OBDII Emissions Inspection??? Sniffer or OBD Port?

Question

I just had my emissions done on my OBDII car. I kept the engine running the entire time to make sure the cats stayed hot to help pass inspection.

When I got my report back, I passed, but under the ASM2 tailpipe inspection section, everything is listed as N/A.

Was it unnecessary for me to keep my engine running the entire time and wasting gas?

I guess only OBDI cars use the tail pipe sniffer.... ???

Answer 1

OBDII emissions tests are done by hooking up a scanner to the test port of the car and reading what the onboard computer has stored in it's memory for running parameters and trouble codes, if any. No need to keep the car running. Usually , the emission's tester will let you know that.

Answer 2

OBDII inspections dont use the sniffer. It plugs into the data port and checks for codes that indicate problems with the emission system.