California Will Start Testing for ECU Tunes During Smog Checks

[Samsonite79]

oh, i was looking at this through the eyes of a smog tech, who sees more than just bmws all day. the E46 M3 is the first and only car i've owned with cats not under the floorpan

I want to add to this from a automotive technicians' point of view. Most modern cars 2000-> that are ULEV or SULEV have their primary cats as close to header(s) as possible for efficiency, some cars have two in series. Some newer Volvo (which I specialize in) have 3 sets of o2 sensors, primary, intermediate and secondary Heated O2 sensors. Every manufacture is different and have their own method of implementing some kind emissions equipment. With that said, please give the smog guys a break they're just working minimal wage in some sense to get # of cars through their shop they don't make a whole lot on having a STAR certification. They also are scored by the BAR for failure rates and what kind of failure rates, they can't have too many pass either, not like their doing it on purpose but everything is on the line for them, just to make minimal wage.

Not to flame this thread about what the smog guys are doing or not but there are plenty of them out there who are lazy ;-) so let's get mad at the BAR and EPA for making it difficult for everyone.

[usdmej]

Is it? Don't all non M 6 cyl like 128i, 328i, 528i etc have cats on the headers? I thought that was way more common from the e46 era forward, though maybe not for turbos, IDK about them.

oh, i was looking at this through the eyes of a smog tech, who sees more than just bmws all day. the E46 M3 is the first and only car i've owned with cats not under the floorpan

[Tbonem3]

fwiw the us E46 M3 is an oddball as far as cat location is concerned. most techs go looking in that location and find my euro cats which, for obvious reasons, always get passed because they look OE

Is it? Don't all non M 6 cyl like 128i, 328i, 528i etc have cats on the headers? I thought that was way more common from the e46 era forward, though maybe not for turbos, IDK about them.

[usdmej]

some of these smog shops are ran by total morons.... dude wanted to fail me because my "shiny cats" looked aftermarket and thus not legal.... and by shiny cats he meant resonators.

fwiw the us E46 M3 is an oddball as far as cat location is concerned. most techs go looking in that location and find my euro cats which, for obvious reasons, always get passed because they look OE

[Maxima SE]

some of these smog shops are ran by total morons.... dude wanted to fail me because my "shiny cats" looked aftermarket and thus not legal.... and by shiny cats he meant resonators.

and then you have the occasional know it all guys who act like they're the smartest person you've met all year long.

I'm not sure which one i hate more, cali smog shops or cali DMV

[Tbonem3]

Guess I'm lucky my local guy literally just pretends to look under the car.

I had to smog my steelgrey (fully stock) to title it 2 months ago, took 5 minutes.

Are these smog guys not aware that there's a diagram (Green sticker) under the hood that depicts the emissions system?

[usdmej]

I think he said something about having to be this strict in order to keep the star certification.

my guess is he's had one too many warnings for passing vehicles that shouldn't and is at risk of losing his STAR license (which would put him out of business)

[old///MFanatic]

Yeah it was ridiculous. I did actually ask why he wanted to see the pre-cat 02s if they had nothing to do with emissions.
Went to another shop today and the tech was once again having issues finding the cats. Told him he could see them if I bent the heat shield back a bit. He was like "nah that's alright, I trust you" and closed the hood.

As I posted in another thread I have always had the visual inspection and some issues. I bring the Bentley Manual and/or sometimes my ipad opened to realoem just to make it easier for them. Doing that it's very easy for them and quick. Every shop has used a small inspection mirror to view.

https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/main-forum/e46-2001-2006/113015-ca-la-smog?p=113936#post113936

[heinzboehmer]

What the actual fuck? See the sensors? No, you're not going to be able to see post cat (how would you even know if post or pre cat anyway?) bungs/sensors on a stock car what a noodlehead. And why would ypu need to see all 4? "Ya I love modding my car for more powwaaa so I delete the pre cats that detemine afr" Go to another shop. Luckily, smog shops are like starbucks; one on every corner.

Yeah it was ridiculous. I did actually ask why he wanted to see the pre-cat 02s if they had nothing to do with emissions. Don't think that helped my case much lol. But he wasn't going to pass me anyway, so whatever.

