Check Engine Light - Tester No longer available at Auto Zone
 

So after years of hearing that Autozone would lend you their OBDII code tester, I went in Saturday with our old SUV that my daughter drives. It runs fine, but the CEL bugs her.

They no longer lend out the tester. They will sell it to you but claim the state of CA has prohibited the lending out of this tool? They even have a sign on the counter indicating same - they must get a lot of questions - a guy even came in behind me and asked the same thing.

Is this true? Did some dealerships slip the Bureau Of Auto Repair some donations?

That sucks. I just had my AMG scanned a few weeks ago. I think China Tools (Harbor Freight) sells one for under $50.

Mine's a ML430 w/ approx 200K miles. Dealer mentioned 2 years ago that the CEL was on due to a certain code. In that case, I looked up the code, got the oem Bosch part (Mass airflow sensor) from German Star Parts and replaced it myself. They wanted $700 at the dealer - I got the part for $110 plus I had to buy a five dollar star socket (with center "teet") and it was very easy to fix.

I guess I was hoping for a similar experience this time around.

Matt, You're right. HF sells one for about $39 if memory serves. I have thougt of buying one but always wondered if it was even worth that much.

Does anyone have a low dollar OBD-II unit that resets CEL's and which they would give a good recommentation? I consider low dollar to be less than say....$75-$100 and not need a computer.

My AutoZone walks out to the parking lot with you and runs their device, then gives you a printout.

Buy from HF.

Mine works great, when Im not lending to friends who never return it :(

Some of the cheapo's won't work with Mercedes. Leave the ignition on and unplug the battery for awhile, that should reset the codes.

This is the one I have and it has been a super investment.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/INNOVA-3100-Diagnostic-OBD-II-Code-Reader_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ43989QQihZ014QQi temZ330263880235QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

I can reset the light at the battery but it will eventually come back on.

I need to know what the code is so I can investigate further. My guess is that I have a bad cat (I can hear what sounds like marbles rattling around near the left one).

Of course, the cat is a dealer only item - unless I can get a muffler shop to cut in a generic cat. Au opinions?

Any idea as to why the state has done this?

Rick,
Thanks for the link but I can't open it now, I'm at "work" (Maynard G. Kerbs sound!). Can you post the info directly?

David, The Check Engine Light is currently on in my '02 Dodge Ram. A friend of a friend let me use his OBDII and it turned out I had a couple codes. One was for the #6 coil pack - swpaaed that out in five minutes. The other for the right side O2 sensor. On my truck there is one both before and after the cat. I don't know if that's common. Fortunately, it was the one BEFORE the cat so there is probably nothing wrong with the cat. By the way, from visiting a Dodge site I read that Dodges don't react well to generic O2 sensors from Pep Boys, got to go to a Dodge dealer to get the $70 one DOH! Hopefuly you'll have better luck.

HF OBD reader works just fine. It even comes with a CD of codes for most vehicles..or you can find it on the web.

Great tool for 50 bucks.....and you can let your fingers do the walking when it comes to troubleshooting...hardest part is bending down to see where the OBD port is under the dash.

Mine is the Innova 3100.

http://www.troublecodes.net/articles/equus/Equuis_OBD_II_code_reader.shtml

Don't just get one because you think it will make your CEL go away. It will not. Sure, you can clear it. But you have to address the root cause for it to stay away. I went through hell with my 993 for emissions last summer in VA and again recently in AZ. Car burns as clean as a hybrid, but the readiness monitors would not stay reset. They didn't trigger a CEL, but they made it unreadable for the emissions inspection. The reset procedure is a f&cking nightmare and can barely be done on a public road with a stopwatch and about an hour of lawbreaking. But the BMW reset procedure works on 993's and I got through emissions both times by using it.

I went to one of my local autozones. THey told me that some guy cleared a code, then cooked his engine and sued, and so now they don't lend them out. They did however have an old beat to crap one that they "sold" me only to be returned 5 minutes later.

I've since bought a http://www.scangauge.com/, and I love it.

Funny, my Mazda MPV also needs a new cat. $948 at the dealer, screw that! Thanks to it being a CA emissions car, the emissions warranty is only to 70k, and I have 72k. Normally it goes to 80k. Thanks CA!:rolleyes:

I need to shop muffler shops.

I think it's because people were running down to Autozone, clearing their CELs and then quickly getting the car smogged before the light turns on again. Usually if yu have a bad O2 sensor it will take a few miles for the computer to trigger the error.

Hope this helps,
Michael

Read your manual first! I know a lot of newer cars get screwed up doing this.

+1

I tried a HF cheapie on my e300d and it wouldn't read the code, let alone reset it.

The local eurocar shop lets me use their scangauge unit when I need it. That thing works like a charm and is easy to use. That's what I'd buy

WTF would stop someone from simply unplugging the bulb to it in order to not draw the attention of the inspection guy? Cripes, are the bureaucrats in Sacramento really this stupid?

Oh wait, never mind. I answered my own question.

Sometimes the CEL triggers an open loop, ignoring the O2 sensor. Runs rich, higher emmissions. Light or no light, it won't pass smog like that.

Even on my turbo diesel, some codes will cause the fuelling to be increased and the boost to be limited. Some of those codes clear after 3 cold/hot cycles, but it sure is a dog to drive in the meantime, and smokes badly.

Clearing the CEL and/or pulling the bulb will not do anything if they test by plugging into the OBDII port. Plenty of states just started doing this recently and before that just did the old sniff test. In that case, clearing the CEL or pulling the bulb would work. You can't fool the OBDII tester now though. It checks for readiness codes, which you can only see with an OBDII scanner. Believe me, I have been through this the hard way a few times. I know all the tricks.

