Smoke in steering column. Failed emission.
 

Can anyone tell me what could be the cause of my problem here.

My battery died from non use so I jumped it at the garage that I keep it at. I drove to Firestone to get a wheel fixed and discovered it needed a second jump because eventhough the alternator is good the battery was just flat dead after non use for 60 days.

While performing the jump at Firestone my steering column started to smoke. We stopped the jump immediatly, put in a new battery, and afterwards everything seems to be okay. The radio, AC, works, lights, dash works.

However when I drove the same day to have a vehicle emssions test performed it failed. The operator says the failure is due to him not being able to access my diagnostics system. He says this is likely due to the jump and the battery being replaced.

The emissions opertor also said this problem normally corrects itself in 2 weeks.

Can anyone tell me what may have been causing the smoke in my steering column and what may be damaged and how can I verify damage ?
Also, is there an easy way to reset the diagnostics chip ?

Thanks a million for any advice or instructions.

Re: Smoke in steering column. Failed emission.
 

The emission operator is correct. You generally need to put on about 100-150 miles after having the battery dead/ECU reset for it to register correctly(at least for most cars).

Don't know what to tell you about the smoke from the steering column though.

Re: Smoke in steering column. Failed emission.
 

Not saying it is your issue but I had a car a while back that the ignition switch wiring and connector had begun to melt. I bought it that way without knowing and found it during other maintenance. Might be something to look at to see if that is where it came from. Should be able to view it under the column but may have to remove the ecsaine panel and or the metal cross brace to get good visibility.

Is your car OBDII or OBDI I though they didn't do ECU checks for OBDI?

Re: Smoke in steering column. Failed emission.
 

I had the same question. The emissions equipment only works with OBDII (i.e., only if your SVX is a '95 or later model, if memory serves me right). Maryland only checks the gas cap and does a sniffer test with the car in park (you have to take the car up to 2k rpms and hold it there for a couple of seconds) if the car has OBDI or no OBD at all.

-Bill