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Old 02-07-2025, 10:31 AM   #1
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Will these readiness monitors statuses pass California smog?

After many weeks of fixing up my new to me 2002 986 base Boxster, I think it's ready to be smogged and registered in California. I'm pretty excited about this given this car has fought me ever since I pulled it into my driveway!

I plugged in a reader this morning and get the following when I run the readiness scan:

MIL Status : OFF
Misfire Monitor : OK
Fuel System Mon : OK
Comp. Component : OK
Catalyst Mon : INC
Htd Catalyst : N/A
Evap System Mon : INC
Sec Air System : INC
A/C Refrig Mon : N/A
Oxygen Sens Mon : INC
Oxygen Sens Htr : OK
EGR System : N/A

I'm trying to avoid multiple trips for a California Smog test so I'm hoping someone can tell me if these statuses are what they need to be to pass that piece of the test?

Thanks as always in advance!

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Old 02-07-2025, 10:46 AM   #2
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From experience w states less stringent than CA, any status: INC means incomplete and not ready/passable. That's the bad news.

The good news is w a decent drive (use archives to find procedure but only like 15min drive) you can get them either OK aka ready (or trigger so you can get more codes to chase further before attempting test).

Good luck
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Old 02-07-2025, 11:10 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Burg Boxster View Post
From experience w states less stringent than CA, any status: INC means incomplete and not ready/passable. That's the bad news.

The good news is w a decent drive (use archives to find procedure but only like 15min drive) you can get them either OK aka ready (or trigger so you can get more codes to chase further before attempting test).

Good luck
This totally makes sense. The battery was disconnected and the car has only been on one brief drive since. I followed your advice and see posts on drive cycles, I'll do that and hope the other ones flip to OK, hopefully they do, the car has never had a CEL during the time I've owned and driven it.

Any concerns at all with the N/A items below?

Htd Catalyst : N/A
A/C Refrig Mon : N/A
EGR System : N/A

Thank you again for your help!
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Old 02-07-2025, 11:18 AM   #4
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As Burg implied, it's highly doubtful that'll pass. Take it for a drive and let them run their course. Just a heads-up: Evap is usually tough to get the conditions right for it to run the test. Most cars require the fuel level to be between 1/4 to 3/4 full or it won't even do the test.

This may help:
https://m.smogtips.com/smog-question/3503/What-is-the-Drive-Cycle-for-a-Porsche-Boxter
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Old 02-07-2025, 11:21 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BoxsterInTheSun View Post

Htd Catalyst : N/A
A/C Refrig Mon : N/A
EGR System : N/A

Thank you again for your help!
N/A means it's not equipped with those, so you don't need worry about it. the incomplete ones are the ones you need address.
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Old 02-07-2025, 11:23 AM   #6
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From my previous experiences with the CA smog, it would take several driving cycles for the car computer to register all the emissions compliance, drive the car for a couple of days including constant freeway speeds.. good luck!
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Old 02-09-2025, 07:34 AM   #7
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Good news, and ( potentially ) bad news...

I've driven it around quite a bit this weekend and now have the following statuses, I've put the ones that have changed since I posted in BOLD:

MIL Status : ON
Misfire Monitor : OK
Fuel System Mon : OK
Comp. Component : OK
Catalyst Mon : OK
Htd Catalyst : N/A
Evap System Mon : INC
Sec Air System : INC
A/C Refrig Mon : N/A
Oxygen Sens Mon : OK
Oxygen Sens Htr : OK
EGR System : N/A

Looks like I just have Evap System and Sec Air System monitors to go, hopefully more driving this week on my commute gets me those.

Now the bad news...

When the Catalyst Mon became OK, I also got 2 codes on the reader...

P0420
Catalyst system efficiency below threshold bank 1

P0430
Catalyst system efficiency below threshold bank 2

Another oddity is that the CEL is NOT illuminated on the dash, but the ODBC reader has the MIL Status set to ON now.

I'm assuming this is all bad news given I was hoping to get the car smogged here in CA very soon?

Thanks as always for the help here!

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