1999 V70 emissions fail for "not ready" status Topic is solved

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Remember

Tank 1/2 full, or between 1/4-3/4
Do not exceed 60 mph measured
AC off
No WOT operation

Any of the conditions above that aren’t met cancel the readiness cycle.

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For anyone researching this topic, you should know that some states will pass your Volvo, regardless of ready state, so long as the CEL isn't on. I discovered that after many years of going through the BS described above. Here in North Carolina, they have some kind of rule where if you fail twice you can get an exemption, or something like that. In my effort to fail on purpose, I reset the code in the parking lot of the emissions place, drove it up to the line and it PASSED.

I've done the same for the last four years or so and it works every time.

There's no official documentation I can find on the DMV website that specifically calls out the 98 V70, or even Volvos in general. But it's clear they've exempted them.

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There are several threads on this

Short summary

EPA has issued guidelines that up to two monitors can be not ready to satisfy emissions testing.

States choose how much of these guidelines they follow in their testing program, EPA regs do not bind the states

You have to familiarize yourself with your state and , in some cases, local regs.

Good search terms

Emission readiness testing