Car cannot pass emissions?

Good evening,

It does not make sense. Whether you drive it or not has no effect on the test.

Are there any codes set? Did the battery go dead? If it did then the monitors have to be reset. That may be what happened.

Can you give me more details?

Roy

Hi, can you provide the vehicle inspection report to see what area is failing? If they are not providing the information, then you may need to look for another testing facility. If they took money from you and will not provide the report then you may need to contact the Bureau of Automotive Repair for your district to report them.

Once you provide the report, we will look it over and once reviewed, will guide you in the right direction. And one more thing. What state are you in? If you are in California, I can provide more resources for you.

I suspect what the mechanic is talking about is the fact that if a car sits it has a tendency to set a cat inefficiency code.

If this is the code that was set, there are a chemicals that claim to get you to be able to pass emissions tests as they basically attempt to flush the fuel system and contain a chemical that will clean the tips of the o2 sensors.

However, here are a couple guides that will help with the emission system and the most common causes of failing smog tests in CA:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/smog-test-inspection-information

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-emission-control-systems-work

If you have a check engine light on, then you will fail any states emissions test so if you do then we need the codes.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/checking-a-service-engine-soon-or-check-engine-light-on-or-flashing

Lastly, I attached a picture of the most common chemical if you are having a catalytic converter code. My father-in-law just had the same thing on one of his cars and he added this and drove it about 20 miles and the light went out and he was able to pass emissions.

Clearly this is not definitive but worth a try if this was the issue. Let us know what codes are there and we can take the next steps. Thanks

Sounds like a plan.

We will be here for you.

Roy