Gary Quayle

Does anyone know what cars get selected for Smog Test Only Centers? My 1983 928 has had to be smogged at a test only center the last two times. It passes easily, but I end up having to pay a premium at one of the Test Only Centers. Now my wife's '95 Honda Civic Si is due for a smog check and it has to be at a Test Only Center.

Do other 928 owners have to go to the Test Only Centers? Do any of your other vehicles get placed in this category?

Tony

Gawwd i feel sorry for you CA guys and the smog BS you have to put up with!

bcdavis

They are trying to use them more and more often, in order to avoid smog shops "tuning" the car to pass. They want you to drive in, and run the car as is, without tweaking it to pass. The only reason they do not make everyone use those methods, is because they do not have the resources to test everyone that way right now. I am also guessing that they probably do not require cars that are 1-2 years old go to a test center...

Nicole

Still beats breathing untreated exhaust.

You might be too young to remember what it used to be like. I only know it from the good cold country (and the former Eastern part of it) before we all got pollution controls. Seeing what exhaust really can do is a pretty sobering experience...

Old & New

Nicole,

I agree with you, and most of us would agree with you on that one. A few large U.S. cities were pretty bad not long ago.

My gripe is that even though the car might pass emissions testing, they might flunk it because something is missing (air pump / cats), or the engine has been modified from its original state (turbo / supercharger).

morganabowen

The last two for me have also be Smog Test Only locations. My mechanic told me that 928's are target cars, what ever that means

bcdavis

Anything older, with a V8, is a target car...

Euros are also target cars.
They told me that all my tests would be "test only", because it was a euro...

Randy V

Last year was a Test Only, this year not.

morganabowen

Hey Randy V. You have to test every year
Must be because your topless

Randy V

Sure seems like it - maybe my last test was two years ago. I know I have one due this month.

Lorenfb

The Test Only requirement is random for some cars (pre '95)
and a must for old cars (pre 1980). The actual years might be off
a little, but that is the methodology.

For those of you who "love" the CA smog laws, wait until you have
a '96 or later car and Sacramento plugs into your OBDII connector
and reads everything about your ECUs. Ask the the Porsche 993
and 996 owners what they think about our great smog laws.
Check out the 993 and the 996 forums. They love having to do
valve jobs at 45K for $5000 to just pass smog because their
secondary air injection (cold starts for 5-10 minutes) is marginal.

Loren
'88 3.2

karl ruiter

My '82 got sent to test only two cycles in a row. It has always passed very easily, but the guy at the test only station said that the cars were targeted. My guess is that the guys at DMV don't know the difference between a big block chevy motor of this vintage and a 928 motor. They are both V8s, right? My Euro (which I just brought in from out of state) was not test only. This time.

Gary Quayle

Thanks for everyone's feedback. Maybe if more cars are selected for Test Only Centers, there will be more Test Only Centers open up. At some point the costs should be the same as the other smog places.

dr bob

Just last week had the smog test done on my '89. Local test guys is a test-only center, used the ad in the Pennysaver to get the cost down to $30 + certificate fee + electronic transfer fee. I wasn't required to go to test-only place but he was handiest for cheapest. He balked at doing the 928, wanted to charge full price ($50) 'because the sensors and smog parts are so hard to find on the car'. I showed him that everything is pretty much out in the open, so away we went.

He kinda looked under the hood to see that the air pump belt was on. Engine bay is immaculate and looks/is all original stuff, so that pretty much concluded the visual part. No look under the car at all. He thoughtfully (at my request) ran the 25mph test with the auto trans in second so it passed easily. Previously it had been a marginal pass on NOx. They still can't pressure test the 92 fuel cap.

If you happen to be in the west Orange County area of SoCal, the place is Cypress Union 76 at the corner of Bloomfield and Ball roads.


A lot of the big test-only places are franchises with partially-trained monkeys running them. My Subaru wagon ski car/parts chaser gets the test-only requirement annually, even though it flies through the test clean. At the franchise place, the heavily-accented tester lined up the rear wheels of the wagon on the rollers. I immediately recommended that he use the fronts since the car is front wheel drive most of the time. He says he wants to put it in four-wheel-drive and use the rears, since 'too many front wheel drive cars have torn CV boots and grease gets on the rollers'. I pointed out that he'd have to raise the front wheels off the ground, that my boots are fine, and that there are also CV joint boots in the rear. We "discussed" this for a while before he moved the car back. Then he gave me a song-and-dance about not passing. I told hime I wanted to see the numbers. He then admitted that it really did pass and that he was joking with me to get back for the which-wheels-on-the-rollers thing. So I joked with him about not paying the bill, and all got back to business and we were gone. $70 poorer and 90 mins wasted.


Now that I know there are alternatives to the franchise test-only shops, you can bet that I'll be doing my work at the place that I know, with a guy who cliams to be a former 928 owner doing the testing, etc. In and out fast, no muss no fuss, good to go for another couple years and few thousand more miles.

mark kibort

is that oct 1st deadline for the new smog test , set in stone? (new smog test on the rollers) is it for all cars , or will it be a random thing.
I need to find a smog guy that can look the other way on a few things, otherwise, i will be trailering the Holbert car from now on! (I really like driving to the track!!)

if you have any names in Nor Cal or advice, you can send them to me privately

thanks,
MK
mkibort@compuserve.com