How was your California SMOG test?

tothemax

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Californians - How was your California SMOG test?

Californians will be going through the new California SMOG test for the first time this year.
 
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keggo

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May 12, 2007
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SF Bay Area
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2015 Golf TDI
Pardon my not following the format, but I just received my registration renewal and there was no mention of the smog test. I've heard, and don't know of it's valid, that some VIN numbers will be put off until 2011. Anyway, I'm somewhat relieved that it isn't so soon. This will allow me to probably get a 1752 installed, intake cleaned, and glow plugs/harness replaced before having to smog, thus hopefully cleaning up any haze as well o ridding myself of the dreaded CEL.
 
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keggo

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2015 Golf TDI
That would be nice if we didn't have to do it until next year... :) I'm still not clear as to when this is officially supposed to happen. This is going to be a mess for at least the first couple years, IMO. I hope someone that got a notice of the emissions test requirement will chime in.
 

ndamico

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Sacramento, CA
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2003 Golf 2Dr TDI, 2003 Jetta TDI, 2003 Jetta Wagon TDI, 2002 Duramax, 2003 Duramax
According to DMV they won't start mailing registration renewals for vehicles until April 1st.

I have a friend who buys TDI's at auction and re-sells them as a dealer. He called our head DMV office in sac. to inquire about his inventory and was told he doesn't need to do anything to any of them until at least August. DMV also told him april 1st was the soonest a regular CA resident should receive a registration renewal that could require a smog test.

I bought an 03 wagon for my mother a couple weeks ago and tomorrow is when I am taking it to DMV to register. Figuring they will ask for a smog cert (and not wanting to go to dmv twice) i went ahead and had it smogged this morning.

Test took about 20 minutes. Quicker than a gasser as they don't run it on the dyno. They were very nice and told me what they knew. They plugged obd2 cable in and said it was just checking readiness. they looked for leaking CCV fumes with a flashlight under the hood. everything else was pretty standard per what BAR has listed on their website. they didn't attempt to verify the CAT was OEM via a part #, etc. (it is the original cat AFAIK).

as far as the smoke test goes, i think your car would have to be tuned very poorly to flunk that. its so un-scientific its silly.

I don't think most of you need to worry about anything. my guess is worst case they will:

look for egr (there is no functional egr test) to see if it appears to be there
look for something that resembles a cat
look for cars that smoke like crazy

even with my IQ at 3.0 on my car, my stage 3 nozzles and 11mm pump my car won't smoke bad if i work the throttle like they do in the test. and if you're really worried, just have a tank full of B100 and you'll be fine.

After seeing how simple it is i'm not worried about taking the rest of my cars in.
 

ndamico

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2003 Golf 2Dr TDI, 2003 Jetta TDI, 2003 Jetta Wagon TDI, 2002 Duramax, 2003 Duramax
In case anyone wants to see what the slip looks like here's a copy.


 

ndamico

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Sacramento, CA
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2003 Golf 2Dr TDI, 2003 Jetta TDI, 2003 Jetta Wagon TDI, 2002 Duramax, 2003 Duramax
they weren't sure about how much to charge so we settled on $40.00. i was just happy to be able to get it in right away as i didn't decide to do it until this morning.

RiceEater said:
How much $$$$ do they want to do nothing but look and see?
 

oilhammer

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outside St Louis, MO
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There are just too many to list....
We have OBD tests on 1997+ diesels here and it is no big deal. Same as the 1996+ gas cars. Quick and easy.

Quick things:

No stored DTCs
Functional MIL
Readiness monitors set (depending on year, some cars can have 1 or 2 unset)
 

RiceEater

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For $40 they basically did nothing but certified on paper that your car emits zero HC, zero CO and zero NOx.
 

Farfromovin

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RiceEater said:
For $40 they basically did nothing but certified on paper that your car emits zero HC, zero CO and zero NOx.
Looks like proof of ownership of a ULEV. Congrats ;) Maybe he should get a tax credit or something? :p
 

ndamico

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Sacramento, CA
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i'd love that.. bout time i got some of the tax money back i've been paying out forever...

Farfromovin said:
Looks like proof of ownership of a ULEV. Congrats ;) Maybe he should get a tax credit or something? :p
 

keggo

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Thanks for posting this, ndamico. Very enlightening. According to what you said about your smoke output, I should be fine with my 764's and tune for the BAR snap test. Thanks again!!
 

ndamico

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Sacramento, CA
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2003 Golf 2Dr TDI, 2003 Jetta TDI, 2003 Jetta Wagon TDI, 2002 Duramax, 2003 Duramax
it seems to have a lot to do with the operator too. the method is inherently so prone to error some places will probably be worse than others.. heck i could even see a lot of variance at the same location with the same or different test technicians... so yeah, when in doubt, run b100..

keggo said:
Thanks for posting this, ndamico. Very enlightening. According to what you said about your smoke output, I should be fine with my 764's and tune for the BAR snap test. Thanks again!!
 

