Question for people living in smog testing states and running a csl airbox

[WOLFN8TR]

Unbelievable...🙄

[cbean]

Santa Ana/Irvine/Lake Forest had popped the hood, look under the car before even plugging in their OBD reader

I will second that exact experience in the OC

[cbean]

You MUST flash back to stock tune or your ECU will be flagged for a ref inspection later on. As if 2020 they are cross-referencing internal ECU identifiers to see if the tune has been modified.

THIS . . . I have a bud with a modified EVO, and has been doing the run around to get that thing smogged. All of the "tuners" have confirmed, CA is going hard in the paint. You may pass initially, but get a notice in the mail to go to the ref inspection for a complete bend over inspection.

This has me shying away from any tuning, unless you can get it completely back to stock.

This car is pretty amazing stock anyways

[EthanolTurbo]

THIS . . . I have a bud with a modified EVO, and has been doing the run around to get that thing smogged. All of the "tuners" have confirmed, CA is going hard in the paint. You may pass initially, but get a notice in the mail to go to the ref inspection for a complete bend over inspection.

This has me shying away from any tuning, unless you can get it completely back to stock.

This car is pretty amazing stock anyways

This car is a lot easier to make stock than an Evo. I believe with stock tune you can pass with headers + Euro section 1 + o2 simulators/spacers to keep CEL from triggering.

[Steve]

You CA guys have it rough, wow!

[siamkazi]

THIS . . . I have a bud with a modified EVO, and has been doing the run around to get that thing smogged. All of the "tuners" have confirmed, CA is going hard in the paint. You may pass initially, but get a notice in the mail to go to the ref inspection for a complete bend over inspection.

This has me shying away from any tuning, unless you can get it completely back to stock.

This car is pretty amazing stock anyways

Damn it. Really good info here though for us SoCal residents.

My smog check/registration is in June 21...looks like the turner intake/hte tune/headers are getting installed in March (smog certs are good for 90 days)...

[Will]

Just to add my experience as data:

I've had multiple smog tests ("test only" stations and at regular Star stations) over the years and they've all looked under the hood. Some just checked that emissions sticker on the hood for displacement, some poked around with a flashlight and mirror. One guy bent the heat shields so he could see the headers and check for presence of cats - stopped going to him for that and other reasons. Another guy didn't do that, but had a mirror underneath the car to check for cats.

These stations were in Irvine, Lake Forest, and Santa Ana.

I'd love to get an airbox, but unsure if I'd want to deal with that hassle even if it's once every 2 years.

[liam821]

Back when I might have lived in California I perhaps registered my race car in a town that did not have any smog requirements. But I'm not sure if that's a thing anymore, a quick google search came up negative.

Thankfully, here in Oregon we can register "race cars" for limited street use... They're called SP "special interest" plates. And as a bonus, there is no annual registration and no expiration!

[2004LSB]

THIS . . . I have a bud with a modified EVO, and has been doing the run around to get that thing smogged. All of the "tuners" have confirmed, CA is going hard in the paint. You may pass initially, but get a notice in the mail to go to the ref inspection for a complete bend over inspection.

This has me shying away from any tuning, unless you can get it completely back to stock.

This car is pretty amazing stock anyways

Wait so just to clarify - - so even if all stock hardware is used, and all factory emissions equipment are intact and in "ready" state, a "tuned" ECU will automatically fail?!

[Tbonem3]

Back when I might have lived in California I perhaps registered my race car in a town that did not have any smog requirements. But I'm not sure if that's a thing anymore, a quick google search came up negative.

Shhhhhhhhhh

[repoman89]

There were rumors that Massachusetts was going to start checking and flagging that ECU checksum data as well. I did a bunch of research a while back and wrote most of a python script that would modify a couple unused bytes in order to get the checksum data sent to the emissions computers to match a specified value. Unfortunately never totally finished it and lot of the info I used was lost with m3forum in the DME thread ... I gave up on it because emissions is only required for 15 years old and newer here, so screw it. And now I’m moving to NH in a year or so where they do check for 20 years and newer but definitely don’t care about your tune checksum

[liam821]

Shhhhhhhhhh

"allegedly"

[Arith2]

Florida is taking applications for residency.

Just remember it's home of the Florida Man. Keep that in mind and enjoy summer forever.

[Xmetal]

You MUST flash back to stock tune or your ECU will be flagged for a ref inspection later on. As of 2020 they are cross-referencing internal ECU identifiers to see if the tune has been modified.

Do you have any document reference for this? Was thinking about doing a stage1 tune on my Audi S3 next year, but after seeing this, not so sure it's a wise idea.

Wait so just to clarify - - so even if all stock hardware is used, and all factory emissions equipment are intact and in "ready" state, a "tuned" ECU will automatically fail?!

That's what it sounds like. So, unless you can flash it back to the ORIGINAL stock file (not just any of the shelf "stock"), you're pretty much screwed.

[2004LSB]

Do you have any document reference for this? Was thinking about doing a stage1 tune on my Audi S3 next year, but after seeing this, not so sure it's a wise idea.



That's what it sounds like. So, unless you can flash it back to the ORIGINAL stock file (not just any of the shelf "stock"), you're pretty much screwed.

Well I did get my smog done earlier in the summer and it passed with the Epic tune installed. Checked online and it looks like I no longer have to use STAR certified stations anymore moving forward. Maybe that's a good thing?

I guess for safety I'll just switch it back to the stock file when I'm due for my next one in two years. So done with this sh!thole state....