So the good news is that I got the car over the weekend, and it's a fantastic drive.

The bad news hit today however when I tried to pass smog here in GA. Background on the car is it has catless downpipes and a stage 2 tune, and was advertised and sold by the dealer in CA this way, smog was not previously an issue being new enough not to require passing smog in Cali as well.

Today I was told it doesn't pass as the O2 Heater and Sensors show inconclusive. After a little bit of digging and chatting w/the previous owner, as well as the shop that tuned it, it's bc they turned off the O2 sensors when doing the tune. I was told if I flashed back to factory tune, that would essentially turn them back on, and I could then pass smog, then buy a module from them to tune it myself. However, it got me thinking that if I flashed back to stock tune, wouldn't that proceed to throw a bunch of other codes then due to missing the cats?

Trying to figure out my best path forward, I believe it's very much against the law for the dealer to sell a car that won't pass smog, so I do have that in my back pocket. However, I'm also hoping it won't devolve into legal threats and actions that could in the very worst case scenario, end up w/me sending the car back across the country to them?

Thoughts/input welcomed and appreciated, thanks in advance.

 

Your only hope is that you get a spacer that gives you a window of time to pass smog. It's laughable that Cali has the toughest emissions laws but dosnt scan the car if it 8 years or newer.

 

Oh, they do and as of July this year they scan for software modifications, too. The dealership wouldn't have been able to sell this car in California as they would have had to smog it first, but out of state is not their problem.

 

I was told by the last owner he think he paid for the smog abatement so it would've been good for 4 more yrs in Cali to not have to smog at all. I guess I got shafted on the smog thing by the dealer?

 

No, that wouldn't have changed anything. In California you have to smog a car when it changes hands regardless of age. The dealership would have had to smog it in order to sell it to somebody in California and register it. But they sold it out of state, so now it's your problem to register it in your state.

 

This is what you need to do. Buy some mini cat spacers and play with a few plus extensions to make longer or shorter until you can pass o2 sensors. The easiest way is to use obd link scanner with there software and look at mode 6 data and get your numbers around 134 on each bank.

If your tuner is asking money for a handheld you might as well hit up ptg for a tune because he can flash firmwares if you need to roll back and you can use a laptop to flash the car.. actually the first thing you need to do is get a stock file on and go from there. I would argue with the dealer to get the car stock tuned. Your lucky in my state you would get flagged and need to bring the car to a special inspection station and they would go through the whole car and see you missing cats and fine you.

 

What year is your car? If it's a 17 or older you might have the emissions recall pending and that will get a stock file on your car for free.

 

You are correct, but his point was slightly different. CA does not require smog testing for 2017+ vehicles until same is 8 years old.

 

That is only if the car isn't being sold. As of 1/1/2019 you can pay the smog abatement fee so it doesn't have to be smog inspected for the first 8 years.


However, if the car is sold and older than 4 years then it needs a valid smog certification. Not sure what year OP's car is, so if it's less than 4 years then yes, in California it wouldn't require a smog check, but since he is registering it in another state, that state dictates if it needs to be smog checked or not. Whatever happened in California is only valid in California.

 

Again, you are correct - but again you are talking about something different than the non-OP’s post (and actually not even responsive to your initial post). You initially responded regarding the July 2021 change, but reference a separate and distinct change in law from 2019. The point is, the new scan in CA as of 2021 does not change the 8 year time-elapse between the model year of the car and the first smog test in CA (barring the sale of a car more than 4 years old when sold in 2019, which is irrelevant to this thread).

 

Right. I guess I didn't understand what you were getting at.

 

Appreciate the feedback and thoughts so far. I have a friend who is a tech @ MB I've been talking to who has had to deal w/his own smog issues in the past, he's looking into some options for me.

I can probably get it flashed back to stock if I take it in to him, but there is indeed an open recall on my car that according to Geico is: RECALL #2020070001 CARB

I think monkeying with spacers on a stock tune may be my only option. Although the more drastic measures I'm considering include changing my address back to family in another county that doesn't require smog at all, it's a pain in and of itself.

I did give the dealer a call last night just to see what the reaction would be and it was a little better than expected. He essentially admitted to the fact that they knew smog could be an issue, and was hoping to sell this to someone out of state that wouldn't be impacted. I told him very firmly if at any point in their ad or through our exchange I had known it would not pass smog, I would not have pulled the trigger. No talk of a solution but he said he'd call up the shop that tuned it and see what their thoughts were and get back to me today.