Any time your Mazda Millenia's check engine light illuminates it is cause
for concern, and will cause a smog check failure... Even if the light is not on at the time of the smog check. The fact that the light was on (recently) will force the OBDII emissions computer (which your 2002 Mazda is equipped with) to transmit information to the smog machine indicating the check engine light was on and there are trouble codes stored. Very often you may not notice an engine problem, but this is only because your engine's computer is operating under pre-programmed information rather then of real-time. In other words the problem still exists but your engine learns to live with it. Our recommendation is you have a certified smog repair shop conduct a full system diagnosis. As we mentioned above, along with the "Check Engine" light being illuminated, there are stored computer codes in the engine control computer which the smog station will be able to retrieve and use for diagnosing purposes. These codes more then often will direct the smog technician to the fault which is causing the smog check failure.
posted by SmogTips Support
