I grew up in L.A. My car would not pass a visual in CA. I just passed AZ smog without opening the hood, seemed all they did was check the gas cap & for stored CEL codes.

 

Yes sir! I love AZ smog. $12.50 and about 5 minutes of your time is all it takes. I have Injen CAI and Catback exhaust and they could care less as long as your gas cap passes and no CEL codes are thrown.

 

damn CA.

 

I was surprised how simple it was to pass here, too. Coming from CT it was a whole different ball game there.

 

Should move to Wi. They dont test here.

 

Yeah smog is a pain here in CA. They look the engine over, check the exhaust system, run it on the machine to make sure it's not creating excessive pollution, and last they check the cap. $40 and 30 min. later, you're on your way.

 

I think in high school I got a car passed that was idling at 2-3k rpm and had no fenders or headlights. The only time they seem to care about safety is if you are building a sandrail or rebuilding a totaled car.

I remember as a kid my dad needed a fake smog pump on his late 70's 5 series to pass though so I think it must have changed in the last 15 years.

 

Believe it or not the OBDII scanner test is a better test then the sniff test, obviously it's only 1996+ but there is no way you will pass a OBDII test but not pass a sniff test. A car with a thrown code indicates a car that may be polluting, it's a more thorough test then just sniffing. Before people say, "why don't you just clear the codes before you bring it in?" well in NY that is not an option, in addition to checking for codes, it checks the readiness monitors, if there is a code or the monitors are not set no inspection.

Of course a OBDII test does not take into consideration properly installed intakes, headers, exhuasts, etc... But in NY you are suppose to give those items a visual, when I was in the biz I would cut people slack if things were done right, if it was a punk kid who put a $20 ebay intake on his civic and left the optional vacuum lines open I would be a dick, but it's the only way people like that learned.

 

Am I the only one here that thought the AZ in the title was AZine? I was like "AZine smog testing?? Wtf!"

Sorry, random post.

 

Can anyone tell me why smog tests are not mandated in every state? Florida used to have them but not anymore.

 

You want it to be mandated?

 

I have to get my car tested this month... Which means I have to find a shop that'll pass my car with my CAI.

 

I'm far from a tree hugger, but a lot of the cars that these laws are going after are destroying our environment. I know this is a small piece of the puzzle, but we need to change and the best way to do that is in small steps.

 

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/vr/smogfaq.htm

 

I know I know, but getting those 84 Chevy Caprice Wagons off the road that some damn redneck removed the cat. from the car just because they felt like it. That's what I'm talking about, diesels are another story, I honestly don't know enough about their emissions to be able to condemn or condone them.

 

I just think smog and emissions testing are a farse.

Especially when I have to take my 04 TL (a ULEV) to be tested, while a diesel or a 69 Camaro with headers and straight pipes are not tested. Ridiculous bassackwards governement, FTL.

FWIW, I don't think any car should be tested.

 

In Illinois, they started a new program in which your 1996+ car is only OBD II scanned. They used to check the gas cap as well.

 

I've been hearing that they might start smogging diesels too. Not big rigs but diesel cars and maybe pickups, not sure. I must use the powers of

 

Oregon only checks smog every two years (you get four years free) for 1975 model and newer cars. They don't even open the hood here, either but why would they check the gas cap?

SuperTrooper...what does CT do differently?

 

My exact complaint right there with our smog and safety testing. I bought my car new and still had to have it tested for smog and pay for a safety inspection. You know its a money maker when they require a brand new car to be tested.

For those of you complaining about your CAI not passing smog, why dont you just get a CARB certified CAI?

 

In NY that's not good enough, the regulation regarding intakes is that ANY modification is a failure. This may have changed, they are frequently changing inspection laws and I've been out of the biz for over 2 years now. I always thought it was unfair to legit intakes that are clean, safe and make engines more efficient to fail them so personally I wouldn't. The only people I gave a hard time were very poor modifications or things that were just painfully illegal, safety on the other hand I didn't let things slide - the fines are too great and it's just not worth the risk.

In NY cars that are two model years old and newer are not checked for emissions, only safety, which is also a load of shit, but slightly more acceptable.

 

I NY, It's all about who you know.

 

arizona changed from every 1 year to every 2 years for a required smog. also its cars 5 years old and older that have to smog. So I just had to smog my first time last year.

 

same here lol oops

 

I just paid for two years, I am good until 10/31/2011.

 

In CT you used to have to get an inspection and an emissions test with the tailpipe sniffer. They'd pop the hood, put the car on rollers, hook up the tailpipe sniffers, look under the car with mirrors to see your whole exhaust/cat setup and then do the whole diagonsis testing by getting your car up to speed on the rollers. On top of it you were guaranteed to be sitting in a line of 20 cars deep for at least an hour. It was a royal PITA. But from what I remember, about a year or two before I moved, the stopped doing it that way and were about to adopt the same proceedure that NY uses.

Here I literally drove up to the test person (no one in line), got out of the car, guy hooked something up to my computer, gave me my slip and I was out of there in a matter of 5 minutes. Not to mention it's much cheaper here, too.

 

In CT you used to have to get an inspection and an emissions test with the tailpipe sniffer. They'd pop the hood, put the car on rollers, hook up the tailpipe sniffers, look under the car with mirrors to see your whole exhaust/cat setup and then do the whole diagonsis testing by getting your car up to speed on the rollers. On top of it you were guaranteed to be sitting in a line of 20 cars deep for at least an hour. It was a royal PITA. But from what I remember, about a year or two before I moved, the stopped doing it that way and were about to adopt the same proceedure that NY uses.

Here I literally drove up to the test person (no one in line), got out of the car, guy hooked something up to my computer, gave me my slip and I was out of there in a matter of 5 minutes. Not to mention it's much cheaper here, too.

 

Did they make you do that on obd cars too? I still have to put my 70's and 80's cars on the rollers and do the sniffer test.

 

Well the last car I had to get tested there was a 1995 Nissan 240SX, so I'm not sure. It went on the rollers.

 

Cali is also every 2 years. The reason they check the gas cap is because the gas tank is part of the fuel evaporative system. It has to be completely sealed so fuel vapors aren't leaked into the atmosphere, causing more pollution.

 

Ah. But wouldn't a poor gas cap seal cause a low fuel pressure code to be tripped, lighting the CEL? Just thinking out loud.

 

Sorry...that should say 'evap fault code' instead of 'low fuel pressure'. Stupid 5 minute edit.

 

cali is wacc when it comes to smog test. Its cool if your have a new car or bought it within at cpl years of its production but older cars, every two years, an I have an H swapped accord, I think i should just get it barred then see if it passes smog.

 

my "AZ" stood for Arizona and it happened to be for acurazine as well lol

 

any testing is just a joke.