DieselCruz

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Santa Cruz, Ca
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Farfromovin said:
Looks like proof of ownership of a ULEV. Congrats ;) Maybe he should get a tax credit or something? :p
Maybe we should have qualified for those carpool stickers after all... :rolleyes:
 

ndamico

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Sacramento, CA
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2003 Golf 2Dr TDI, 2003 Jetta TDI, 2003 Jetta Wagon TDI, 2002 Duramax, 2003 Duramax
FYI - Today i got my renewal notice for my 2002 Duramax which is due on 3/31/10. it did not require a smog cert.
 

mrfeb14

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Brentwood, CA
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formerly 2000 Jetta GLS
ndamico, thanks for the information. I'm about to go to AZ and purchase a 2000 Jetta TDI, and after reading about the new smog requirement to transfer ownership and register the car I was wondering what was involved. If the test is so subjective, especially the smoke test I would think anyone who failed would have an easy basis for arguing an appeal.
 

SeePalm23

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mrfeb14

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SeePalm23 said:
Here is a link I found regarding CA smog requirements. I guess Sacramento needed some more money so they decided to start making us get smog checks. I can't find the other link now, but I will post it later that shows the basics of the law change. From memory odd VIN numbers will start in 2011, evens this year, but only for registration starting in April

http://www.smogcheck.ca.gov/80_BARResources/05_Legislative/RegulatoryActions/DieselWorkInf.html
Also anyone buying a 1999 or newer TDI will have to smog it to change over the title.
 

ziffdine

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Jan 18, 2010
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San Diego, CA
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2010 Jetta SportWagen TDI
So how do these smog checks work? I just moved to California and just bought a new TDI here. Will I get something in the mail when it's time to smog it?
 

keggo

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SF Bay Area
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2015 Golf TDI
ziffdine said:
So how do these smog checks work? I just moved to California and just bought a new TDI here. Will I get something in the mail when it's time to smog it?
Yeah, in a couple years time. It should come with the registration renewal form in 2012.
 

mrfeb14

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Brentwood, CA
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formerly 2000 Jetta GLS
Just had the smog done on my 2000 jetta tdi. It took about 20min (mainly because it took awhile for him to get the engine cover off). They just do a visual inspection under the hood and under the car. Then the smoke test he rev'd it 3 times quickly to about 2500rpm (snap test) and looked for a cloud of smoke.

I'm happy to say I passed and now I can transfer the the title and registration.
 

mrfeb14

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formerly 2000 Jetta GLS
I don't know if they are or are not supposed to take off the engine cover. I think they can do whatever they need to, to verify and check the areas they are supposed to look at.
 

Farfromovin

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Ventura, CA
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03 Golf 2dr- PD150 6m
mrfeb14 said:
I don't know if they are or are not supposed to take off the engine cover. I think they can do whatever they need to, to verify and check the areas they are supposed to look at.
Yeah Pierre, you better not modify a single vacuum line :D
 

marcusTDI

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Aug 16, 2006
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San Diego
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2005 Beetle TDI 5spd
I got my renewal a few weeks ago and it's due by May 2nd. Not only did the renewal fees go up a LOT, (from $200 to $272...normally it would go down a bit every year but Arnold needs the money)....I do need a smog test. I thought it was a mistake and that they didn't know I have a diesel....but unfortunately it's true. Any diesel less than 14,000 GVW and built after 1998 AND is 4 model years old or older will have to smog. They say to subtract 3 years from the current year...if your model is older then that you have to smog. 2010 minus 3 is 2007. Hence my 2006 gets nailed.:eek:
 

Deckard

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Jun 1, 2008
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Sacramento, California, USA
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03 Jetta auto TDI / 03 Golf manual TDI
March 19, 2010, apparently my TDI was first TDI for Folsom Smog Test Only as the technician thanked me for calling ahead, so he could take an online course. He removed dust cover and looked for factory installed smog controls, and backyard upgrades. He rev'd engine a couple of times, and I gave him $50 bucks. He did not look in battery compartment (common place for chips) Test $41.25 cert $8.25 (2010 annual dmv reg $145)
 
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