Pick your poison - California Smog Discussion with a Poll !

[2mAn]

**Save your "CA SUCKS, MOVE TO TEXAS" comments for another thread**

Just curious what you guys think is the best solution for us car guys and to discuss your thoughts around it. Obviously with this being an E30 forum, we are all subject to tailpipe/ roller emissions testing here in California. However, as car guys in general do you lean towards pre2000 cars and just "get it smogged" or are you all about "spend the money on properly maintaining it" Also curious if any of you have attempted anything with the post 2000 cars that get plugged into the scanner and need to pass the visual? For ex, can you replace a M54B25 with a M54B30 without anyone at the smog/ BAR knowing the difference?

Just opening this up for discussion... assuming people still come to R3V

[dadsbmw]

Just registered my z4 again yesterday.

DMV employee: "it looks like this car hasn't been smogged since 2017"
Me: "Yeah it's not required"
DMV employee: "Must be a county thing"
Me: "Yeah I think that's right"
DMV employee: "Head to window 2 for your license plate sticker"

[MrBurgundy]

Just registered my z4 again yesterday.

DMV employee: "it looks like this car hasn't been smogged since 2017"
Me: "Yeah it's not required"
DMV employee: "Must be a county thing"
Me: "Yeah I think that's right"
DMV employee: "Head to window 2 for your license plate sticker"

This story was wild from start to finish

I'm pretty sure smogs only look at monitor readiness and nothing else when they scan the car

I think there's more you can get away with with OBDll cars than we think

[dadsbmw]

This story was wild from start to finish

I'm pretty sure smogs only look at monitor readiness and nothing else when they scan the car

I think there's more you can get away with with OBDll cars than we think

To be clear, this is a result of having my cars registered in a no smog county...

[Motheye99]

To be clear, this is a result of having my cars registered in a no smog county...

Can you explain a little bit more on this, Family has a cabin in INYO a non smog county. I know we have registered cars there before but they where OBD2. Im thinking my M54 swap E30 will get re-registered up there and just never have a problem.

Enlighten me thanks

[jpod999]

I think that with non-smog counties you need to pass smog to get it registered, but then after that it is not required. Don't take my word as truth there, but I'm fairly certain that's what I've heard in the past.

[MR 325]

That's correct. I am a "no smog county" guy. You only need to smog on transfer.

[bmwman91]

I only have modified pre-2000 cars, so I never have to sweat the scanner***. Blowing clean on the rollers / sniffer is pretty simple if you have a catalytic converter, O2 sensor(s) and an even half-way functional tune. 90% of the "HALP FAILED SMOG" threads I have seen on the forums have been due to a dead OEM cat and people going to extraordinary lengths to avoid spending $300 on a Magnaflow replacement (that's what I have paid in total, for a CA-legal one welded in). Even a bone stock tune on a pretty modded engine (with working cat and O2 sensor) will not cause issues as long as you aren't running 300 degree cams or injectors that flow more than ~30% more fuel (about the limit for O2 sensor adaptation on old Motronics anyway).

Anyway, post-2000 might become more of a pain in the ass at some point. I forget when automakers were required to program CVN's into their ECUs, but I think that it was at least 2010 if not earlier. Basically, there is a checksum for the code + calibration/tune data which the automaker puts in a database, and the OBD-II scan picks up in Mode 9. So, if you had a different tune than stock, CARB would (or very likely DOES) know about it. They just don't seem to be enforcing it as far as I know (again, I have not dealt with a modded post-2000 car at SMOG). Depending on how the checksum is calculated, you may be able to fool it by "padding" unused areas of memory to make the math come up right. If the CVN for a given ECU is one checksum of all ROM it is relatively easy, but if they segment memory and sum a bunch of checksums from each segment it could be tough (since a bunch of segments are likely 100% full and can't be padded).

Even as far back as 2010 they were starting to collect data on this, but it sounds like manufacturers were all over the place with tunes and reporting values, so CARB couldn't tell if it was modded or just a mess made by poor bookkeeping.

Again this is from 2010, and I bet that the "kinks" have been sorted out by now.

http://stop-the-star-program.3084.x6.nabble.com/file/n5061280/CALID-CVN.pdf

I also read that starting in 2018 the EU was actively checking the CVN during annual inspections.

[dadsbmw]

That's correct. I am a "no smog county" guy. You only need to smog on transfer.

Yup, dealing with the transfer smog on my newest car now. PITA but once thats done never have to worry about it again! Booya!

[cavpilot]

I recently bought an e24 that took me 4 tries to finally get smogged. I'm not sure what I did specifically to get to pass since I was doing multiple things prior to each test. The silver lining is that the cars runs phenomenal now.

[dasmanschaft012]

The most frustrating thing about all this is that its ridiculous to think that 30+ yo cars are a) the problem and b) not going to meet any modern day standard anyways. CARB just being CARB.

[2mAn]

CARB just being CARB.

THIS >>> CARB

[betz]

Can we have option 4? Just don't go too crazy so it still passes sniffer and take it to a friend of a friend or a guy who hardly speaks english and never even pops the hood?

[efficient]

thats option number 3 ^

[betz]

thats option number 3 ^

mayyyybe...

I want to say it's a mix of 1 and 3. I don't really have to get robbed with this option. I've actually taken my car to a totally legit smog guy, that is.. before I got my headers. And before I got rid of my AFM. BUT, if I put back in the stock "e" exhaust (which would be hilarious), then I put my AFM back in and plugged it in like it was doing something, then I could just get it smogged anywhere like the fine german auto it is.