Bleak

iTrader: (1)

So I've been curious about this for a while and never found anything when I searched for it:

If I bring in a catless car to a dealership for some routine maintenance (NOT smog check) are they under any obligation to report it to the smog ref's of California? Like say I go to a dealership for an oil change or some other basic thing and while it's on their lifts they see PCD's and full exhaust all the way back. Are they required to notify anyone about it?

Keep in mind the car would have legal registration and had passed smog before the parts were swapped in.

This is a hypothetical question since my car is not catless (yet?). I just wondered what, if any, laws applied to dealerships in this regard. It may vary by state also but I'm mostly curious about California.

The fact that I need a smog check this year got me wondering about this. Fingers crossed that I'll pass visual with rv6v3 jpipe and full exhaust haha.

guitarplayer16

iTrader: (8)

Their job is to do what needs to be done.
Not really to be nosy and see what you have done...

Just like if I fix someone's ipod...
I don't care if it's stolen, or jailbroken with cracked apps, or what not.
I'm just doing my job of replacing the screen or whatever.

Bleak

iTrader: (1)

Yea I kind of figured that'd be the case. I never knew for sure though, considering how crazy some of the CA smog laws are.

A SiQ TL

I was worried about bringing my car into the dealer after I installed my CAI, but they never said a word.
Also my CAI does not have a CARB sticker on it.

The last time I took my car to them to have them look at my clock issue, the service manager himself went out to start my car. When he fired it up, he turned to me with a big smile on his face, and asked if I had a header on it. I told him, no, just intake and exhaust. He nodded his head, smiled, and said niiiicce.

That being said, I personally would not do it. The main difference is you're talking about losing ALL your cats, which I believe throws a CEL (might be wrong on that), but definitely stores some codes, that they would probably check on. I don't know if they would report that or not, but I believe they can get in trouble if they don't.

edit: from the California air resources board FAQ

d5civic

iTrader: (2)

The dealership is not the state referee. They will not report anything to anyone. That's not their job. If they see something they don't like they will merely refuse service.

No they will not get into trOuble for not reporting something.

JETSPD1477

dealer won't report anything. only chp can site your car for violations and refer for inspection.

smog techs (not referee) usually won't visually inspect the exhaust system, even with obvious exhaust modifications, simply because if there's no catalytic converter it won't pass the emissions test.

Bleak

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the replies guys. I pretty much figured there's nothing forcing them to notify the state but was curious anyways.

Oh and PCD's shouldn't throw CEL's if the defoulers are done right.

Oh and jetspd, in California there's a visual part to our smog tests. For example a car with precats and no 3rd cat would pass the emissions sniffer but COULD fail the visual (if they knew to look for a 3rd cat and found it to be removed). At least that's what I've always heard.

edit: saw you're from CA so yea I'm sure you knew that but yea most techs probably don't waste their time inspecting everything. That's what I'm counting on when I need to get smogged.

truonghthe

nope dealer can careless about your mod, they just work on the car until the job is done.

JETSPD1477

i should have said most techs won't do a visual inspection under the car. you can say it's a combination of who the tech is and what kind of car it is. i didnt know our car would pass without the 3rd cat. i would have assumed because the limits are so low. the limits are higher for my integra and even with a miracle cat i was always at the limit with NO and CO with a very conservative tune.

blkaspec

i dont live in CA so my smog restrictions are almost nonexistent, but when i hydrolocked and eventually blew up my engine the dealership did a nice job covering up the CAI when the insurance guy did his assessment. not that this helps, but i dont think it would be in the best interest of the dealership to snitch. good luck!

anthracite_ftw

If your insurer is totaling the car and writing you a check on the assumption that your engine failure wasn't caused by modifications, that sounds kinda like fraud? I would think the dealership wouldn't want to help you out in this case, so they can cover their own asses from the insurance company.

Not knocking it though, I would've done the same thing. I'm just surprised the stealership helped you out.

blkaspec

Well they didnt total the car, they just agreed to pay for a used engine with similar miles. And it wasnt necessarily caused because of the modification, it just happened to be involved in the accident. If part of the CAI broke off and was sucked in to the engine I could see this being an issue, but I ran the car in to a pretty deep puddle that could have caused damage regardless of the type of intake. And they didnt lie, they just didnt snitch. They covered the body with blankets to prevent damaging the paint and the blankets just happened to be big enough to drape in to the engine compartment....I see no problems with that My point was that they are not there to get anyone in trouble, unless of course you are trying to screw them....then they might speak up if it meant covering their own butts.

Bleak

iTrader: (1)

Ya I can believe that dealerships wouldn't go out of their way to get customers in trouble. It'd be bad for business.

sleeper24

I know we are talking about dealer being nosy or not. But just a heads up on cat in CA since I live in CA myself. If you went to a muffler to take off your cat, they will tell you "No" and they will not remove your cat for you. It is against CA law to remove your cat. You will be fine (IF CAUGHT) and the dealer will be fine (IF YOU TELL WHEN YOU GET CAUGHT) and lose their license to operate. How I know, when I went to go remove my mid-muffler, the guy didn't know what I was talking about and thought I was talking about the cat or resonator until I showed him. I asked him why he mention the cat when I didn't even say the cat. He told me that CA have come down strict on shops and said a lot more plus what I said above. Again, just a heads up for anyone living in CA.

Healingduck

You won't have a problem. Like guitarplayer said, they are just there to fix what needs to be fixed.

Bleak

iTrader: (1)

Haha yea when I did mid muffler + resonator delete (a long time ago before real exhaust), I asked the shop if they'd ever be open to doing PCDs for me. The guy said they would never touch cats.

However I have a mechanic now who is pretty into mods so it's not a big deal for him. You're right though about CA being really strict on this stuff. If you can't do the work yourself it can be hard to find a mechanic who will.

05_NBP_TL

iTrader: (1)

fixed

sleeper24

You're lucky you know someone! You might already be doing this. If I were you, I keep that person of interest for myself and never mention to anybody who I don't trust. It might come back to bite you in the a** in the future. Just my MO.

P1zzaman

iTrader: (1)

This is why my license plate says



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

So when people see my mods, and then look at my plate, they will be reassured that I did nothing to the car.

Bleak

iTrader: (1)

Yea I don't mention it very often. Someone on acurazine recommended him to me though in the first place. Not for illegal mods or anything, just as being a good mechanic.

spaceboy

i dont think dealerships are stupid enough to lose their customers this way

JETSPD1477

technically it's illegal to remove a catalytic converter without replacing it with another. not surprised that shop turned you down.

Bleak

iTrader: (1)

yea I wasn't surprised either. just asked out of curiosity mostly.