not passing emissions
 

so i have taken my car in 4 times to get the virginia emissions test done and each time they tell me it can't be tested because the obd II monitor readiness thing says it is not ready. here's the break down of the 5 monitors:

Catalyst - not ready
Evap system - not ready
O2 sensor - ready
HO2 sensor - not ready
EGR system - ready

now, if the HO2 sensor is the down stream post-cat sensor then i dont have one. i disabled the codes in the pcm with powrtuner so no SES light comes on. i thought i would still be able pass emissions by doing that and i swear i have before. i dont know if VA has some advanced software now or what the deal is but this is a pretty big problem because my tags expire on saturday. does anyone have an idea on why it keep saying not ready? after they tell me it's not ready they say i have to drive it so it runs through all of the checks, but i put hundreds of miles on it this past weekend when i went to BPO in jersey so im sure that's not it.

I'm unfamiliar with the powrtuner and how it handles codes. What are they set to?

i think they are actually set to 'no reporting' and are not totally disabled. the problem is my laptop that has the program is not operational right now so i can't check.

I have been exempt the past 10 years as my car is lowered and has 20's on it and cant fit on the dyno....I know they just use the plug but they exempt me every year. This year (actually due before 12/23) I have been told they took the dyno out, so I may have a similair problem. My friend tried to hook up a dash-hawk to read my numbers and it was unable to detect my car.

I do not know if that is a similar problem, I havent done any reprogramming, but I may have a problem passing this year as well.

Is it possible that their diagnostic tools cant detect our cars....I know its OBDII but maybe there may be something else that may cause it.

Maybe with yours if your PCM adjustments is blocking emissions diagnostics. You may need to revert back to orginal settings and modify whatever it was that set your SES light. (worst case scenerio)

If they take the dyno out, then they can't check any pre-OBD2 cars. I don't see that happening. That's how they check my 1995 Escort.

Anyway, does the VA emissions place provide any guidence?

Dude you need to get your inspection done in a small town in VA, because the city "folk" will stick you. When I lived on the Eastern Shore of VA...all we got checked were brake lights, headlights, wind shield wipers, and turn signals..it didn't matter if you came in pushing the car. If those things worked then you would pass.

I think they are only removing 1 dyno out of their 4 bays...(this is the one in harford county)

That's exactly what they did for me, although they gave me a hard time about the window tint and loud exhaust. I got the legal limit 35% in MA, but the meter read 30%, passed me but he said he won't do it next year.

well each state has different regs to follow and what is tested, in MD unlike PA there is no annual inspection, but we have a bi annual emmisions test and that is all that is tested and must be tested every 2 years, no way around that. (unless you know someone to sign off) but generally there is a diagnostic report as well, and for my prior years I just get a waiver being exempt, my lexus gets the printout since its not lower they take me over the dyno and then plug in the OBDII

These are readyness monitors, they have to run on several key cycles, if you've disabled them with the power tuner, then they will never "RUN" and post ready.

Anytime you just CLEAR codes, it resets the readyness monitors, if you disconnect the battery (Usually the poor mans way to turn off the SES) it resets the readyness monitors.

So if youve been runnin around with the light on and just cleared the codes it will never pass. All they do is hook up a scantool and check system readyness, In NC emission inspection counties , if there is more than one NOT READY the car fails. I've failed one this morning so far on a modded Corolla with no CAT.

ya I had the same problems in my last car and the told me to drive more and for some reason it passed the third time.

they say that for people who have disconnected battery before being tested to try to clear codes. the PCM will record normal operation and that may be what the emmisions is looking for, when the codes are cleared sometimes they will tell you to not disconnect battery and let it be (or drive more)

You have it set to not report faults, so your check engine light won't come on. It also doesn't report any data to any of the monitors, so none of the checks are run on those circuits and the readyness doesn't even show (since, of course, you can't run O2 and catalyst diagnostics without an O2). The OBD did exactly what it was supposed to and so did the inspection (that is, catch people who try to tamper with emission control devices on their car).
Advice: move, or fix it.

Try reading this...

http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/pcm-di...need-help.html

Hold your horse's pardner...cause if MD means Maryland I've lived here for the last 4 years and prior to leaving for a year...4 years before that....I have never, ever...on any car I have had...had an emissions test every two years..either you are getting screwed or I'm screwed for not knowing...LOL

A lot of times it depends on the county you live in, at least that's the way it is here.

Sine my car is reg in Bucks county and is considered a Philly burb, it's required to pass the really strict emissions. If I lived in the sticks, a lot of times they'll pop the hood, see the emissions stuff, close the hood and pass the car.

As for your problem, IDK if the PCM isn't reporting a problem, it should pass. What kind of emissions testing do they have down there?

I PM'd you some info on that, rather then crapping up the thread.

Yep I got it thanks!

ok i finally got my laptop fixed and the powrtuner operational. the codes that i had messed with i have set to both disabled and no reporting. it is 2 separate tables. im wondering if i need to enable them but leave the other table set to no reporting...

Can you put up a screen shot of those tables? I'd like to see how they compare to HP Tuners'..... I just scanned mine, and the readiness tests show all "incomplete" except for EGR. And that makes no sense, since it's been disabled....