coolusername
Veteran Member
So basically, last year the fun folks over at the California Air Resources Board released a new edict: your car will fail smog if the ECU has a tune on it. Has to be stock, or a special exempt tune (just found out about it when I was planning on a Malone tune). Now while right now you can just flash back to stock (and then back to the tune) and not worry about it, what's going to happen long term if I have a tuned car and they figure out how to detect my ECU has been tampered with at all? I mean, it's possible. Because that's where CARB has been heading for the past few years, they don't seem to like car modification. The problem is, with these cars an ECU swap is a pain. I've read that I need to change the ECU, instrument cluster, and the key/barrel all at once. Is this true for my 2012 Jetta Sportwagen? I'd like to set myself up with an untouched trinity of these components, in case CARB cracks down on even once-modified vehicles. Does anyone have any tips/advice on the matter? Will changing these three components in a set work even on the newer TDIs? What's the best way for me to set myself up to be able to pass smog in the future even as rules tighten?
(I still wanna tune the car though)
(I still wanna tune the car though)