New Emissions Test. New Problems.

[Your Uncle Moe]

So NYC has got this new way of testing for emissions. They hook up the car directly to the computer and run a diagnostic first before even attempting to get the car on that little dyno. I fail at the diagnostic part. When they plug into my car it keeps giving them a "Not Ready" for all the sensors. Of course, "Not Ready" means "FAIL" to them and thats exactly what happened. I failed the Inspection because all the sensors said "Not Ready".

I have no warning lights. Everything is in tip top shape and the car would pass the old inspection test with flying colors. The mechanic told me that I gotta drive the car for an hour or so before going back to take the test and I am not allowed to shut off the car or the cars comp will go back to the "not ready" position. But this is stupid because the first step of the test is:

"Shut off the cars engine and plug in diagnostic tool." lol

So what the hell am I supposed to do???!

[Cyorke]

Originally Posted by Gridlyne

So NYC has got this new way of testing for emissions. They hook up the car directly to the computer and run a diagnostic first before even attempting to get the car on that little dyno. I fail at the diagnostic part. When they plug into my car it keeps giving them a "Not Ready" for all the sensors. Of course, "Not Ready" means "FAIL" to them and thats exactly what happened. I failed the Inspection because all the sensors said "Not Ready".

I have no warning lights. Everything is in tip top shape and the car would pass the old inspection test with flying colors. The mechanic told me that I gotta drive the car for an hour or so before going back to take the test and I am not allowed to shut off the car or the cars comp will go back to the "not ready" position. But this is stupid because the first step of the test is:

"Shut off the cars engine and plug in diagnostic tool." lol

So what the hell am I supposed to do???!

THey do the same thing in Tennessee. The only problem is that is only for cars with OBDII. NOw I know the test port says OBDII but I dont think the 96 has the full version so therefore it will not work on that car. I don't think they went to full OBDII compliance until 97. I may be wrong and will try to get some more info for you, but that is what I am thinking. I know my 94V6 still does the sniff test but my 97 Corolla I had did the plug in test.

[Your Uncle Moe]

Thanks for the info. I thought the same thing too but the mechanics insist that this car has to go through the old test. I guess I cant argue

Im gonna go take the test in a couple of hours. Ill post back with the results.

[BlueCam]

good luck

[Anshu]

have le fun

[Toysrme]

I don't know first hand (having a 3vz-fe) So I'm probably wrong, but I was under the impression that the 94-95 1mz-fe's are OBD-II, without the connectors, and that a '96 was fully OBD-II. Connectors and all.

Lik I said, I don't know so... Don't hold me to it.

Open your diagnosts port. It's either OBD-I Toyota style connectors, or it's OBD-II.

[Mike Gerber]

It is my understanding that all model year 96 cars sold in the US had to be OBDII compliant.

Mike

[Venkatesh]

The 1996 5S-FE was a fully OBD-II compliant car, with the standard connector and all. I never looked at a V6 model, so I can't help you there. Sorry.

I had this problem very recently with my Camry (96 LE). First, the dealer told me to perform a drive cycle (drive 49 miles in a fairly strange pattern, 5 seconds at 40mph, 5 seconds at 20mph, repeat 4 times). This didn't bring the sensors to all-ready. The second time I talked to them, they told me to just keep on driving and that they would tell me when the sensors were ready. More than 400 miles later, they had still not come to ready state.

Now here is what finally worked - reset the ECU and drive roughly 50 miles. The ECU wasn't reset by pulling the battery cable, but rather by having the dealer perform a soft-reset. After 50 miles, the system came to ready state.

[Eye8Pussies]

Originally Posted by Toysrme

I don't know first hand (having a 3vz-fe) So I'm probably wrong, but I was under the impression that the 94-95 1mz-fe's are OBD-II, without the connectors, and that a '96 was fully OBD-II. Connectors and all.

Lik I said, I don't know so... Don't hold me to it.

Open your diagnosts port. It's either OBD-I Toyota style connectors, or it's OBD-II.

You're right.

ALL the 1mzs, including the first ones in 94 are all OBD-II

and I'm not sure about the 95, but yes, the 94s have a diff connector

[Your Uncle Moe]

Im ODB-II.

I failed twice today. This sux. Now I cant drive my car anymore.

[Phi]

What kind of BS test is this?! What sensors are the diagnosics reading as "not ready" ? It'd be interesting to go to Autozone to see what sort of codes are stored in the car's computer that are throwing off the preliminary diagnostics. Maybe you should go to another place and get a second opinion.

[Your Uncle Moe]

Originally Posted by Phi

What kind of BS test is this?! What sensors are the diagnosics reading as "not ready" ? It'd be interesting to go to Autozone to see what sort of codes are stored in the car's computer that are throwing off the preliminary diagnostics. Maybe you should go to another place and get a second opinion.

They did hook up that little handheld pc to the cars comp and read the errors. I dont remember the exact erorrs. There aren't any errors or a check engine light. Its just that some sensors are supposedly "Not ready".

I think one of them was ODBII something and EGR something and I forget the rest. Basically anything ODBII related was labeled as "not ready". Now could this be related to me changing my sensors 15k miles ago? I used to pass the "old/normal" emissions test okay.

Keep the help coming guys cuz this is a new test in NYC and Im sure that the NYC people on this forum will encounter the same problem when their inspection sticker runs out. After doing a lot of searching (before I started this thread) I found nothing on the subject. So this will come up when they do a search in the near future.

Thanks in Advance!

[Your Uncle Moe]

I wonder where 88LE is.......

[ShawnM]

Its the same test thats done here in illinois. What theyre looking for is "readiness monitors". Driving the car for a while at different speeds is usually good enough to set these monitors. Once the monitors are set they can only be erased by disconnecting the battery, or clearing the memory with a scanner. Turning the car off will not re-set them. This only applies to 96 and newer cars. The ones we usually see at the shop that dont have the monitors set are the low milage little old lady cars that only go to the local grocery store and back.

[500KCamry]

Originally Posted by Gridlyne

Im ODB-II.

I failed twice today. This sux. Now I cant drive my car anymore.

That suxs for sure.