Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Not Ready for an emissions test

Now that the Ken Carr car is back up and running, I need to get an emissions test so I can renew the registration.  It's not that far past due (May 31) but I'm in danger of getting a ticket if I'm stopped so I'd like to get it resolved.  I have to get the emissions test this year before I can get the registration.  The car is a 2004 so it requires one every other year.

I took the car over to the emissions stations on Stocker Drive off of 22nd Street this evening.  I was informed by the tester that the car didn't pass.  The reason:  Several systems it needs to read the codes for were "not ready".  That's likely due to the work done on it yesterday and Barry resetting the computer on the car to clear all of the error codes.

The tester guy gave me a printout that described what it means to be "not ready".  My first thought was that it's like a virgin who is 'not ready' for sex.  But unlike a virgin, I need to get the car to be ready or it's going to cost me a couple hundred bucks to pay a ticket for expired registration if I get pulled over.  A virgin just remains a virgin.

After another post on Facebook whining about my current problem, Barry came to the rescue again by telling me I needed to drive it 15-20 miles on the freeway so that the computer can get enough data to be ready.

I took it for a nearly 60 mile drive tonight to be sure.  I went from my apartment near Pima and Wilmot over to Kolb Road, south on Kolb all the way to I-10, on I-10 from Kolb to Ina Road on the far northwest part of the city, and across Ina to Oracle Road.  Then I made my way back south through the middle of Tucson and east to get home.

It better be ready now.  Unlike a virgin, I can't get the car drunk to lower it's inhibitions.  Not that I've done that or anything... I've read about it on the internet.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

The Ken Carr car is "not ready" for it's emissions test.
I'm giving it all night to study.

A night time drive south on Kolb Road to
get the Ken Carr car ready for it's test.

A stop in a parking lot on Ina Road across from a Fry's Supermarket.
I shut the car off for a few minutes to let it think about
getting ready for it's test... then made the rest of the trip home.