When your car goes through the emissions/inspections process, do they simply look for a "Check Engine" light on the dash or do they hook up their machine to the car's electrical system / ECU?

I ask because my wife’s car (Celica) has a check engine light on that I can clear myself. It stays off for about 3-5 days before it comes back on (the code is similar to our TL’s PAR Valve code). I’m worried that if they hook the machine up to the car, it’ll show that the car needs to be run for another 100 or so miles before the system can be checked (ran into the issue with Auto Zone when they tried to read the system’s codes.

Thanks!

 

when you go through emission inspection they turn the key into on position, they want to see the ECL on then goes off after couple seconds, then they will plug the OBDII scanner into and check make sure that you did reset the car prior to that if you reset then they will tell you to drive the car around awhile and come back when the list say "ready" instead of "N/A". But if you go to shop that has dumb mechanic they would just put it through inspection anyway and let you pass, it happened to me before with my Accord and I clear the code in the parking lot and the lube place just put it through inspection anyway plus they didn't bother to start the engine and run on the dyno anyway.

 

Here in NJ they hook up to the cars ECU. The check engine light came on in my 98' accord and my honda Tech repaired it & cleared the code, but told me to wait until I went to state inspection & said it could still show up in the ECU. Simply not doing the repair & clearing the code will not work, your cars ECU will still have it in it's system & will show up when they check.

 

Depends on the state... You live in California which is going to be one of the more strict states with emissions. In NY we can have 2 readiness codes not ready and still pass as long as the CEL is not on. My parents have a beater Toyota Echo that threw an EVAP code and was due for inspection. They kept driving it and the light went out, the code was still there when you pulled it, but it passed inspection since the light went out.

 

Thanks guys. I took it in after I cleared the code and kept my finger's crossed. Failed. TX can have just one "not ready" codes. Going to have the wife drive it around for a few days and I'll take it back and try again. Thanks again for the input!

 

I think Cali does a visual inspection also. Nevada just checks your codes.