Hi,
Wow. Frusrtrating. Been to the mech twice now. Here's the sequence of events :
Have been driving the car for years with check engine light flashing away, but this year has the infamous "emissions testing" has reappeared in my county.
Car fails emissions scan with state OBD machine ($41). Mech then hooks up his own scanner ( another $41 ) and gets code for EGR. He then finds rotted vac tube to EGR, replaces it. Retests car with his own scanner, and EGR code is gone. Good. But other codes , for things like cat converter, ox sensor, etc are "inconclusive".... Mech says he can't pass it with "inconclusive" codes; if he hooks it up again to the "state" scanner, it will fail, and I will lose my "one free retest" !! He then says I have to drive the car for several miles, and bring it back, at which time the codes for the other stuff should be set. Drove the car for 80 miles in town and on hiway, came back, mech retested the codes, still "inconclusive" !!
Another thing : The "check engine light" does not come on with the key in "on" and engine off. It only comes on when the engine is running. Sometimes it does NOT come on at all, and stays off completely while I drive, until I shut off the car and restart it, and then it flashes away happily once again.
Mech thinks the fact that the "check engine light" does not come on with "key on / engine off" means the computer might be hosed, and suggested I try a junkyard computer.
Would disconnecting the battery for a while help ?
Any ideas welcome !!!