New California smog checks.......

[JELLOWSUBMARINE]

Thanks to mentally defective Ca. politics I have to announce the sad loss of Lil Red Wagon. New great out of state owners are now enjoying her.

As with everything Gov. Nuesom, Ca. has dealt yet another foolish death blow. Bowing to the anti everything crowd. Even my neighbor with a diesel fleet had to close his business as his entire fleet consisted of diesels.

Still have an under the radar i.d.i. 1.6d just to burn peanut butter and piss off a purple hairs.

 

[Cuzoe]

I just passed smog in my MK7 Golf, about 2 weeks ago. Kerma tuned. Also have a Neuspeed intake, which has a carb sticker. But the guy spent less than 15 seconds looking under the hood, so I'm not sure if he saw or cared about the sticker.

Had one pending code but no CEL. He saw the pending code using a little handheld scanner before he hooked up the official equipment to the car. He asked if I wanted to do the official check anyway. I knew from my last time that the pending code does not cause a fail.

When I started the car after lunch following the smog test that pending turned into a CEL .

 

[ecala001]

met this one guy who purchased my alh long block and his tdi had montana plates. I asked him about it and he registered it under an LLC in Montana. No emission testing.

 

[jlav0330]

Fellow CA residents, there are ways to get around this. Specifically if you live in SoCal, make a drive out to Yuma or Kingman and get your TDI registered in AZ. No smog check there. Sure it's a few hoops to jump through, but it's doable. Registering in South Dakota is possible too.

 

[oilhammer]

Do they care about out-of-state tags? Seems like they would, but maybe not. Tent cities and sidewalk feces are probably more pressing matters.

 

[ecala001]

Do they care about out-of-state tags? Seems like they would, but maybe not. Tent cities and sidewalk feces are probably more pressing matters.

mainly CHP and sheriffs. You will be surprised what we can get pulled over for. Like having side wind/rain deflectors for example.
State requires I think 10 to 15 days to register a car in California if from out of state.
I see people register it under an LLC in Montana which costs upwards of 1k to do so. You will see a lot of supercars with Montana license plates because it's no tax.

 

[NewTdi]

I have passed with RC stage 3 for 13 years ...

 

[turbodieseldyke]

register it under an LLC in Montana which costs upwards of 1k

Holy excrement

 

[Ajlal24]

Fellow CA residents, there are ways to get around this. Specifically if you live in SoCal, make a drive out to Yuma or Kingman and get your TDI registered in AZ. No smog check there. Sure it's a few hoops to jump through, but it's doable. Registering in South Dakota is possible too.

I believe with AZ, you need to be a resident. Then you'll start getting Jury Duty summons for a state you dont live in.

Friend of mine with a 2004 A4 failed smog due to "tampered ECU." So they are coming down to older vehicles, though model limitations arent known.

 

[Zak99b5]

Maine will let anyone register his car in their state; no need to be a resident.

Your home state may not like it, but.

 

[2004LB7]

Just recently passed smog in Sacramento area. 2006 BRM Malone Stage 5 and DSG tune. Did not return it to stock

 

[2004LB7]

Do they care about out-of-state tags? Seems like they would, but maybe not. Tent cities and sidewalk feces are probably more pressing matters.

I know someone who got busted for out of state tags. Was given a fix it ticket to correct it. From what I was told, the cop was a regular in the area and noticed the NV plates and kept an eye on it. Then after a few weeks seeing the same vehicle drive the same road over and over again decided to pull her over. Of course inspection of her license confirmed what was happening.

 

[jlav0330]

I know someone who got busted for out of state tags. Was given a fix it ticket to correct it. From what I was told, the cop was a regular in the area and noticed the NV plates and kept an eye on it. Then after a few weeks seeing the same vehicle drive the same road over and over again decided to pull her over. Of course inspection of her license confirmed what was happening.

I only know about registering it in AZ because my old boss did that with his 2003 Boxster that didn't have the correct cat in it that was CARB approved. He bought it in Vegas where it was obviously Nevada registered. Dumbest part was that even with the non-CARB approved cat, he STILL passed emissions. Getting a CARB-approved cat was going to be an expensive process, so he drove out to Yuma and got it registered. Don't need to be a resident, just had to jump through a few hoops to do that.

HOWEVER, I have read online about you getting busted by cops for having an out of state plate. My old boss never did get caught, and possibly because he didn't have the Boxster long - he bought it in Jan 2022 and he moved from SoCal to a town in the central Sierra foothills in June 2022. A deer jumped in front of him in Oct 2022 and he hit it, car was totaled. So who knows, maybe if he still had the car at this point he would have gotten caught.

