I see your point. Your unit is probably defective.

As far as the "revamped" emissions testing, it's been the way you describe for several years now in Massachusetts. They just plug the cars that are '96 or newer in and take a reading. Actually, I think this is valid, since by law, '96 and newer cars are required to turn on check engine and store codes when there is even a slight emission problem. Moreover, if you had a CE episode and reset the light, chances are the car will not pass the plug-in test because there is some magic bit that needs to be reset in there that gets set after some sonditions have been met. So, just resetting the CE light witha gadget from AutoZone may or may not make the vehicle pass emissions. Of course, they are reading the memory of a computer and we all know that nowa days any 13-year old kid can hack computers... Just look at the computer virus outbreaks lately. This system can be fooled for sure. Whearas if you actually accelerate the car to 60 MPH and sniff its exhaust, it's pretty much undeniable.

But until the ECU hacking becomes rampant and cheating the emissions tests is commonplace, I don't think the authorities will pull their heads from under the sand.

And, oh, by the way, all those junk heaps that billow black/blue smoke as they drive down the street? Well, they are exempt from emissions testing for old age. PLEASE!

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Vladimir. '98 S70 base, 5-speed manual - his, '93 945 - hers,