What to do with my 1997 Mazda Protege?!! The Check Engine light won't go away...?

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I have a 1997 Mazda Protege. It has 170,000 miles. It was vibrating terribly when it was idle. I took it two weeks ago for a smog inspection. The car failed the smog. The smog technician said that it looked as if I need a CO2 sensor. He referred me to another shop that could do the repairs.

At the repair shop The CO2 sensor guy told me that it wasn't my CO2 sensor it was most likely a problem with my exhaust manifold.

So I went to my regular mechanic. He said that the pipe that goes into my exhaust manifold is broken. So he took the pipe off welded it and put it back on. Then he told me the reason that the pipe broke is because I need engine mounts (which is why my car was vibrating when idle) all three mounts were broken which meant that the engine was putting pressure on this one pipe. So my mechanic fixed all these things.

I took my car back to the smog checkstation a few days after having it repaired and the smog checkstation told me that my computer was reading "not ready". He said to drive around the town a bit and to bring the car back.

A few days later, I was driving to work and my "check engine" light came on. So I went to Autozone after work and went inside to have them check the sensor...Guess what? When the technician came outside and turned the car back on The check engine light went off. The autozone guy said to come back if it came on again. It didn't.

So I went to the smog checkstation again this morning. I told the smog check guy about the check engine light, he said as long as no one else turned it off and the car just turned it off itself it should be fine.

So he does the test. He says that the computer is still reading "not ready". The paper shows that everything passed, except the ODT (or something like that) is reading not ready. So the smog check guy plugged in somethingy into the computer of my car and it showed that only one of the sensors (the CO2 sensor) is reading ready. So he says drive around more and then come back Monday.

So I leave there feeling annoyed. I get about two blocks from work (and I'm 5 minutes late) and the"check engine" light comes on!

HELP ME!!! My registration is already a month late! I've gotten an extension but I want to cry now. What could it be? It's been two weeks...why would the car computer not be ready?....why is the "check engine" light playing peekaboo?
I wrote CO2.....but what I meant was O2....sorry.
 
it's something minor but your car has sensors. you need to drive your car for atleast a couple miles after engine light goes off for it to register as ready. what you can do is disconnect the battery then connect battery again. this will reset the check engine light. drive it a couple miles then bring it to a mom and pop garage to get it inspected. it will pass you just need a mile or two that should do it. if it comes back on after disconnecting the battery drive the car a couple cycles take the key out and put it back in .sometimes it takes 3 driving cycles for engine light to come off.this happened to me before i had engine light on. disconnected the battery and drove it in and it passed.
 
it's something minor but your car has sensors. you need to drive your car for atleast a couple miles after engine light goes off for it to register as ready. what you can do is disconnect the battery then connect battery again. this will reset the check engine light. drive it a couple miles then bring it to a mom and pop garage to get it inspected. it will pass you just need a mile or two that should do it. if it comes back on after disconnecting the battery drive the car a couple cycles take the key out and put it back in .sometimes it takes 3 driving cycles for engine light to come off.this happened to me before i had engine light on. disconnected the battery and drove it in and it passed.
 
Hate when!
These O2 sensors are preheated. It could be that there is a loose connection. Or even damaged wiring. It reads not ready maybe because it is not getting the voltage to the preheat circuit.
 
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