Good to know that you passed emissions with a Stage 5 tune. I think that CARB is really just trying to crack down on people modding the crap out of their diesel rig in order to "roll coal"... maybe some of us who own VW TDIs are trying to do that, but there are many people here who report improved fuel economy and less smoke after putting in a Malone tune, so that would in theory translate to less emissions? Who knows.

 

[2004LB7]

I only know about registering it in AZ because my old boss did that with his 2003 Boxster that didn't have the correct cat in it that was CARB approved. He bought it in Vegas where it was obviously Nevada registered. Dumbest part was that even with the non-CARB approved cat, he STILL passed emissions. Getting a CARB-approved cat was going to be an expensive process, so he drove out to Yuma and got it registered. Don't need to be a resident, just had to jump through a few hoops to do that.

HOWEVER, I have read online about you getting busted by cops for having an out of state plate. My old boss never did get caught, and possibly because he didn't have the Boxster long - he bought it in Jan 2022 and he moved from SoCal to a town in the central Sierra foothills in June 2022. A deer jumped in front of him in Oct 2022 and he hit it, car was totaled. So who knows, maybe if he still had the car at this point he would have gotten caught.

Good to know that you passed emissions with a Stage 5 tune. I think that CARB is really just trying to crack down on people modding the crap out of their diesel rig in order to "roll coal"... maybe some of us who own VW TDIs are trying to do that, but there are many people here who report improved fuel economy and less smoke after putting in a Malone tune, so that would in theory translate to less emissions? Who knows.

Well they aren't actually testing the emissions like the gassers. It's just eyeballing at what comes out, so a BS emissions test anyways. Increasing efficiency almost always comes with higher Nox which is what they are fixated on. Even with a tune the Nox can be less then the equivalent gas allowance. But because diesel has a double standard applied with stricter emissions then even the gas engines, it will never be good enough

 

[jVW57]

Fellow CA residents, there are ways to get around this. Specifically if you live in SoCal, make a drive out to Yuma or Kingman and get your TDI registered in AZ. No smog check there. Sure it's a few hoops to jump through, but it's doable. Registering in South Dakota is possible too.

FWIW back in 2015 when I lived in Riverside county, Indio, CA, I purchased my 02 Jetta in LA county from a used car lot. In 2016 or 2017 I moved to Imperial county, El Centro, CA (1hr from Yuma), and lived there till the end of 2022. Not once the entire time (7 yrs) did I get a Smog requirement. Same goes for my wife's 2017 Prius, which she bought in San Diego, CA.

It wasn't until we recently moved to San Diego county that I had to do a Smog check. I don't know if my paperwork got lost during those years or if those two counties just didn't require Smog for my little diesel but for dang sure I wasn't complaining. Even the guy who Smog my car here in San Diego was confused when he saw on the DMV record that the last time it was Smog checked was back in 2015 by the used car dealer I bought it from.

I should also note that my car's previous owner was from Las Vegas so I don't know if that was also a factor as well.

 

[Matt-98AHU]

FWIW back in 2015 when I lived in Riverside county, Indio, CA, I purchased my 02 Jetta in LA county from a used car lot. In 2016 or 2017 I moved to Imperial county, El Centro, CA (1hr from Yuma), and lived there till the end of 2022. Not once the entire time (7 yrs) did I get a Smog requirement. Same goes for my wife's 2017 Prius, which she bought in San Diego, CA.

It wasn't until we recently moved to San Diego county that I had to do a Smog check. I don't know if my paperwork got lost during those years or if those two counties just didn't require Smog for my little diesel but for dang sure I wasn't complaining. Even the guy who Smog my car here in San Diego was confused when he saw on the DMV record that the last time it was Smog checked was back in 2015 by the used car dealer I bought it from.

I should also note that my car's previous owner was from Las Vegas so I don't know if that was also a factor as well.

There are a number of counties in California that don't require biennial smog checks, but they generally still have a rule that whenever a car title is transferred to a new owner in state, it still needs to be smogged.

A number of counties in the Sierras and even the North half of Sonoma county and places further North don't have the biennial smog checks.

So yeah, doesn't surprise me that places outside of population centers in the desert don't smog either.

 

[jlav0330]

There are a number of counties in California that don't require biennial smog checks, but they generally still have a rule that whenever a car title is transferred to a new owner in state, it still needs to be smogged.

A number of counties in the Sierras and even the North half of Sonoma county and places further North don't have the biennial smog checks.

So yeah, doesn't surprise me that places outside of population centers in the desert don't smog either.