Went to another shop today and the tech was once again having issues finding the cats. Told him he could see them if I bent the heat shield back a bit. He was like "nah that's alright, I trust you" and closed the hood.

I also asked the tech about the new regulations and he didn't seem to want to go into much detail. Just said that they've kept getting stricter over the years.

[S14]

The underlying issue is that the Dinan tune is from the era before people understood how the MSS54 works. They did their tune in ~2001, and it was on par with what was offered at the time (which was basically changing values in the dark). Since then, most companies have improved their offerings or just don't sell anything anymore. Dinan persists in selling their original tune, pretty much based on brand and CARB legality.

They're lost of the M3forum void now, but every dyno I've seen with the Dinan tune made less power than stock/same hardware.

the conforti tune that came with my car made almost 10hp less than the stock tune that was flashed onto the car and run on the dyno a few minutes later.

[Tbonem3]

What the actual fuck? See the sensors? No, you're not going to be able to see post cat (how would you even know if post or pre cat anyway?) bungs/sensors on a stock car what a noodlehead. And why would ypu need to see all 4? "Ya I love modding my car for more powwaaa so I delete the pre cats that detemine afr" Go to another shop. Luckily, smog shops are like starbucks; one on every corner.

[heinzboehmer]

I'll be getting my smog check this week. Car is back to stock and ready for it, just have to go in.

I'll ask the tech about these new regulations to see if they have any more insight (after my car passes of course lol)

Well my car wasn't ready. Had a ton of trouble getting the monitors to set, but they're all set now.

Tried to get it smogged this morning and the tech didn't pass me because he wasn't able to see all four o2 sensors. He poked around for a long time trying to spot them and I even helped him look through the wheel well. I couldn't understand everything he said, but I think he said something about having to be this strict in order to keep the star certification. Not sure if this was a reference to the recent smog changes or not.

I'll go try some other places in the coming days and hopefully I can find one where they're not this strict. I really don't want to take my car apart at the smog station just to prove that my o2s are where they should be.

[sev]

Sooooo I passed smog on the 16th with my throttle mapping modified. Obviously before the "deadline" but the smog software version/OIS ID was similar: 21.1.1227.0

[CAL M3]

Hi There - I had my smog check done the day it went into effect 07/19/21 - My car has the BuildJournal tune, aside from that its stock (headers, SAP, cats, etc) - I was able to pass smog without any issues. The Tune was recently added (within the last year) - A few things relevant from the smog report:

Smog Check Inspection Station Information - Software Version/OIS ID: 21.1.1227.0/CV003995

My thought here is that its possible that the station software wasn't yet update to the ECU check OR that its possible its just not checking older cars pre-2008.

Hope this info helps!

Thanks for this data point.

I have an evolve tune and sitting on whether I have to revert to stock.

I was going to try to squeeze in smog right before the cutoff date but the guy said don’t bother since the software was already updated on their station. This was on 7/16.

A week later I brought a different vehicle (my completely stock toyota) in for smog. From the smog report:

Smog Check Inspection Station Information - Software Version/OIS ID: 21.1.1227.0/CV015262

The software version matches yours.

So maybe you did pass on the updated software and with a tune on top? Maybe pre 2008 really aren’t checked?

Also weren’t our vehicles subject to a recall campaign where the DME had to be reprogrammed because of emissions and SES light coming on prematurely?

E46 M3 is listed in BAR guide under OIS list of vehicles of interest under table 4

https://www.bar.ca.gov/Industry/OBD_Test_Reference

Anybody else attempt smog recently?

[old///MFanatic]

Well for the record I have the AA tune not the Dinan. But I have personally witnessed three different Dinan S54 dyno runs. All those cars achieved gains, although modest. I can only vouch for these I’ve seen first hand.
I completely agree their tune is not an aggressive tune. It’s a street-sport tune. Having driven my neighbors before and after back in 2006 I recall mostly it had just a smoother feel.
There are certainly more aggressive better tunes out now. But if wondering if it’s better than the stock tune it is. You have to remember Dinan was the only BMWUSA dealer installed tune ever. Having to adhere to CARB limited it’s aggressiveness, but working with BMW proprietary tuning files logically they aren’t going to lose power. And then advertise gains.