Ok...Im going to try my best to explain this. Because I know NOTHING about cars, especially my car (I know! Horrible!). So here's the problem. I have to get emissions testing on my 2002 C230 Compressor, and my check engine light is on. I took it to a German Vehicle shop because its out of warranty and the dealer is so expensive. Well, they ran a diagnostic on it and it came up with an "unknown problem" and they didn't know what it was and told me they would have to run further tests. They also added that I needed like a page worth of work done on it, and I have driven my car long enough to know that when its ready for all the stuff they told me it needed, the car tells me (I have not had any service needed messages on the dash). The "Check Engine" light went off during the whole procedure and I went and got emissions because they told me it would be ok. But it wasn't, I got a "OBD2 System Not Ready" rejection and they told me to drive it for a couple of days and come back. Thats the only explanation they gave me, and now I have no idea what to do. Can someone please explain to me what could be the problem? In laymen's terms? Because I'm a 26 year old women who doesn't get taken seriously when I walk into a repair shop, and honestly I don't even know if I'm asking the right questions. All I want is this car to pass emissions so I can drive it legally till I buy a new one.

I know this is long and there are a lot of questions within this post. But anything would help me!

 

Check with the dealer. We charge $105.00 for a check engine light diagnosis. Call dealers up and ask what it would cost and if there are any coupons/specials, you'd be surprised. The dealer uses the factory scan tool which is required and has more info avail than generic obd2 scan tools uses by most independent shops. Good luck