CARB requiring OEM tunes now

[SteveS]

California folks will now have to reflash back to OEM tune to pass smog. https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a37022836/california-ecu-tune-during-smog-checks/?source=nl

 

[rcarbajal4]

That sucks. I've never smogged any of my cars though lol. This state is so picky that I wouldn't be surprised if having an air freshener in my car counted as an illegal mod.

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[dhminer]

Makes me glad to live in a state with precisely no inspections. Only downside is occasionally almost rear ending someone with no brake lights.

 

[The_Ryan]

seems more like an attack on car modifications than for environmental purposes. I wonder who the donors behind the proposal are

 

[TemecFist]

seems more like an attack on car modifications than for environmental purposes. I wonder who the donors behind the proposal are

This!!!!

 

[D1JL]

I wonder who the donors behind the proposal are

As a retired Smog Check Tech. I can say that this is a very old opposition modifications on cars and it in NOT emissions.
The problem is Street Racing.
Most mods are performed by people that race their cars on the street in one way or another.
This is just another tool for LEOs to get the racers.

 

[Mikey456]

Well according to the article it say Carb approved tunes are ok. Someone remind me if the Cobb stage 1 is Carb approved or is it just their intake? I know the mountune MP215 is Carb approved till 2016 cars. I just wonder how they would know if a car is tuned. Are the smog people getting new equipment? If the light is out and the results are within the parameters why would it not pass?

 

[D1JL]

I just wonder how they would know if a car is tuned. Are the smog people getting new equipment?

Ever since the start of OBD-2 inspections in California.
The equipment has been able to read the ECU information completely but doesn't use all of it.
It just takes a long time to change laws and since they now say that it will be enforced, the laws must have changed.

 

[Clint Beastwood]

Tbh I thought you already had to be running an oem tune to pass. I would guess that checking the ecu reflash counter is on someone’s agenda somewhere along the line :/ I just want the rev hang removed, that’s literally all I want from a tune but apparently that’s illegal.

 

[LiLfieSTa]

Tbh I thought you already had to be running an oem tune to pass. I would guess that checking the ecu reflash counter is on someone’s agenda somewhere along the line :/ I just want the rev hang removed, that’s literally all I want from a tune but apparently that’s illegal.

same, was going to flash back to stock regardless when its time

 

[Gone in 60]

Huh. Good to know. But, not a huge deal, really. First of all, California got lazy, and now doesn't require a smog check for the first seven years of new car ownership. So, my 2015 hasn't been smogged yet, and I've been driving on my Cobb Stage 2 tune. When my renewal notice says I need the first smog check, I'll flash it back to stock, and put my stock intake back on. Then, drive around for a few hundred miles so the ECU "forgets" the reflash, and it should pass. After inspection, put the Cobb intake back on and flash back to Stage 2.

It is a problem for someone who has a custom tune and no handheld tuner to go back and forth, or on a car that won't run well on a stock tune.

Also, it's important to put a few hundred miles on the car after flashing back to stock before the inspection. Recently, I had to have my old work van inspected, and did some repairs and cleared some codes right before I took it in. The smog inspector could tell that I had just cleared codes from the ECU, and told me that I needed to put some miles on the car for the computer to forget the reflash. If the testing system flags a recent reflash, it's an automatic fail. Came back a week later and it passed no problem.

 

[SteveS]

Tbh I thought you already had to be running an oem tune to pass. I would guess that checking the ecu reflash counter is on someone’s agenda somewhere along the line :/ I just want the rev hang removed, that’s literally all I want from a tune but apparently that’s illegal.

The rev hang is an emissions item, so yes, it would likely cause it to fail if you didn't have it.

 

[Old Mike Emerson]

I used to street race back in the late 70's, after about 9pm even down town streets were empty, never saw an accident, blown motors and busted cars, but no personal injuries. Has there been some deaths sure, but not as many as during normal driving on American roads every year. The people behind this crap are the same as the anti-2A jerks. Sooner or later if these clowns have their way we will all be riding horses and protecting ourselves with skinning knives and flint locks.

