FYI... very important to save a few bucks.
After working on my daughters 2003 Mini the last couple of days to remove all OBD ll codes, I finally got down to "no codes" and went in to get it CA certified at a "Star Test Station." Guesss what? Once you fix the OBD issues, you MUST drive at least 50 miles to allow the computer to "reset" and the car to pass emissions testing.
I had only driven 15 or so miles and once it failed, all the measured parameters passed, but it failed, due to lack of miles after OBD reset!
I asked the tech why he didn't ask me first if work had been done as it would automatically fail.
He asked me why I hadn't told him that I'd worked on the car?
I said "you're the expert." How about some help here? He just said the state didn't allow him to ask questions before the test.
Another 25 bucks and 50 more miles.
Don't get caught in the same trap!

 

And that is why California and its emissions test suck ***.

 

it was the infamous "not-ready" code in the computer

it does not light the emissions light on the dash, but is read by the obd2 scanner

the same applies in illinois

scott

 

This is why a scangauge II is worth the price.

 

Same applies in PA. The "emissions inspection" is just a visual check and a scan-gauge
check to look for emission related codes, and if you haven't driven far enough to
get a "ready" code, they won't pass you. No tailpipe gas check.

 

Scan guage 2 only reset hard lighted code on your dash. You need something like Full Access by Bytetronik to clear soft pending codes. The reason i know his is i sometimes get a P0128 code and trips the mil light. I use my scan gauge to clear code and i go on my merry way. The other day, i hooked my Full Access tuning kit and read DTC and sure enough the P0128 is there and haven't trip the MIL light just yet.

 

All OBDII cars have a 'drive cycle' which must be completed before the ECU is ready to be read for emissions.

Some are very detailed. My son's 1998 Ford Ranger has a list of about 15 individual items which must be met before the 'drive cycle' is complete. Including the truck must sit for a min of 8 hours idle (not running) after most of the items have been completed.

Not sure what the MINI's 'drive cycle' is but you may be able to look it up online.
Most emissions places will just tell you that you have to drive more. True on some cars, not true on others.

 

MINIs tend to complete drive cycle pretty easily.
VWs have a complicated set of instructions for doing it.

 

A search shows a few posts about the drive cycle, this one sounds reasonable: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...379-post2.html

 

Thanks for the heads up. The tech y/day told me to drive approx 50 miles before returning.
So today, I drove on city streets for 10 miles back and forth with varing speeds, etc. Then I went 55 miles on the freeway, including 4-5 miles of typical So Cal stop and go.
I stopped for a burger, thinking that letting it cool down for 30 minutes would possible help the "cycle."
Trying to think out loud and outside the box about what might have to also happen to get over the hump, I turned on and off the ignition 5 times, latched and unlatched my seat belt 5 times, turning that light on and off, and opening the driver door at least 5 times to set that light off and on.
Then I went back to the test station...
The same guy plugged back into the OBD terminal and guess what????

FAILED again!

He said i had one more try before having to completely start over.

Tomorrow I'll use the info noted above and hope I finally get a green. Almost like a bad dream.

 

Try driving it a couple of days....complete warmup and cooldown...
And most odb2 readers can tell you if the emissions is "ready" for testing....so plug in the odb2 reader, and DO NOT CLEAR, but something to tge effect if "check monitors" or "status" and it will say something like 10 monitors....you can usually scroll through them, and check to see if they are done, or "not ready". Seems like the newer the car, the more time it takes...on 90's honda's it was a few starts and 50 ish miles...nwer cars, with extra o2 sensors and more monitors seem to take longer.

 

Definitely do the cycle. We had this problem with our Dodge Caravan here in NC (battery died and had to be swapped, which wiped our history). At least here the garage checked first and didn't charge me for an unsucessful attempt. I looked up the cycle instructions (which are NUTS for the Caravan compared to the Mini's) and it was a PITA but did the trick in one day instead of driving around for an indefinite period and hoping.