He lives in Tuolumne County now, but was living here in San Diego when he was going through the whole debacle of trying to get it registered here in CA. And like I said, car is gone now thanks to a deer, so doesn't matter anymore lol.

Nice to see you still around here Matt! Hope OR is treating you well.

 

[NervGS]

Wow, I can't believe this thread is still going almost 2 years later! Ha!

I finally got my car back and running 100% a few months ago because of the work Brandon and his crew at SMS European in Huntington Beach performed, and it was a TON. If I was still living in LA and needed some work done, I would go there (even though I lived 60 miles away) - I highly recommend them!!!

It has to had been 10 years ago now that I went to Matt to get a stage 3 Malone tune + EGR delete, and am relieved to see it passed a few days ago. Two goodies I got installed before the test and while it was at SMS are an 11mm IP and VNT-17, so it's still running on that old tune. I'm being a bit cautious on when I get a 3 bar map sensor, if I should go for a stage 4 as I'm not sure if the clutch will be able to handle it, and it only has like 11k miles on it.

 

[ecala001]

Wow, I can't believe this thread is still going almost 2 years later! Ha!

I finally got my car back and running 100% a few months ago because of the work Brandon and his crew at SMS European in Huntington Beach performed, and it was a TON. If I was still living in LA and needed some work done, I would go there (even though I lived 60 miles away) - I highly recommend them!!!

It has to had been 10 years ago now that I went to Matt to get a stage 3 Malone tune + EGR delete, and am relieved to see it passed a few days ago. Two goodies I got installed before the test and while it was at SMS are an 11mm IP and VNT-17, so it's still running on that old tune. I'm being a bit cautious on when I get a 3 bar map sensor, if I should go for a stage 4 as I'm not sure if the clutch will be able to handle it, and it only has like 11k miles on it.

I had previously had the same setup and ran a sbc stage 2 daily clutch. Had a stage 4 tune from malone too.
talk to @burpod regarding tuning. You will be surprised

 

[Mysticle31]

Anyone smog check a 2004 or 2005 MK4 (or maybe MK5?) with a tune recently?

I'm seeing threads like this 2013 that had to go back to stock...

ECU Swap

Hello everyone, was wondering if anyone has swapped an ECU for one from the junkyard. I had my 2013 A3 TDI tuned thinking I would be able to return it to stock if I needed but I was wrong, I need to smog my car and since I can’t return it to stock I’m kinda screwed. Wondering if anyone has any...

forums.tdiclub.com

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my tdi wont pass emissions!!

Ay guys. i got a mk6 tdi and about 3 weeks ago i tuned my car to stage 2. after that i went to get my emissions tested and it got rejected, i have stock exhaust btw, i called my tuner and he removed the tune. went to get my emissions tested again still rejected, the emissions guy said drive it...

forums.tdiclub.com

MK4 BEWs are sooo borderline as to weather or not vw released validation data...

 

[JELLOWSUBMARINE]

Anyone smog check a 2004 or 2005 MK4 (or maybe MK5?) with a tune recently?

I'm seeing threads like this 2013 that had to go back to stock...

ECU Swap

Hello everyone, was wondering if anyone has swapped an ECU for one from the junkyard. I had my 2013 A3 TDI tuned thinking I would be able to return it to stock if I needed but I was wrong, I need to smog my car and since I can’t return it to stock I’m kinda screwed. Wondering if anyone has any...

forums.tdiclub.com

.

my tdi wont pass emissions!!

Ay guys. i got a mk6 tdi and about 3 weeks ago i tuned my car to stage 2. after that i went to get my emissions tested and it got rejected, i have stock exhaust btw, i called my tuner and he removed the tune. went to get my emissions tested again still rejected, the emissions guy said drive it...

forums.tdiclub.com

MK4 BEWs are sooo borderline as to weather or not vw released validation data...

1st example you showed was DPF deleted. That will obviously trigger a visual fail.

2nd example sounds like the numbers were dirty.

Im Ca., Carb (Calif. Resource Board) overergulated and probably one of - if not the worst test in the nation. Ca.put a huge scare out to the tuner community several years ago. A passed bill claimed ALL tunes will be caught and fined. Lets just say this Ca. resident/prisoner doesn't agree. With proff to back it, ha.

A good running car with a clean non delete tune with readiness set, will fly thru the integration. At least the CJAA down. There is even an internal ecu flagging that is (was), a discused and questionable. Thought to be a for sure "gotcha"... The CJAA has this. (I don't think most previous engines did ?). It shows the ecu was visited and I was concerned about that. But that myth too is innacurate, at least for multiple post law CJAA smog test I've... witnessed ...