California BAR smog referee woes

[george graves]

There are non-smog areas in CA. Well, you only have to smog when you sell. I'm in one of them.

[hugh jass]

Sorry to hear about all that. This is most likely your problem , California has Smog Inhanced Areas, Santa Clara Valley is one of them, LA basin,Santa Diego is another. I beleave Sacto is Not . Yes you have to have California EPA approved cats and so on. I Lived in Santa Cruz (long time) and owned a Import shop where that county is Not Enhanced and has less pressure from the state to compling standards . Yes, it is way too subjective for a state emplyee to make that call if he/they are in a bad/picky mood that day.Now you in their system, Comply or move your zip code. Good Luck ,Joe

sacramento is an enhanced area

[jlevie]

The standards that they’re measuring your car by are vague, unclear and subjective. (Essientially “must conform to 1995 M3 standard” from the forms.)

I'm sorry for your difficulties, but playing "devil's advocate" I'd say that some of what you did in the swap are at odds with the requirements. Going by the rule that an engine swap car takes on the characteristics of the engine, that means transplanting the engine and all of its emissions related parts to the car. How is that "vague, unclear and subjective"?

In this case you didn't transplant the essential elements of the evaporative control system or exhaust to the your E30. Nor apparently did you retain the PVC system or retain the OE O2 sensor configuration. I.E., you didn't conform to the standards that apply to the OE 1995 M3 configuration.

I will say that the short warm up time for the rolling emissions test may be a bit unfair. A 95 S52 powered M3 could probably pass under those conditions as it has a Secondary Air System, which will light off the catalytic converters very quickly. A 95 S50 powered M3 might not pass under those conditions unless it was in perfect condition.

[jahnaboi]

Trent, which station did you take yours too?

[VacMan]

Have any family that lives outside CA? :)

Wow. That is amazing to hear, especially the San Diego stuff. I have had two cars certified, one in Chula Vista and one in Miramar. Both were a walk in the park (besides the car actually failing because of bad cats). The guy was super cool and honest about everything in both places. Bummer to hear. The visits for me always lasted under an hour.

[george graves]

grib - awesome post. Thank you for letting us in on that.

I'd be so pissed if I were you.
I guess no good deed goes unpunished.

[Gray S.]

So are you required to visit a test center located in the city where your car is registered? Or can you take it to any carb station in Cali and have it be tested there and legalized?

[Kingb]

i had the exact opposite experience you had with the sacramento referee station. my car sounds very similar to yours and i sailed through. i have a friend who is trying to get blunt's old car ref'd in the bay area and is running into the same problems you are. the standards between the ref stations very widely. the way i see it is you have only a couple of options:

1. fix everything the way they want it
2. find out if there is an appeal process. if your car is passing the sniff test, there is no reason it shouldn't get the carb/bar sticker
3. register the car out of state if you know someone in a non-emissions state. this was going to be my last resort if my car didn't pass

good luck, and keep us posted

Unless it has changed in the last few years, Southern Oregon is smog free

[Bmjpv]

smogging

Sorry to hear about all that. This is most likely your problem , California has Smog Enhanced Areas, Santa Clara Valley is one of them, LA basin,San Diego is another. I beleave Sacto is Not . Yes you have to have California EPA approved cats and so on. I Lived in Santa Cruz (long time) and owned a Import shop where that county is Not Enhanced and has less pressure from the state to compling standards . Yes, it is way too subjective for a state emplyee to make that call if he/they are in a bad/picky mood that day.Now you in their system, Comply or move your zip code. Good Luck ,Joe

[windnsea00]

I had a horrible time in San Diego (Escondido and Chula Vista locations), I gave up and ended up selling the `91 330is since I was out of $ for the project years back.

[bmw320e21]

hmm i might try to go to the station in sac then

[jahnaboi]

Hrm, I wonder if its any different over here...

[erik325i]

Wow, that sucks to hear Matt. Good luck sorting all that out.

Erik

[hugh jass]

i had the exact opposite experience you had with the sacramento referee station. my car sounds very similar to yours and i sailed through. i have a friend who is trying to get blunt's old car ref'd in the bay area and is running into the same problems you are. the standards between the ref stations very widely. the way i see it is you have only a couple of options:

1. fix everything the way they want it
2. find out if there is an appeal process. if your car is passing the sniff test, there is no reason it shouldn't get the carb/bar sticker
3. register the car out of state if you know someone in a non-emissions state. this was going to be my last resort if my car didn't pass

good luck, and keep us posted