2 system has been tampered with by the previous owner? The car has been modified but AFAIK for the emissions system the only mod was FM exhaust system. It has NJ emissions sticker that's good until 2-11 and the previous owner told me that it had always passed NJ emissions inspection with no problem.
Is there a way to tell if the OBD2 system has been tampered with by the previous owner? On the way home from work Borrowed an OBD2 scanner from nearby Advance and it showed no code. The Actron reader they had was pretty good and it had "State OBD Check" feature. When I used this feature it showed the following:
- MIL Status Off
- Codes Found 0
- Monitors OK 6 (this including the 02 sensor)
- Monitors Inc 1 (this was the EGR System that came back Inc, not sure if Inc stood for Incomplete or Inconclusive, either way not good)
- Monitors N/A 4
I was wondering if anybody can help me figure out what Inc means and what I need to do to pass emissions inspection, I am at lost here. Thanks all.
It sounds like your drive cycle just does not exercise all of the test. Make sure you drive in a 40-50mph window, that should trigger the EGR test. The scanner you got should tell you a code (P1000) that not all of the tests are done.
Never seen an Actron scanner, but I suspect that it has a check list of tests that trigger the P1000, all but the EGR is done, and 4 are just too new for your car.
alfadriver wrote:
It sounds like your drive cycle just does not exercise all of the test. Make sure you drive in a 40-50mph window, that should trigger the EGR test. The scanner you got should tell you a code (P1000) that not all of the tests are done.
Never seen an Actron scanner, but I suspect that it has a check list of tests that trigger the P1000, all but the EGR is done, and 4 are just too new for your car.
Does it have to be 40 - 50 mph? I drove it from NJ on 95 and was driving at around 65 - 75 and my commute around DC was about 30ish in the traffic and 60ish with no traffic. If my EGR is bad should I get a code?
ea_sport wrote:
alfadriver wrote:
It sounds like your drive cycle just does not exercise all of the test. Make sure you drive in a 40-50mph window, that should trigger the EGR test. The scanner you got should tell you a code (P1000) that not all of the tests are done.
Never seen an Actron scanner, but I suspect that it has a check list of tests that trigger the P1000, all but the EGR is done, and 4 are just too new for your car.
Does it have to be 40 - 50 mph? I drove it from NJ on 95 and was driving at around 65 - 75 and my commute around DC was about 30ish in the traffic and 60ish with no traffic. If my EGR is bad should I get a code?
Yes- that's where the test is. EGR will throw a code outside of testing if there's a wiring or basic operation code- which isn't being set. What you are trying to clear is the intrusive test that shows that EGR is working in a specific band.
I bet that your EGR is working fine (it seems to only be a problem on '99's, like mine). You are just not running it where a few specific tests are run. Find a strip of road, drive it until the test is done, and it will stay that way until the set up is cleared.
