New Smog Check Law CA

[Little1er]

http://www.smogtips.com/new-smog-law-AB-2289.cfm

Stumbled upon this and was wondering everyone's thoughts? Will this effect us if we are running a tune? Other possibilities could include tunes being able to disguise not-so-street legal mods.

[Top Gon]

well, we can always flash back to stock, so that's not that big of a deal.

I was wondering, since they're not gonna use the sniffer anymore, would we be able to run catless downpipes without having to take them off???

[StuPudasso]

So California is relaxing their standards? This is totally different. But i like it.

[romak47]

hmmm i wanna know this cause i gotta do smog ck in a year..
if i dont have to put catless pipes back on, that would be a huge plus

[cpt97m3]

Originally Posted by romak47

hmmm i wanna know this cause i gotta do smog ck in a year..
if i dont have to put catless pipes back on, that would be a huge plus

That would all depend on how good the person doing the inspection did the visual test. If they noticed they downpipes were not OE, they could fail you on visual. That's not a super easy part to see, so that helps. But last time I had the M3 checked, the guy spent 15 minutes looking that the exhaust part by part with mirrors and such. It was all stock, so he didn't find anything, but he told me they do look for aftermarket parts and missing cats. So just make sure your downpipes look exactly like the OE catted ones on the outside, and you should be good.

[Top Gon]

Originally Posted by cpt97m3

That would all depend on how good the person doing the inspection did the visual test. If they noticed they downpipes were not OE, they could fail you on visual. That's not a super easy part to see, so that helps. But last time I had the M3 checked, the guy spent 15 minutes looking that the exhaust part by part with mirrors and such. It was all stock, so he didn't find anything, but he told me they do look for aftermarket parts and missing cats. So just make sure your downpipes look exactly like the OE catted ones on the outside, and you should be good.

Aren't the DPs very hard to see anyway, unless you jack up the car and look beyond the plastic covers?

[SteveAZ]

Personally I think every case will be different. I live in AZ and just had an ODB inspection done on our Mini last week. I was curious to see what they were going to do so I could proceed accordingly with my planned mods for the 135. They never even popped the hood.

However, earlier this year I took my diesel truck in and don't have the option for an ODB inspection. They looked my truck over and when they handed my my paper work "FAILED" but the sniff was good. When I questioned them on this they said I failed because I didn't have CATS....NO SH!T...it's a diesel and it came from the factory that way. Not only that but they'd passed it the previous 5 years at the same inspection station. Didn't matter and I had to go to the "referee" 40 miles away. Their response "whoever failed you is an idiot it shows right here (pointing to a reference manual) that they don't have them." Now looking at my Carfax for that truck "failed emissions".

My point being, part of it will likely be the luck of the draw and will vary from inspector to inspector and station to station.

My plan for the 135...put my DPs on after inspection next month so they have a couple years to tarnish and I'm not taking in a car with a new part. Go when it is busy. Drive in at low rpms with the can flap shut on map 0 with the DPfix....and cross my fingers!

[cpt97m3]

Originally Posted by Basheezy

Aren't the DPs very hard to see anyway, unless you jack up the car and look beyond the plastic covers?

Yes. But that's why the guy with my M3 used mirrors on 2'-3' long adjustable stalks to see up around the engine area and spent a lot of time. It all depends on if the guy knows what he is looking for.

[Top Gon]

Originally Posted by cpt97m3

Yes. But that's why the guy with my M3 used mirrors on 2'-3' long adjustable stalks to see up around the engine area and spent a lot of time. It all depends on if the guy knows what he is looking for.

oh wow. Yeah, I guess it depends who's looking at it.