My 1997 Volvo 850 is due for registration renewal and a smog check is required. So I took my car in to have it smogged, and when they hooked up the OBD-II computer, everything came up as “Not Ready,” so the smog check could not be done.

I took my car back to my dealer where it was last serviced a little more than a month ago and asked them why the OBD-II came up as “Not Ready.” They said that during routine maintenance, they reset the system, and it could take up to three months before the system becomes “Ready” again.

Well, I yelled at the service adviser about why he didn’t warn me when I took the car in for service that it might not pass smog for up to three months after the service. I was told, “We don’t warn our customers. It is not our problem that you need a smog check. It is the DMV’s fault for requiring smog checks.”

Well, now what can I do? My registration renewal is coming up, and I don’t have three months to get the OBD-II to a “Ready” state to pass smog check. I called DMV and they said there is nothing they can do, either. Please help.

Dan Lau, Cupertino, Calif.

Let me start with strong criticism of the service adviser’s callous attitude. He and his boss need to read Carl Sewell’s “Customers for Life,” and realize how many hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential revenue he cost his dealership by needlessly alienating a valued customer. Sewell’s customer satisfaction philosophy transformed a money-losing dealership into the most successful luxury automobile business in the country.

Many state smog check programs now include a scan of a 1996 and newer vehicle’s powertrain control computer for system readiness (of a dozen or so self-tests known as monitors), in addition to a visual and tailpipe inspection. A comprehensive series of component and system tests is attempted each time the vehicle is driven, following a cold start. Monitor status is held in memory, and is swept clean if the battery is disconnected or when diagnostic trouble codes are cleared, such as a part of a check-engine light related repair.

Some monitors can be devilishly difficult to complete, as the required driving sequence can differ from the vehicle owner’s daily routine, and your Volvo model is known for monitor stubbornness. In addition, some vehicles might forget monitor information, such as the previous-year Volvo 850 Turbo.

I’m at a loss as to why the dealer tech would clear your car’s monitor status during routine service, unless a system fault was corrected in conjunction with the maintenance work.

Also, as a courtesy to customers, an information sheet about system readiness monitors and the sequence of needed driving to reset them could be given to the vehicle owner to avoid needless difficulties.

Here’s your solution: Contact the California Referee Scheduling Center at (800) 622-7733 for an appointment.

Your local referee deals with a variety of smog-check problems and has the discretion to override uncompleted monitors on difficult vehicles.

Brad Bergholdt is an automotive technology instructor at Evergreen Valley College in San Jose.

Write to him in care of Drive, Mercury News, 750 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, Calif. 95190; or e-mail to under-the-hoodjuno.com. He cannot make personal replies.)

—

(c) 2005, San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.).

Visit MercuryNews.com, the World Wide Web site of the Mercury News, at http://www.mercurynews.com.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

AP-NY-11-18-05 0619EST