 

[SteveS]

It's not street racing. It started a couple of years ago with the crackdown on diesel tunes, then the crackdown on aftermarket no longer being allowed to sell things for offroad use only. They are also proposing to make it illegal to modify a car that has emissions even if you are going to race it in a sanctioned racing series.

 

[D1JL]

@SteveS
I respectfully disagree however, you are also correct.
The LEOs primarily use the Smog Laws because there more teeth in those laws.
I have seen these things, also attended lectures and classes put on by the BAR ever since the '90s when I first got my Smog License.

 

[mark_SC]

Also, it's important to put a few hundred miles on the car after flashing back to stock before the inspection. Recently, I had to have my old work van inspected, and did some repairs and cleared some codes right before I took it in. The smog inspector could tell that I had just cleared codes from the ECU, and told me that I needed to put some miles on the car for the computer to forget the reflash. If the testing system flags a recent reflash, it's an automatic fail. Came back a week later and it passed no problem.

You need to run through the Ford drive cycle to set all the readiness monitors. If you have a handheld code reader or Accessport, it will tell you the status of each monitor. Once they're set, you're good to smog. The Evap monitor does not need to be set, and it will still pass in CA.

https://asktheref.org/Information/Monitor-Readiness-Concerns

 

[Dpro]

Well according to the article it say Carb approved tunes are ok. Someone remind me if the Cobb stage 1 is Carb approved or is it just their intake? I know the mountune MP215 is Carb approved till 2016 cars. I just wonder how they would know if a car is tuned. Are the smog people getting new equipment? If the light is out and the results are within the parameters why would it not pass?

All current Cobb updated tunes are Carb legal I got that info when I updated my AP software.I agree with others this is definitely an anti mod action and not so much emissions. They are cloaking it in emissions to be more PC so to speak. As in well if we just straight out block mods SEMA‘s lawyers will be breathing down our necks. Though if we couch it in emissions everyone is oh clean air . lol 5 years before I have to think about this and truthfully from here on out I will either buy vintage or buy cars that have the kind of power I want. I do like playing with cars but as I get older jumping through hoops gets old,.

 

[Gone in 60]

I don't like jumping through hoops either... I didn't go to Cobb Stage 3 since I don't want to change back to the stock downpipe for smog checks. In my Mustang days, wasn't so hard... slide under the car with an impact gun and swap the X-pipe for the stocker in about 30 minutes. The ST seems a bit more laborious than I'd like to do every few years, and any aftermarket catted downpipe is not legal in CA. Plus, it's fast enough for me as it is.

On a side note, as someone who grew up in L.A. in the 70s, choking on smog, if you didn't have asthma by the time you were eight it was uncommon. Yeah, I mod my cars so I'm calling the kettle black, but the air is nicer than it was when I was a kid.

On another side note about cats, I now understand now why they're being stolen at an alarming rate! I had to replace the cat on my work van to get it to pass smog, and got $275 for selling my plugged up old cat, and that was to a legitimate recycler.

 

[Poofies]

Will a hybrid turbo run safe on an own tune long enough to smog?

 

[Intuit]

I suspect this hit Cali's radar when Volkswagen successfully cheated the system.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_emissions_scandal

Is a Cali cop really going to plug up to an OBD-II port, roadside and try to determine whether someone is running on stock programming? How does that work? I can see them using something more obvious, such as running LED when the OEM only supplies halogen as a means for selective enforcement targeting, but not really non-stock tunes. Non-standard emissions equipment (or lack there-of) is easy to spot and doesn't require much time or technical knowledge.

Will a hybrid turbo run safe on an own tune long enough to smog?

Unmodded hard parts on standard fueling, programming, adequate cooling, no real risk for LSPI. Outside of those conditions, it may become a potential risk factor.