I got my DMV registration renewal in the mail and was going to take the vehicle to a smog check station. I always scan the codes via the OBD-II port first. One oxygen sensor was throwing a code, and there was one other code.
I thought I was in for a costly repair, then the VW scandal made me look at the warranty booklet. Emissions equipment is guaranteed for 15 years or 150K miles. Anything needed to pass a smog check is included. This is for California, YMMV.
The same is often true of certain safety equipment (e.g., airbags, seat belts, etc.) Reading the paperwork that came with your vehicle (OhMiGosh!) is usually worth the time and effort, regardless.
Is it VW vehicle? I always peruse thru owner's manual when I purchase new vehicle.
I do, but I look at it again three months later and find a little useful thing missed the first time.
We bought a used Honda Civic for my college aged daughter. When we dropped it off at her apartment last weekend I handed her the owner's manual and advised her to read it, cover to cover.
Tuesday night she texted me, concerned about a blinking red light on the dash board. I replied with "Page 57".
Maybe she'll take the hint.
not sure what the current law might say but buried in the owners manual for my 92 Ford Explorer was an item regarding the PCV valve. Seems that it was a covered item for replacement at no cost at 60,000 miles. But the fine print said you had to get to the dealer no more then 200 miles before or after the 60K point. 23 years later and I still have the original valve since I didn't see the fine print till I was several hundred miles past 60K.
It's an inexpensive part. We used to just clean it periodically and stuff it right back in place.
Even though you fix the problem and erase the code, the smog station's comp uter hook-up may detect it and fail ya. There's a specific method of drivin g that will re-learn you car's ECM. Don't listen when the guy tells ya to j ust go drive it 200 miles and come back. I have a print-out somewhere of th e procedure
All they will detect, as I understand it, is that some of the "test cycles" have not yet run. You clear the codes and then the car has to be driven so that the computer can run the periodic self-tests. That can take quite a few miles for some of them because it may require that the car was started from dead cold, then run for at least 20 minutes, and a few more things before it will do the self-test and fill in the "box" saying "test completed". Last time I went thru this and looked up the rules they allowed you to have one or two of the self-tests missing but more then that and you "failed", not because of any past fails but because there was no record of the self-test having yet been run.
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