oi-punx

I attempted to get a California smog check on my new 951 yesterday for registration purposes and was told that I needed an "enhanced" smog check. The car was bought in San Diego and apparently that county is marked for enhanced smog. The previous (original) owner said the car had no problems passing and supplied the paperwork to prove it. The Hydrocarbon levels were close, but it passed the stricter regulations. I am taking it to get the enhanced smog today and they recommend the "pre-test" which costs $60.00 on top of the normal test's $80. The pre-test results are not transmitted to the DMV, giving you a window in which to take care of any emissions problems. My question is, to anyone who has had this done, is it worth it or is it just a scare tactic to suck more money out of your wallet. The car has no aftermarket mods at all with the exception of the K&N I just installed.

Thanks.

Jon-D

There are three different areas for Smog Checks in California: Basic, Enhanced or Change of Ownership. San Jose, I believe is in Contra Costa county, which is a 'Basic' area. This means that you only have to pass Hydrocarbons and Carbon Monoxide standards. Enhanced areas (which San Diego is) have to pass HC & CO plus Oxides of Nitrogen. All cars in California must be smogged to be registered. Most areas of the state are 'Basic' areas, and you area just happens to be one. Urban areas, such as the Central Valley (i.e. Sacramento, where I'm at ) and the L.A./San Diego area are 'Enhanced' areas and will have to conform to HC, CO and NOx. Some areas of the state are 'Change of Ownership' areas, which means that only when a car changes ownership does it need to be smogged. For Basic areas, you must have your car smogged every two years at any licensed smog test/repair station. In an 'Enhanced' area, you must smog your car every two years, plus the DMV will randomly select 15% of owners in the area to go to a 'test-only' station. A test-only station is a smog station that only tests cars to pass smog, and from what I hear, these shops can be brutal. They'll rip you apart on your visual inspection and test virtually every seal on your car to make sure nothing is leaking (what I've heard, anyway).

I say all that to say this: If the guy you bought the car from smogged it in San Diego, then you'll do just fine. I wouldn't worry about taking it to a pre-test shop, unless you have some reaon to believe that the car is polluting. By the way, if the shop gives you guff about your K&N tell them that your car was not originally equipped with a TAC (Thermostatic Air Cleaner) and thus the K&N is fine (thanks to Danno for that info ). Save yourself $60 and just go straight to the smog shop. If you fail, they'll tell you why you failed and what you need to do in order to pass. As long as you don't fail three times in a row, you'll be fine.

If you want to read up more on the laws and regulations check out the California State website for smogcheck here:

<a href="http://www.smogcheck.ca.gov" target="_blank">California Smogcheck Homepage</a>

- Jon

deni durrell

jon: thought i'd clear up the fact that san jose is nowhere near contra costa. in fact it is located in santa clara county, which is not near solano county which is near sacramento county. other than that, can't mr. Oi go to another county and dmv to get a smog/inspection? i frequently go to difernet dmvs that are not located in my county (shorter lines).

cheers-

Jon-D

Quite right. San Jose is in Santa Clara county, which happens to be south of Alameda county, which is south of Contra Costa county. I stand corrected; however, the advise remains the same, as Santa Clara county has the same smog standards as Contra Costa. As for going into another county to get smogged... I suppose that you can in fact do that, but the catch is that you have to meet the standards of the county in which the vehicle is registered. In the case of the Bay Area, that shouldn't pose a problem because the entire Bay Area falls under the 'Basic' smogcheck area. You don't hit any 'Enhanced' areas until you make it to Vacaville (in Solano County ) or Stockton.

- Jon

oi-punx

Thanks for the advice fellas. Jon, you are correct
when you say that you must meet the smog requirements of the county the car was registered in. I opted not to get the $60 pre-check and the car passed with flying colors.

Jon-D

Glad to hear you passed smog. Now you can slap all the parts on it you want until you're two years are up and it needs to go in again . Have fun with your Porsche, I know I would...

- Jon

bs

not sure if this is what you guys are talking about, but i had yet another unpleasant run in with the communist dmv of this state when i bought my car... it had previously been registered in an "enhanced" area. when i called the dmv about registering it, they said i needed to get it "smogged" again despite it having passed the test a few weeks ago for the change of ownership thing. so i took it to a shop and they said they couldn't test it there because it was currently registered in an enhanced only area, so i went to the dmv to get that changed (so i could go back to the garage so i could go back to the dmv... each of these being time i had to take off from work). however when i got there i dealt with the one human that i have ever met at that most evil of places and she told me that i *didn't* need to get it tested again.

my point? well aside from that i am furious with the idiots in this state who think they live in a democracy yet pay ridiculous amounts of taxes to be heavily inconvineinced for no real reason other than to support a huge economy that revolves around these so called smog inspections and whoever is a millionaire from making the $25k machines that every garage has 2 of now. grrr... idiot liberals.... tell them you are going to charge them $25 to hit them on the head with a hammer but it's "good for the envioronment" and you will be rich.

oh yeah, my point. make sure you aren't getting a more expensive test than what you need. the test you actually have to pass is based on where you register the car, not where it used to be registered.

ok, end of rant.

John Welch

Solid advice from Ben. If you don't get the answer you like, keep asking until you do! Actually, someone on the 928 list passed recently, and I thought he implied that it was where it was tested, NOT where it was registered. This doesn't sound right, but you might try to search the archives. (I think it was in Nov-Dec)

Anyway, my 951 just passed the enhanced test in Orange County. My theory was to go for it once, just in case it passes, and I got lucky. (by .002PPM!) I don't think it would cost anymore to test it twice than to do a pre-test and test, so I would say go for the test first.

Good luck,