BTW, in my last two runs through emissions in VA and AZ they only use the OBDII tester, no sniff test. The OBDII tester does not check your actualy emissions. It only checks that your readiness codes are not unreset. When you get the printout, it will not have any readings for CO, NO or HC. It's such a government BS joke. You could be blowing black and blue smoke with oil coughing out the tailpipe. But if your computer says everything's ok, that's what the OBDII tester sees. Of course, a lot of states have a provision for visual smoke. But it's all computerized now. I'm sure someone will eventually come up with a chip that can fool the OBDII testers.

So it's not an emission test anymore, it's an "OBDII" test?

How long before someone starts selling "dummy" obdII computers that give the right values but aren't even hooked up to the engine? Sounds like a good ebay item.

Exactly and exactly.

I don't want it to reset the light - I wanted to borrow the tester so I could fix what ails it. Seems idiotic that the state would not want me to eliminate the problem. Why limit the use of the scanners when you can reset the light without them? I think they just want to eliminate the DIY'r.

Very well could be, daepp.

In Texas everything changes when the car hits 25 years old, safety only! Just got mine done today, $14.50!:D

Again, resetting the light will not get you through emissions. I didn't have a CEL when I failed twice either. The scanner will show you which readiness monitors are not reset. That's the only way you'll see them. Even if you pull a fault code and fix the issue, you could and will likely still have the readiness monitors to deal with. You can't reset them with the scanner and you can't sneak past the states OBDII tester.

Are you near Burbank? If so you can borrow mine. I had an Audi S4 and used it a lot! :D

That won't work. When you clear a code, the ECU goes into a mode where the car has to see a certain number and certain types of running/loads before the ECU sends the "ready" signal. If you reset the light and then drive to get it fixed, their computer will say that the car is not ready to be checked yet. Here in Houston, any car newer than '97 (OBDII) gets checked by having the shop computer plugged into the cars diagnostic port. Basically, if you don't have a CEL, then you're good to go. Obviously, whether the light in the dash is lit or not, the ECU knows whether there are codes.

Yeah, it's not that easy to fool them with OBDII.

BTW, the Scangauge will tell you when your car is "ready" after the CEL has been reset.


Rick beat me to it...

NC stopped the tailpipe emission tests a few years go.

All vehicles pre-96 are exempt from emissions testing (nice to have SSI's :D)

All diesel vehicles are exempt form emissions testing

96 and newer go through the OBD II test

I can see it now, run two ECU's one for testing and one for running.

Reminds me of a spec miata class story I heard: After a race an official told a competitor they were impounding ECU's. The driver said 'no problem' and proceeded to remove the ECU from his car and hand it to the official. His miata never missed a beat and he drove off without the ECU!!!

All the more reason to buy a pre-'74 car without all that electronics crap anyway. I'm all for cleaner air but I'm so sick and tired of this NannyState B.S. Ultimately one thing matters and one thing only - that's what comes out the tailpipe. If you can make those numbers, by whatever means - you should be allowed to register the car. Period. End of discussion. I don't need my computer data being downloaded to the Imperial Nazi Database of Kalifornia or anywhere else.

It's doubly hypocritical when one considers that large trucking companies are allowed to buy themselves exemption from testing by virtue of the fact that they've got money to spend. Total, typical revenue-motivated nonsense by this state. Utter hogwash. Take a ride sometime behind a GOVERNMENT-OWNED municipal or school bus. Yep. No emissions there either. But that doesn't matter evidently. Only oppressing the populace-at-large.

I truly hate the government of this state and will eagerly celebrate the day it collapses under the weight of its own fiscal stupidity.

But Jeff, how do you really feel??? ;)

:D

Sorry, I shouldn't post until the espresso machine is done. A shot of that and a few deep breaths into a brown paper bag and I'm feeling better...

I know of someone who rigged the CEL to the oil pressure light after a 'gray market' engine conversion - the smog guys never caught it.

VA and AZ will also give you an exemption if you spend $XX trying to fix the problem in a state-approved shop. It's between $400-$600, which isn't hard to do on a 993. I think I was out about $1900 by the time I had pinpointed and fixed the problem (leaky injectors). Trouble is all the state-approved shops are gas stations that I'd never let near my car.

What's really lame is that I know, from the days before VA did OBDII testing, my 993 is one of the cleanest burning cars on the road. First time I took her through then-sniff test emissions, the guy thought his tester was wrong. These are very clean cars. But because of my readiness monitors the last two times, they could not get their OBDII testers to read my ECU. In that case, it would make sense for them to just do a sniff test, since you're already there and they do it for bikes and older cars. But noooooo. '96 and later cars can have nothing but the OBDII test. Such bull$hit.

Keep in mind that CA only cares about you spending the $$$ to smog places (which in turn have to pay an exorbitant fee to the state for their "approved test only station" status) and doesn't give a flying fig about safety equipment. I think they tried to implement this some years ago and some bleeding heart went bezerk claiming it was discriminatory against certain minority groups or something (and won). Today we have no tests whatsoever of safety equipment and this is painfully obvious on the roads. The state only cares about whether or not you've paid their (test-only station laundered) extortion money.

All hybrids are exempt here. They can't sit and idle, so they aren't checked.

That's the same in a lot of places. The irony is that fixing your brakes or headlights would likely never cost close to as much as they require to you spend to get an emissions waiver.

Bump

Does anyone know why the BAR/State of CA did this?