Bernd, hope you can point me in the right direction. Here in Mass if your
vehicle is due for emissions testing (every other year) as part of the annual
inspection the first thing they do now is plug into the OBD port (if OBD II
vehicle, this is something new in the last year) and check for codes (even if
the check engine light is not on )before even trying to run the emissions test
(roller driving cycle test). If they find codes or are not able to communicate
they send you away with a reject sticker and you have 60 days to correct the
issue.
My next door neighbor has a 96 Neon that runs well and has never given her a
problem (no check engine light either). She brought it in for inspection and
they told her they could not access the computer with the scan tool citing "the
computer is not ready" so they rejected the car and sent her packing. She
brought the car to the repair shop she frequents and they could not figure it
out and sent her to the local Dodge dealer where they told her she needed a
flash upgrade to the computer. When she returned to pick up the car she was
told they could not flash it and that she needed a new computer to fix it. She
hasn't had this work done yet. I have not plugged my OBD II scanner
in yet to verify any of this but;
My brother has a 97 Ranger that the check engine light was on so he brough it
over and it had misfire and O2 sensor codes stored. Since he had never tuned,
replaced a wire or O2 on the car we did. I cleared the codes and he drove it
for a day or two with no issues and brought it in for inspection. He got
rejected for "the computer is not ready" and was sent packing but was asked if
any codes had been cleared from the computer which he said yes to. He was told
to drive the car for a couple of weeks and bring it back. He was told that they
check for this now to veryify that people are not just clearing codes before
bringing it in for inspection.
He came over yesterday and I plugged into the OBD II port and there are no
"emissions or diagnostic trouble" codes stored but when I flip over to the
system test screen on my laptop I get a P1000 code for the engine controller
"OBD Systems Readiness Test Not Complete" which I can not clear and seems to be
related to what my neighbor is seeing with her Neon.
My questions;
Do you have any idea why they can't access the Neon computer?
Is this truely require a new computer to fix?
Any words of wisdom regarding this issue with this "the computer is not ready"
statement for the inspection station?
Thanks,
Dave Clement
99 SLT+ CC 4x4
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