ok so i hear people talking bout if your car is 1996 and above you have to do a different emissions test..and if ur check engine light is on u automaticly fail..but if your car is 1995 and back..what do they do to test for emissions?...is it easyer to pass with a 1995 and back car legally...or is it bout the same?..whats the diff

 

from my understanding, it's if you have obd 1 or 2... if your car has obd 2, (i think on most cars it's 96 and up), they just plug their computer up to your car, read the info the ecu's been gathering, and as long as everything's ok, your done in less than 20 minutes. with obd 1 (95 and older), they have to do the whole stick-a-tube-up-your-car's-*** routine and measure all the things coming out of your exhaust, both with the engine cold, and hot.

if i remember right, the person to ask would be RotaryBzzzz...

 

I think this is the the answer your looking for:

It makes no difference what year for passing legally or not. What OBDII does is be more vigilant about the car's operating conditions and/or if something is going bad. For example, OBDII has many-many more possible trouble codes than OBDI; it's kinda like asking your homie (OBDI) vs. your mother (OBDII) about your new girlfriend - your gonna hear alot more crap/praise/whatever from you mom than your homie; there's simply a greater chance to throw a check-code w/ OBDII when something is going out of whack.

Emission laws vary state-to-state ; I don't have an OBDII car so I honestly don't know the answer about the OBDII check-light auto fail. However, all cars here in Cali MUST pass an actual sniffer test so there's no way around that one. The advantage of OBDII is that it does make life a bit easier in diagnosing emission problems simply b/k there is more things you can check for and eliminate.

Something else to consider in buying a car is that Honda slapped on a "secret" extended emissions warranty to some accords in late 95, all of 96 and some in early 97. See the toward the end of my emissions thread for more info

Above all though, buy the best used car you can afford - a one owner cream puff whose owner always changed the oil religiously will run better, have more HP, burn cleaner and have fewer problems down the road. Good luck.