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One of may ex co-workers has a wife like that. She mentioned once that he had a collection of dozens of guns that had to be worth at least a couple of hundred dollars.
LOL, sound like your ex co-worker has been fibbing to his wife how much he's actually spent on said firearms!
Passing depends partly on the person doing it. The visual inspection requires all smog equipment to be intact. Some techs don't care. Many don't know what's supposed to be present so if there's no obvious stuff it might go unnoticed. For 2000 and newer there's no exhaust sniff, they just plug into the OBD2 and all that matters is that there are no faults and no unset monitors. '97-'99 might get a sniffer, don't know.
My friend has a 2000 that he runs a tuner on. Before the test he just sets it back to stock and no issues.
To add a little to the above: no sniffer test ever, opacity instead, and only in certain counties; if you clear any stored codes be sure to complete the "drive cycle" or the resulting P1000 code will fail you; check the underhood sticker as seen below to verify if you need a cat on there. Keep it looking stock aside from intake and exhaust, it will be ok.
Sorry Brian, that bubble got popped along time ago for me as I waited for the floating year to "free" vehicles I had only to have this jackass state make another dumb rule change that benefited no one but those who charge for the smog test.
I wish Santa delivered parts for me but then again it is my birthday and I give the best presents. 😉
Thanks for the info guys--much appreciated. Basically stock makes sense as far as steering clear of hassles. Pre-smog is sounding better and better for the sake of simplicity. It's just hard finding an older truck that still looks good and hasn't been lifted absurdly sicne I am trying to have a more professional appearance for my business. Personally I like trucks that are beat to hell and back cosmetically, but still have miles and miles of heart. Oh well, sounds like another project truck if I can find one with a straight body. Thanks again.
I’ve yet to have a tech go looking under my hood except to make sure the sticker says non catylyst. As long as no codes are present and your not blowing smoke out of your exhaust, you should pass. If you do clear codes, make sure you drive it at least 100 miles to complete the drive cycle. The only time I’ve had an issue since this started, was last year. I didn’t think about it and cleared a code the morning of my smog and threw a p1000 code. My tech is pretty cool, and said come back in a week and he would only charge me half price. So I payed for 1 1/2 smogs but passed. My budddy who was a smog tech for a long time(recently changed careers) told me that techs shouldn’t be snooping around under the hood since are trucks are only required to check for codes,SES light, and an opacity test. If there pulling that crap, find another shop.
I smogged my e99 in San Jose a couple weeks ago. The tech was going through a huge manual that had a page for my truck and he was checking EVERYTHING. My truck is 100% back to stock except for a cat back at this point so it wasn't a big deal and it passed easily.
The reason I took it there is last June I brought my newly purchased from N.C. "49 state" New Mexico Mustang there. Despite being a 49 state car, the tech only plugged in the code reader and gave me the certificate. That was a different tech.
When I lived in Santa Clara County in CA, had to get smog every two years. Full visual verifying all controls in place, check codes (can not be recently reset), gas cap, and dyno sniff test.
. My tech is pretty cool, and said come back in a week and he would only charge me half price. So I payed for 1 1/2 smogs but passed.
Ouch, that was harsh. The couple times that happened to me, the tech told me to go drive for an hour or so and he'd finish the test for me when I got back. No extra charges.
My budddy who was a smog tech for a long time(recently changed careers) told me that techs shouldn’t be snooping around under the hood since are trucks are only required to check for codes,SES light, and an opacity test. If there pulling that crap, find another shop.
Your buddy who used to be a smog tech is the kind of person some users here are saying they hope to get, because your buddy is completely incorrect. Our diesels (just like gassers) have to pass a visual check too, looking for non-CARB parts on the truck.
My budddy who was a smog tech for a long time(recently changed careers) told me that techs shouldn’t be snooping around under the hood since are trucks are only required to check for codes,SES light, and an opacity test. If there pulling that crap, find another shop.
Don't bring your truck to San Diego because the visual inspection is a requirement. This time the tech took at least 10 minutes under the hood with a flashlight.
