Help me out here--Miata emissions content

I need to get the Miata ready for emissions. OBDII test, no sniffer. 
At the end of last year it had a check engine light--I can't remember the code now, but it did make me purchase a PCV valve. That was in November. Since November, the car had been stored until last Thursday or Friday when I took it out of storage. There was no check engine light, but I went ahead and changed the PCV valve since I had bought it, along the ventilation hose since it was cracked.

Now I'm getting no codes, but after a few hundred miles (and twice running through the OBDII speed up slow down drive at a constant speed blah blah blah protocol) I'm getting monitor readings that it is not ready for emissions (pic in next post) 

What would you guys attack next? I was thinking EGR hoses and cleaning the valve, since the car dips a few RPM when it comes to idle (and the failed test as seen below), but I am pretty strapped for time and don't want to go throwing money at this. 

Oh, 96 Miata if that matters.

I wish I could tell you.  Even in Depressive phase and running on a stock ECU, the Manic Miata (also a '96) never sets its readiness monitors.  I drove it all over the place one summer trying to get it down to only 2 'unready' tests.  I followed every OBDII drive cycle I could find.  Nothing worked.

Yeah, this is what I've been finding online. I'm hoping that maybe the EGR is clogged, and that is stopping the others from going. 

So those aren't technically failed tests, they're just tests that have not yet completed successfully.  That *could* mean they haven't had an opportunity to run, or it could mean that it's tried to run them and they have not been successful, but it hasn't yet failed enough times to set a code.  When was the last time you cleared the codes?  That resets all the readiness monitors.  If you haven't cleared them (or disconnected the battery) then I'd do that to make sure it's starting from a known place.  If you already did that, then it'll set you back in the drive cycle, so don't.

The simplest option, if it doesn't need to be smogged immediately, is to just keep driving it until it sets a code.  You've checked it for pending codes too, right?  If you want to try fixing stuff, then while there's nothing wrong with the idea of cleaning the EGR passages, I don't think that's going to help it finish the catalyst or O2 sensor tests.

IME, the three most common causes for failures are vacuum leaks, dirty MAF sensors, and bad O2 sensors.  If you had one cracked vacuum hose (the PCV line?) have you checked the others?  Vacuum leaks will really screw up the control logic.  The other two sensors are the most critical ones in the control loop, cleaning the MAF is easy and cheap, and replacement O2 sensors are like $30 on Amazon these days.

In reply to codrus :

Exactly- you are not failing anything (yet), you are just not testing it.  Go look up the federal test procedure, and do your best to drive that trace.  Especially the 45-55mph area, where many of the monitors you want to run would operate on a car like yours.

Once they totally run, you will know if you have a failure to deal with.

BTW, if the EGR is failing, it will tell you.  Especially if it's failing and making you not run the other tests.  But the O2 and catalyst tests don't need or want EGR to even be on- adds a variable that makes detecting the failure more difficult.

alfadriver said:

In reply to codrus :

Exactly- you are not failing anything (yet), you are just not testing it.  Go look up the federal test procedure, and do your best to drive that trace.  Especially the 45-55mph area, where many of the monitors you want to run would operate on a car like yours.

Once they totally run, you will know if you have a failure to deal with.

BTW, if the EGR is failing, it will tell you.  Especially if it's failing and making you not run the other tests.  But the O2 and catalyst tests don't need or want EGR to even be on- adds a variable that makes detecting the failure more difficult.

Car was completely dead (meaning, without a battery attached to it) all winter. First time it was started was Thursday.

That is the issue I'm having though is that I've already run through the cycles. I can't get them to cycle through. I've done the whole leave it cold for 8 hours, start it, warm it up, drive at 55 for 12.3 minutes while sticking your finger in your ear thing. It isn't going through. All the while I'm still DDing it.

In reply to mtn :

All I can say is try another cycle.  If something was actually broken that prevented you from running a test- it would light a light.  You are not going to change anything by changing and "fixing" parts.

On my ‘96, I was told that the car needed to be driven 50 CONTINUOUS miles after a battery swap before it would show as ready for testing. Pick a spot 25 miles away and then drive there and back. 

FYI, for anyone searching for this and coming across it: It finally did throw a code after about a month or two of never being emissions ready, but never had any codes or pending codes. Finally though, P0401 popped up. Took forever for that to happen. Well, I took the EGR valve off, cleaned it out with copious amounts of carb cleaner--every hole I could find on the thing was cleaned--and replaced all the hoses in the area. About $10 worth of hoses from OReillyZone. It was very sooty in that valve, and made me want to take of the intake to clean it, but that won't happen until winter--who am I kidding, I'll have a newborn this winter. That won't happen.

I then proceeded to leave the car in the garage for 2 or 3 months as I was out of town so often that I just never was able to get to it. Well, battery was dead, so the codes were all obviously reset. Car was emission ready within 30 miles and passed. 

Sweet!

Love a happy ending!