After I put the ignition in position II, how long should the engine light stay on? If it stays on for about 20-30 seconds and does not blink after what does that mean?

 

Why do you ask?

 

I am having issues with emissions (failed inspection). I know that the engine light should go off in a few seconds after the ignition in turned to II. I wanted to know what does it mean if the engine light stays on

 

It means that there are error codes stored in the computer. (Edit: I was wrong; that's not what it means. Continue reading.) Has the light been on while you drive the car? For OBD-II vehicle emissions inspection (where required), the Check Engine light must be off and a minimum amount of readiness monitors must be set to "complete" in the computer to pass.

The inspection station should have told you why you failed emissions. They didn't give you any indication or mention any code numbers whatsoever?

 

The oxygen, catalytic, and evaporation systems were "not ready" to be tested. I also found that my battery was low, so I got a new one last night. Obviously everything got erased so I am starting over again. After I put the battery last night, I put the key in ignition and turned it to position II. The engine light was on for about 30 sec and then blinked several times. This morning, after my commute to work, I did the same thing and the engine light stayed on for 30sec but didn't blink, just went out after staying on for 30 sec. Any ideas?

 

If the battery was low or had gone dead at some point, then it erased the readiness monitors and caused you to fail emissions. A minimum amount of readiness monitors must be set to "complete" to pass emissions in most areas (here in PA, only two "not ready" monitors are allowed for '96-00 vehicles, and only one for '01+ vehicles). When you disconnected the battery, you erased them again so you'll have to put the car through a couple of drive cycles before it will be ready.

When you turn the key to position II, the light should come on for 15-20 seconds. If it then goes off and stays off, it means the readiness monitors are all set to "complete." If it blinks five times instead, then one or more monitors are still "not ready."

Sounds like you're ready to go for the emission test.

Sorry, I was mistaken on the error codes. I edited my previous post.

 

That's awesome, I never knew that

 

Is there any other way to know whether or not the codes are set? Believe it or not, right before I took the car to get it inspected again, the engine light stayed on for 20 sec and didn't blink either.

 

Not without buying OBD-II scanner equipment or hooking it up to the emissions machine.