Bgoldey

Same old story--battery disconnected during door strap check repair. Readiness codes not set, smog check due. Drove the BMW driving cycle a few times, codes still not set. Inquired with the CA smog referee scheduling people, was told as long as I don't have a CEL and the car passes the sniffer, I was good-to-go with the referee. Made an appointment for next week. In 2010 the CARB changed the rules, revoking the referee's authority to pass 993s without readinesss codes set. Have the rules changed recently, granting the referee this authority again? Has anyone tried recently? Couldn't find anything on CA.GOV website and couldn't find a direct number to an actual referee.

race911

Not that I've heard, but maybe someone who does have a more recent experience will pop in. Same boat as you--my 4S with a flat battery from two months of sitting at the shop. Haven't bothered with the drive cycle yet, as I've only now driven the car twice since I fired it up.

gonzilla

White people problems.

aarrow

Are black people or brown people or red people exempt from smog checks?

nels415

Yes, I had the same problem. I was taking my car to the Referee station at Skyline College in SF Bay Area for a previous 6 years and then at the end of 2010 when I automatically took it there, thinking I would pass with no issues, the same guy who had passed my car previously said they changed the law and couldn't do it anymore. I had to take my car to RMG to have Bob perform the drive cycle for me cause I couldn't get it done myself.

-nels

goldcountryboy

I had a real TOOL referee. I told him the readiness codes would not reset but it has no cel issues. He tested the car and it passed all tests. Then he failed me because of the readiness codes. He told me that I had to spend at least four hundred dollars at a certified shop and bring in the receipt and he would retest.
I did two attempts doing the drive cycle and succeeded on the second attempt.
Passed smog easily.
I really do not want to have to go through that again!

gonzilla

So you had to prove you spent $400 on whatever at a smog repair place and he would pass you, regardless of whether your car was "fixed?" Wow.

It was my obviously poor attempt at making a joke of Ken's c4s situation (beautiful car not driven in so long of a time that he needs to charge the battery and drive cycle it to get it smogged).

And to answer your question, yes, I'm brown and didn't have to smog either of my cars this year. However I think this has more to do with when I originally purchased them than race, creed or color, because next year I get to smog both of them!

Sorry to derail your thread, OP.

TheBen

$400 for an 'approved smog repair place' won't get you very far...and especially in a 993. Bet they wouldn't even know where to start.

race911

I got it. I wish that: 1. I didn't have to drive my truck pretty much every day, 2. It made even a little bit of sense to drive back to the warehouse to collect a car to commute with, 3. We didn't travel basically every weekend that I'm not at the shop, 4. There was any semblance of roads/places to go locally on which it was worth the bother to drive a sports car on which you wouldn't beat the fillings out of your teeth, run the risk of being put in jail for going more than pony trot pace or didn't get piled up behind a Prius/equivalent.

Now, flash forward a year. We're out of the urban sewer that is the Bay Area. Taking the 4S on a 3-4 day/week ~3 mile "commute" to a shop where I'm piddling around doing alignments, light race prep and whatever air cooled work comes my way. The other two days driving maybe a mile to the golf course.

Wonder which scenario is worse for the car........

race911

Which isn't the point. They just want the money spent. That was the smog repair lobby wanting their piece of the action. But basically since the generic 17 year old car probably isn't worth spending that for repair.........they hope you take the state's $1K to salvage your gross polluter. Great deal for a 993, huh?

goldcountryboy

That's it exactly!

Bgoldey

Success (finally) with the BMW driving cycle. What seemed to work for me:
1.) Cold engine start 2:20 idle
2.) 20-30 mph :05 total @ approx 2000rpm (broken due to traffic/stop signs)
3.) 56-59 mph @ approx 2000 rpm (6th gear) for :18
4.) :05 idle
5.) Shutdown
Drove about 1/4mi easy between Step #1 and #2. Drove about 2 miles easy between Step#2 and #3. Drove about 1/4mi easy between Step #3 and #4. Hit 60mph, never exceeded, RPM always less than 3000, mostly 2000ish. 3 monitors were set from the beginning (Misfire monitor, fuel system monitor, comprehensive monitor), the 5 other monitors (Catalyst, evap, SAI monitor, O2 sensor, O2 sensor heater) did not show set until after turning the key back on after step #5. Drove the complete cycle 4 times, last 2 times focusing on a target RPM of 2000.

Cancelled the appointment with the smog referee.

il pirata

Did Bob drive it or reset using a Porsche factory tool?

aarrow

I gotcha. They've coined a term for this now to better suit all of us. They call it "first world problems."

Apologies to OP as well...

Aircooled Dave

Don't get me started on the hypocrisy that is the CARB. Just had to smog the 993 back in January and I was required to go to a "STAR" shop since it was labled as a HEP (High Emitter Profile). I thought profiling was illegal?

Long story short, one of my kids left the interior dome light on a few weeks prior to my scheduled test time and it drained the battery while I was away on business for a few days. A full battery charge later the car was up and running, but the readiness codes were of course an issue.

Smog was pending so I set out to get them set. I didn't actually follow the prescribed BMW drive cycle as it's nearly impossible to maintain those parameters exactly given the roads around here. I did follow two simple rules. First I never exceeded 3000rpms. Second I made sure to drive the car several times to try and get enough 'time' in each speed/rpm category. By the time my smog check was due, all the readiness codes were set. I'm no expert, but it seems that the trick here is to not exceed 3000rpms until they're all set. It doesn't seem to be required to do all the driving/speeds in one shot, so long as you never exceed 3000rpms in any drive until they are. I just made sure to do a good mix of city, local expressway to log the time/speeds needed. FWIW and YMMV of course.

As far as the results, passed with flying colors. Single digit measurements for all major smog indexes. 2 more years before I have to face the firing squad again. It's almost worse than doing taxes.