Smog issue

[perrya]

I bought a 02 VW jetta out of state. I am in CA. The car engine light was on, I read the code and turned deleted it. went to smog it. The car has an after market radio in it. First time, the OBD had not reset, so,they told me to drive it 50 miles, came back. The OBD still had not reset so no smog could be done. I was told that I have to disconnect the radio (not just have it off) and drive another 50 miles because it is an after market (alpine) radio. Is this true? makes no sense why the OBD won't reset. What does a radio have to do with this? If true, then I would have to pull the radio anytime the engine light comes on.

 

[steve6]

oddly enough.. it could be an issue. People improperly wire the radio's to the canbus line that is made for the stock radio. It causes issues. Back in the original days of mkIV's dealers and shops refused to plug their electronics into any MKIV that had an aftermarket radio, they were damaging the diagnostic tools.

 

[dcproven]

I would definitively unplug the radio for the time being, after passing smog you could always find out what is going on with it...

 

[perrya]

so, what happens if the OBD still does not reset after disconnected?

 

[steve6]

Is the car modded? (EGR MISSING ETC?) I dont know the specifics of California emissions, but the different systems on the car report to be READY and NOT READY, when they say the ODB had not been reset, what exactly does that mean?

If certain systems are reporting NOT READY, they might not even conduct the test. If the car has been modded, years ago, the tunes of old used to not compensate for these smog tests. In the state you got it from it might not have mattered. Something to consider I guess.

Here is a sample of Torque reporting "Incomplete" and "complete" after I cleared my codes

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6bp2d2vkn6879sg/2014-07-09 11.51.13.png?dl=0

here is the report from the emissions testing 10 mins later(here we are allowed to have two 'not ready's and still pass here in Ontario Canada)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ef8ywdvpt17ub8w/2014-07-10 17.44.22.jpg?dl=0

If the car is stock, and you dont believe theres an issue, remove the radio plug, drive it for 30 mins and take it back again. If a radio is plugged into the canbus it could be causing communication issues for their devices.

 

[2many diesels]

When you deleted the code, you deleted your rediness codes....no pass. The rediness codes have to be set. 50 miles should be enough to set them.
You need to deal with what ever is throwing the code. Post the specific code number.