I own a 2018 C63 AMG. I have FI Exhaust catless downpipes and a DME tune. I just failed my inspection and was wondering if anyone has successfully passed their sate inspection without cats.

I've been doing research and have seen several people speak of spacers/defoulers. I don't mind going down this road, but I just spoke with Fabspeed and they stated that theirs wouldn't help me pass inspection.

Any advice or help would be deeply appreciated.

Nakia

 

You need to take tune off when inspected. I have a stock AMG C63 with Stage 2 Tune and Exhaust, and it failed until I took off tune. I KNOW cars CAN Pass Inspection with Cats off, because my Corvette had NO CATS and I got it inspected 15 times, but the codes have to be turned off in order to trick the inspection.

 

Thanks Bandit for getting back to me. I never thought that I would have been able to remove the tune and get inspected. I'm guessing that I have to drive the car slowly or try to ensure that the CEL doesn't trip.

I may not have understood "the codes have to be turned off" what does this mean? I have two files that I use, one is tuned and the other is original. I don't know how to turn "codes off". Please assist or clarify.

Thanks so much again.

 

I live in CA, one of my cars is a fully modified 335i, pure turbos, fmic, inlets, meth, tune, catless dp's, etc.... i did some research, asked around and found a legit smog place to pass my car (for an added cost). I didn't have to remove or change anything.

 

now that doesnt sound too LEGIT ..... lol

 

DMV accepted, I renewed my registration, im good for two years. Ill do the same with c63s when the time comes, thats how its done here...

 

I have a house in Newport Coast, and have a couple cars in Cali as well, and am aware of how emissions works in that state.. (being the strictest of all states)

I highly doubt DMV , State of California is saying.. "for an extra charge, sure we will pass your car that clearly bypassed all emissions laws we have set in the state" , if they are, then hell post the name and number of that shop here, so I can call and
start sending my cars to them.

Now, and forgive me, because its early and I prob shouldnt even be online typing as I might be sleep posting, we all have "shops" that do stuff etc, and that is part of the "game" and I a fine with that.. I just want to make sure I didnt take your response in the wrong tone or manner. (so, to clarify, my response is not to be a D!CK, or anything)

... how can I be out of beer already ?

 

I didnt say DMV charged me extra, the smog shop charged me extra to pass my car, obviously its illegal that they do that but its California plenty of places that will do that kind of stuff. So OP there are ways around it...

 

Lol, that's exactly what I was going to say. It was done but not legally. Plenty of shops in GA used to do it, not anymore as most of them got busted. I am sure they are still around.

 

I ended up getting the fabspeed o2 spacers and modifying my tune a little.

 

Your OBD2 system has monitors (things like your O2 sensors, catalyst, evap, etc) that can be shown as "READY" or "NOT READY" depending on if the computer reads them as functioning properly and able to read for any issues that'll throw a CEL. Your car has to go through different drive cycles for these monitors to show as READY. Some take a few seconds, some take miles of driving at different speeds and temperatures. And anytime you clean a CEL, all the monitors will reset to NOT READY.

To keep your car from throwing a CEL caused by the downpiped, your tune turns off the OBD2 monitors that are responsible for that type of CEL. The side effect of this though is that the monitors will not show as "READY" when your car is scanned. To pass inspection, the state's scanner will look for both CELs and for READY monitors. Each state's laws are different, but typically in pollution-controlled areas the limit is usually 0 or 1 monitors can show up as NOT READY. As others alluded to on here, the only way to pass inspection will be to (in whatever way you need to do it) flash your ECU with something that has those monitors enabled.

 

Are you in SoCal? If so can you PM me the shop please. Don’t have a need for a smog yet since it’s a 2020 but want to be prepared for when the time comes. Thanks

 

I don't know how many people are going to see this, but I wanted to take a moment to mention how I was able to pass my smog test and receive an inspection sticker.

My wife's car has FI Exhaust high flow down pipes, which are catless. I also have a stage 2 tune on her car.

We failed inspection and had to drive around with the dreaded orange sticker. Below is what I was able to do to get a legitimate inspection sticker.

I tuned the car back to the original ECU programming via an OBD II My Genius. I also purchased a scanner to observe my DTC's. I reset my DTC, which resets the readiness. I was then able to drive the car around very softly for about 20 miles. At first, I drove 32 miles and my CEL came on. After resetting, and clearing my CEL, I was able to drive and get all of the monitors to become ready in less than 20 miles. I went to the inspection location with only the evap system not ready. I passed with flying colors.

Lastly, I did purchase spacers and defoulers, but never installed them.

This is such a relief and I hope that this helps someone else in the future.