Bret928

If it works for you and you’ve got a relationship with the smog shop that’s great – count your blessings that you do and he knows what he’s doing. But not all of the personnel working in these state run Smog Test Only stations knows anything about vehicles, let alone know how to follow their own documentaiont & procedures.

The dimwits at the two smog stations I’ve dealt with recently aren’t mechanics and are barely mechanically inclined. Granted they’re not supposed to do anything other than “test” a vehicle anyway, but if enthusiasts like ourselves are going to be expected to take our older classics & collectibles into these test only stations every two years, then I don't think it's out'a line that we should expect some level of uniformity & competency on the part of the testers.

As for taking a 928 to just any mechanic? You’d be pretty stupid if you’d let just anybody turn a wrench without doing some research first. As for me, I have several prefered mechanics around town, that I like to deal with for each of my cars and both shops are capable of performing smog tests. But I’d never take my MG to my Porsche mechanic for service, nor would I bring my Porsche to one of my favorite British mechanics either.

But while I do most of my own wrench turning – given the choice, it’d be nice if I could take my rides to one of them for a simple smog test rather than some idiot test tech who has to ask how to find reverse or where the catalytic converter is.

IcemanG17

Welcome to the Republic of CA........it sucks & the cost of living sucks even more!!!

The bummer is the car gets smog when you buy it.....then if the registration expires more than 90 days later....guess what...you got to smog it AGAIN.....total bummer.....

bronto

... but we get to drive in good weather pretty much all year...

V2Rocket

I'm sticking it to Ahnold and driving a smog-failing 944.

My NO2 levels were like 2 times the legal limit because my cat is shattered inside.

Take that, terminator.

Bret928

Arnold don't care what you do - who'll really be upset by your actions is all the loony left wing free to be you & me (but don't you dare burn Fossil fuel), hug a tree greenies.

Ron_H

My 928 passed last time at a smog only station in San Carlos and they said they couldn't believe how clean it was too. And it has about 190,000 miles on it. I'll go back again to them and them only. I also take me Rabbit there. Don't take anything to an Arco station. The one by my office in Sunnyvale tried to rip me off by saying my gas cap was defective ....BUT they could make special arrangements to take the car in the next week to replace the defective cap and some other things the "found" for a mere $125, above the smog test fee which I forfeited because of that "leaking" gas cap. After unscrewing the cap and hearing a rush of air, I gave them a one finger salute and drove to the place in San Carlos, where the car passed. Screw them. If I could not find gas anywhere else but there, I would take the bus before I would spend another dime at their station.

Podguy

The smog only seems to be part of owning a 928. All my 928s have been directed to Smog Only.

The way California does it is by the year the car was first registered or smogged. If you smog it in an off year then you get hit again the next year. The convertible was non-oped for a while and then I smogged it. The next year it hit for back on schedule even though I had just smogged it. I went to the DMV to put it back in non-op status and the guy waived the smog requirement and lte it go with just fees.

This tells me the clerk at the desk has some power to make decisions in special cases. The first time I went in with the smog the idiot behind the counter would only give me a red sitcker for 60 days and no tags. He said I was too close to the end of the year to get tags. When I went back the next clerk just overode everything and gave new tags for the next year

johnf95111

Dan may have something here.

I smogged my car when purhcased in '00. The next smog was in '01, only one year. Then in '03, two years. I missed '05 because my car was in pieces and Non Op. Then to get it on the road, somged in '06 and now again in '07. So I'm assuming, if Dan is correct, I'm on the odd-year schedule. Hmm, why not let it go for 3 years?

Cheers,

Edgy01

Convert it to diesel. You never will have a smog test requirement again!

Bret928

Come-on Dan, we're having a serious conversation here. Don’t doubt it’s possible with a power plant transplant however but I don’t think our engines could easily be converted and I suspect in either case it’d be cost prohibitive.

But even if it was easy to do – to perform a engine swap and/or conversion to diesel would require a hell of lot of red tap & hoops to jump through, just to get it the Smog Weenies stamp of approval.

That’s probably a can of worms better left unopened.