Ron_H

Anyone else encounter this latest ploy to pry our meager earnings from our already strained budgets?

Last year I was unbelieveably fortunate to find an......(are you ready for this?)....honest smog shop right next to Devek's old location. I needed a smog certification that year (usually every other year in California) and had been told by two other shops that my '84 Rabbit failed for various BS reasons. Of course the failures could be "corrected" for a modest outlay of around $120 to $150. Well, this shop passed it on the first try. Then I took my 928 in there and it passed on the first try. I was dumbfounded but grateful. For anyone who wants to know the identity of that shop, it is Sanders Automotive in San Carlos.
Off I went to register my two machines and resume my life as a happy camper.

This year I get a renewal notice in the mail and a requirement that I take the car to an official TEST STATION, not the usual authorized shop like Sanders. So I call Sanders and they tell me it is a new law that older cars are "randomly selected" to be tested, and they routinely fail and again, the old "for a modest sum we will repair your car to make it pass" crap. And this is only one year after my last smog check.

Anyone else victimized by this tactic? I think we need to organize and exterminate these vermin before this gets out of hand. Are the auto manufacturers behind this because cars last so much longer now? Shall we call Ahnald?? Wassamattahere???

bigs

Ron, I swear you attract this kinda stuff! It's karma, or planetary alignment, or somethin'.

Either that, or you've become a fan favorite of the Cali DMV, and the selection ain't so random at all!

worf928

Time to get RedUFO on the case. I'm sure he can connect all the dots between Ron and the DMV.

Bill51sdr

Ron, this has been going on for years, it's nothing new. I had an 86.5 that had to go to 'Test Only' every year in spite of the fact that it always passed with flying colors. CARB has some B.S. database they keep on older cars, they call them 'profiles', and the 928 fits the profile of a car that will push the limits on a smog check for some reason. Considering some of the problems people on this board have had with NOX emissions, it MIGHT be a little understandable, but not a good reason to test every year at a Test Only station. My MR2 just fell into this trap in spite of never failing. It seems like a B.S. money grab for sure.

Red UFO

The official test station is more like a CIA station house with 'special official' software that can rig your car to fail. Then they make kick backs off local shops and the tax money you spend to get it fixed.

When they see you back for a retest, they make sure this time it works right. If they get caught, its merely blamed on a computer glitch or calibration error, nobody will be held accountible cause its the .gov.

I recommend either move out of california or go to work for the gov, thats what I did.

Nicole

Which car is to be randomly tested - the rabbit? Maybe because it had been tested three times before? My Saab mechanic once told me that if a shop does not run a test mode, the information that the car failed would be relayed to the DMV - not what you want, if you might need some repairs.

Jessa

The selection ain't so random in many cases. In addition to profiling cars and drivers (so far my shark has stayed off this list), they also pull people who get tested at some shops. If a shop is suspected of passing cars that shouldn't (looking the other way on visual for folks with non-CARB SCs, etc), then many, if not all, of the cars the were recently tested there will be "randomly" selected.

mark kibort

could be the end of street driving the holbert car next year!
still knocking!!
mk

karl ruiter

Both of my cars get TEST ONLY every time. Both have always passed with flying colors. It is a big pain but acutally the test only shops are not motivated to fail your car as they are not allowed to make repairs. Usually I take my cars to a normal smog station that I trust first and have a pre-screen done. This can be done on the normal smog check equiptment and I think there is even a printed report, but it does not count towards passing you. Then you go to the test only station and you know it should pass and if it does not at least you can pull out the report and say, 'gee that's funny...it passed an hour ago'. Cost and extra $30 or so, but it I prefer to do it this way.

Ron_H

I think Nicole is correct because the Rabbit "failed" last year twice at crooked shops. Once for a bad gas cap: I walked over to the car and loosened the gas cap and the air swooshed by the seal audibly. I asked if he meant that obviously perfectly sealing cap and he said yes. I gave him the finger and drove off. Next guy wanted about $120 to "make it pass". I didn't bother with the finger and exited pronto. I took it to Sanders who passed it without comment. I suspect the other two shops reported a fail. The 928 is not on the test only list and probably for that reason. #$@&$%#*!!#@#@!!!

IcemanG17

Ron
I feel your pain...damm smog laws suck..the only good thing is the 928 passes with ease...& isn't flagged as a "high emitter profile"

I have a 92 Daihatsu Charade, complete with a 1.0L three cylinder engine (53 brute HP too) as my daily driver (35mpg in town!)....it has never, ever failed smog! Last year I get "failed" at my usual shop because it has a "high emitter profile" and has to go to a test only station? I go & the scam artist that runs that shop checks ten different books, the owners manual + a bunch of other things and fails me for "visual", the car acutally passed the sniffer test! My idle was "out of spec" and the timing was at 36' advance (spec is 5)..okay the car won't run at 36... come on.... Turns out a prior owner had a cheapo clutch job and put the flywheel on crooked....hence the bad timing.... After going back to shop #1 and spending another $150, checking the timing by pulling the plug and lowering the idle (drives better now) I pass, but it cost me $200 and the car never failed the sniffer test...ever in its history since 1996....Damm stupid goberment trying to screw honest people over!!
The best part is I get to go through it again this year!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Joy
Brian

bigs

I think I'm glad I don't live in CA.

Dave H.

i would go back to Sanders, take the test, get a print-out proving that and take it with you to the "official" test station. let them try to argue that.

heinrich

Dave ... you and I live in Califwashington now ... you know they passed the "Cali SMOG Law" yesterdaye eh?

fraggle

bah

The gov is representing its CITIZENS, aye?

I'm in idaho. A buddy is building a lotus 7 replica utilizing a "new" ford ZTEC motor which we've put some big webers on. He's already got a letter from the DMV that basically says he can have an oil fire and still pass "emissions".

It is all BS anyway, a scam for feelgood greenies.