The cycles vs miles thing is the most frustrating. When I was trying to get my car through inspection this year, the guys doing the repairs (two weeks of a lot of guessing going on, guessing which parts to change, resulting in time being wracked up, equaling money out of my pocket on guessing). A heard a lot of "put some miles on it". After almost two hundred miles it still didn't show clear. Left the car at the guessing fix-it guys again. They drove it another bunch of miles and it finally showed clear. Not totally impressed. I long for the day of viable electric cars (300+ mile range; 15-minute recharge) or nuclear powered ones. UGH!

I have no idea if my car has a "Secret Squirrel" way of pressing buttons and turning switches to check for codes. My dash has analog gauges with the standard warning lights.