California BAR smog referee woes

[White Nightmare]

so I got my BAR sticker today. then I went to a smog only station to get the smog done. FAILED. thing is, I drove the car for an hour to get the cats hot. but when I got to the smog place, I had to wait an hour before it was my turn. when it was almost my turn, I started up the car and let it idled for 15 mins. here are the results





I have the stock obd1 exhaust manifolds, stock midpipe with stock cats (previous owner says 100k miles and passed AZ smog), and a non-M e36 exhaust.

the smog guy says the cats seem slow to respond and told me it's most likely the cats. should I find new cats, put it on and then re-test? or should I re-test one more time with the cats hot hoping it will pass? am i pretty close to passing? anyone have a obd1 cat that is known good to pass smog?

any inputs from smog guys here is greatly appreciated. thanks.

Do a general tuneup is you haven't already. HC is unburnt fuel. Your nox and CO are a little higher than normal but far from bad. Also, your cat won't get hot enough at idle. Before I smog test I keep the RPM at about 3k for one min. If anything I would suspect a O2 sensor but do the easy stuff first. I doubt its your cats because everything else looks decent.

-Chris

[m_dudey]

so I got my BAR sticker today. then I went to a smog only station to get the smog done. FAILED. thing is, I drove the car for an hour to get the cats hot. but when I got to the smog place, I had to wait an hour before it was my turn. when it was almost my turn, I started up the car and let it idled for 15 mins. here are the results





I have the stock obd1 exhaust manifolds, stock midpipe with stock cats (previous owner says 100k miles and passed AZ smog), and a non-M e36 exhaust.

the smog guy says the cats seem slow to respond and told me it's most likely the cats. should I find new cats, put it on and then re-test? or should I re-test one more time with the cats hot hoping it will pass? am i pretty close to passing? anyone have a obd1 cat that is known good to pass smog?

any inputs from smog guys here is greatly appreciated. thanks.

[Jean]

Congrats Surebimmer! Local referee station didn't charge me anything for my inspection either, process went smooth and I got the sticker as well :)

[surebimmer]

Livermore at las positas collage. I had been there before and they just gave me a once over and said well they will check it when you get smogged.

[Uber E30]

Got my sticker today for free. Off to smog shop friday.

Which station did you go to and how picky were they on you?

[Jean]

Yeah it makes sense...when I wanted to pre-smog my car the smog check told me he needs to see the sticker first as well. I guess when they give you a sticker they MAKE you go to a TEST ONLY station right?

[White Nightmare]

Congrats dude, good luck with smog! Weird how they give you the sticker FIRST and then send you to smog shop LOL

They would have to otherwise the smog shop wouldn't know if the swap was legit or not. The sticker indicates to the smog techs that the engine swap has been checked by the state ref and is good to go.

SPCN (special construction) vehicles need to go through the same process but through the CHP to retain a SPCN sticker before they can be registered.

-Chris

[Jean]

Congrats dude, good luck with smog! Weird how they give you the sticker FIRST and then send you to smog shop LOL

[surebimmer]

Got my sticker today for free. Off to smog shop friday.

[grib]

This is a stupid for CA because they will loose money unless they charge the same as they did but do less work. If this is the case it will also help out the smog shops.

When I went to the BAR referee I was only charged the $8.25 or whatever for the certificate. I was not charged for a "smog test" (usually $40-75 at a shop) even though he performed one.

It doesn't seem like this was a revenue generating program for them, just another piece of our giant, bloated bureaucracy. Approx 3-4 hours were spent directly on my car with average 2 techs at a time. Very costly from a direct labor standpoint...

[416stroker]

All shops are suposed to do visual. But test onlys pick you car apart.

[Uber E30]

No, he is saying they do a visual when they smog you. Like if you went into a smog station with an s50 without a CARB sticker you would fail.

[416stroker]

test only stations do visual inspections, too

They can give me a sticker?

[White Nightmare]

The ref used to do a full smog check which consisted of a visual, functional and a emissions check.

From what people are saying they will only perform the visual aspect of the smog at the ref office. Once that is ok and checked off you will need to have it smogged at a normal smog station. In which case they will smog the vehicle according to whatever engine is in it.

This is a stupid for CA because they will loose money unless they charge the same as they did but do less work. If this is the case it will also help out the smog shops.

-Chris

[416stroker]

They did visual on your car. but there's nothing to fail on a stock m10. Unlike a 24valve swap or a m30 because of the visual difference . And stock cars dont get visual from state referee. There's a difference we have to get our swaps approved buy CARB thats what the visuals for.