CSL Engine Management and State Inspection - More Confusion

[Steve]

When my touring came due for state inspection, I took it to a place close to my home and it plugged in and passed without drama. The car is running the modified csl tune that works on a standard HP DME. I have to admit that I was relieved as I've read about all of the headaches people have run into with getting state inspections when running this software.

My 05 coupe is now due for an inspection. It has the same software on it so naturally I took it back to the same place since that machine worked fine last time. After 20 mins or so they came back to me and said they couldn't get it to read on either of their machines and they were not sure what was going on and suggested trying another shop. Great. Ended up taking it to a smaller shop with an older machine directly after and it communicated and passed without issue.

I thought I would share as there has been a lot of discussion about this in the past without many answers. From my experience, I'm even more confused about it as it seems to really be hit and miss when it comes to getting it to read, even on the same machines that previously worked.

If you're running this software and require a plug in state inspection, I would get it done early as you can expect some issues and may have to dedicate more time to it than you'd like. With that said, it's still worth it 100% as the airbox sounds glorious!

[repoman89]

Ugh my first inspection post CSL software is this month ... need to go get it done. Luckily it will also be my last due to the 15-year rule in MA. I will promptly delete my SAP after (if ) I pass this time.

[exodus454]

I'm running CSL software on my 05, it's passed CT emissions last two times without issue. I have headers, no rear o2 or SAP, MAP sensor but no airbox, all my monitors either show ready or or n/a. It definitely took some screwing around in my tune to get it there but now every time I think to check it the emissions monitors are always set like they should be.

I've always brought my car to Firestone to do the test, I've never come across the CSL issue of not being able to communicate with the test computer.

[Obioban]

The stock CSL software can only communicate with some machines-- others it has trouble with. So, indeed, hit and miss. That said, your tuner should be able to move over the non CSL OBD2 communication portion of the program to the CSL firmware, at which point you can talk to all machines, like stock.

[Steve]

Ugh my first inspection post CSL software is this month ... need to go get it done. Luckily it will also be my last due to the 15-year rule in MA. I will promptly delete my SAP after (if ) I pass this time.

Good luck. 15 year rule sounds pretty awesome, we have a 25 year rule here.

I'm running CSL software on my 05, it's passed CT emissions last two times without issue. I have headers, no rear o2 or SAP, MAP sensor but no airbox, all my monitors either show ready or or n/a. It definitely took some screwing around in my tune to get it there but now every time I think to check it the emissions monitors are always set like they should be.

I've always brought my car to Firestone to do the test, I've never come across the CSL issue of not being able to communicate with the test computer.

Nice! Both machines were made by "ESP" that I experienced.

The stock CSL software can only communicate with some machines-- others it has trouble with. So, indeed, hit and miss. That said, your tuner should be able to move over the non CSL OBD2 communication portion of the program to the CSL firmware, at which point you can talk to all machines, like stock.

Yes, this is common knowledge. The point of this post was that the same machine could read one car and not the other. I purposely went back to the same inspection station because I thought it would be a non-issue based on the previous car being inspected there. This makes me wonder if it is indeed the machine or does it come down to the individual car?

For the record, both of my cars are running the exact same software on what should be the same DME (04 vs 05). The only differences would be that one is tweaked for csl info with the ecuworx tool and one was tweaked to be a manual conversion car.

So why would the exact same machine at this inspection station read one car and not the other?

[Obioban]

Perhaps something is wrong with the no read car.

[Steve]

Next station I tried read it perfectly, which honestly surprised me.

Oh well, I guess I won't have to worry about it again until next year.

[terra]

Sometimes powercycling will get it to work.

I wish this was easier to fix by hand. It's definitely not impossible, but it's not as easy as copying and pasting stuff from one DME to the other.