Just thought I would share my experience with anyone who has had the same problem.

My van is a 2003 E350 XLT SD. It was originally an out of California vehicle, or otherwise known as a Federal vehicle.

Van was up for Smog Check this year and as in prior years I took it to the smog check place. I failed the test this year because of two readiness codes that the OBD II computer and scanner picked up as not being "ready", they were the O2 and O2 heater. Everything else passed with flying colors. The van has never had a "check engine light" issue and there were no trouble codes.

Readiness codes that are not set imply that the van has not completed a particular "Drive Cycle" to set the readiness codes. (You can search what these are about if you do not know).

All of the advice from the smog techs, Ford Corporate, Ford Dealer Service was just drive the vehicle and the computer will at some point experience the driving conditions at some point that it is looking for. What those driving conditions are is a joke as no one could definitely tell me what consitituets highway driving, or idle time, etc. So I drove over 1,000 miles trying to clear these codes that the OBD II scanner was indication. Of course no joy, just lots of gas.

Next, were calls to the Air Resources Board and a conversation with an OBD II specialist. He asked about the year and the stickers under the hood. Turns out 2001 to 2003 Vans have the OBD computer port but are not 100% OBD II compatible. So the techs think the Van is OBD II ready, when it is not. In addition, the Federal Van does not have a second O2 sdensor that the California vans may or may not have. So I could have driven 100,000 miles and the Not Ready codes would still have been present! The CA Smog computers are looking for a second sensor that is NOT there!

So, resolution is that I have to have the Van smogged at the CA State Smog Referee location as the regular gas station guys cannot override what is a glitch in the Smog Checking Software. Referee guy said he is very familiar with this problem.

So hopefully anyone else with this issue will not have to go through the pain and research I have gone through for the past eight weeks.

Peace!

 

2003 E350 V10 here. Just failed due to readiness.

Thank you for this info. I'll call CARB tomorrow.

 

This is potentially very valuable info for anyone under similar restrictions in their locations.

My home state (Ohio) and county (Franklin) doesn't require an "e check" at any time for vehicle registration. While there are other counties that do we've so far eluded this additional burden

Thanks for posting your experience---those who own Club Wagon's and don't realize they're E350's could face this same set of confusing conditions without this sort of info sharing. Its my understand the E350's typically are excused from the same requirements for emissions because they're considered commercial vehicles. As you cite even though they have the OBD-II DLC info from that port isn't fully compliant with that protocol---more like OBD-I

Reps to you sir!

 

Glad this has helped!

I have now passed two smog checks here in CA, most recent this year. They both had to be done at the referee facility, in my case, in Daly City, CA. Benefit is the smog check is by appointment and way cheaper than going to a gas station / smog check center. When I get my Van registration in the year requiring smog , I just call CARB and make the appointment. Ciao!

 

Thought I'd post a follow-up..

I called BAR and they said that my van passed all applicable readiness monitors in 2010 and 2011 (typically smog checks are done every other year, but the 2011 test was done by the seller before I bought it.. also have to have a test within 60days of a sale). The guy also mentioned that the van was much cleaner in those tests.

...Then I realized that maybe it was my 5StarTuning tune. I put the van back to stock with the SCT tuner, drove it about 30 miles, and all readiness monitors completed.

Got it smogged, everything passed ... and it was much cleaner.