My Toyota had a dead battery and the mechanic said he can't smog check it until we drive 100 miles.

Our mechanic was going to get one of our Toyota Camry smog checked for us. The registration had already expired, and we were unable to renew it until we'd cleared several outstanding tickets. Therefore, our Toyota sat in our parking lot for a couple of months, and had to be jump-started yesterday. Our mechanic said the smog center requires us to drive the car at least 100 miles before it can be smogged because the battery was dead and we had to jump start it.

Is this true? I've never heard this, but then again I've never had to get a car smogged shortly after jump starting it.

Answer:

This is true. You'll need to drive your Toyota Camry at least 100 miles (typically 2 weeks worth of everyday normal driving) to set the proper and required smog check readiness flags. Readiness flags are internal tests your car's emissions computer runs to make sure there are no emissions related engine problems. Any time a vehicle's batter goes dead, is replaced, or disconnect for whatever reason, the readiness flags get erased and have to be reset. The only way to reset the readiness flags on your Toyota is by driving it. Give it about two weeks and then take it in for its smog inspection.

posted by SmogTips Support