cmoss

well, out here they take your car away and burn it if the CEL light stays on during an emmision test.

Bull

Actually, as with so many generalizations/proclamations, that is wrong! It depends on what State you reside in.

mborkow

that was not a generalization; it was a scenario (which will obviously not hold true for everyone but some people on this board seem to want to say that it doesn't hold true for anyone). i was explaining why someone might have to get the problem that was thrown the CEL light code fixed. if you live in a state which doesn't care about that you are all set...if not, you are screwed.

Bull

Oh, I see, now that you are more specific. Maybe it was the use of "you" vs. "I" that seemed rather general.

98993c2s

I'll ask; between him and his brother who works at Sewickly Porsche in PA, they've been doing it for 4 or 5 years.

hawk993

LOL

before you start preaching to people and turning your grandmother and fellow rennlisters in to the FBI...you might want to realize that each state has it's own emission laws and if there is nothing wrong with your car you can legally reset the codes in many states!

Paulsha911

Hey guys:

Are we missing the point that the clogged ports might be only a symptom to a bigger issue, such as valve guide wear? In such case, then it's not just a simple matter of passing emission test. It actually may affect the health of your car.

Thus, the CEL has to be looked at not just from the POV of the SAI ports, but what other symptoms exhibit, such as excessive oil consumption, wiggle test, and whatever...

Paul M

Wiggle test???

hawk993

well everyone is expressing their opinions I guess

and opinions are like ********...everyone has one

JasonAndreas

It's not a question of just resetting codes. After you reset the fault codes the OBD2 computer will also flag the readiness codes (see the EPA rules I quoted above). The readiness codes are what the state testers are checking and to reset the readiness codes you have to go through several different drive cycles. After you've gone through the drive cycles the fault code should reappear and you're back to square-one.


It is legal to reset the codes in every state. The federal laws come into play when you start installing something (chip, PCB, etc.) that bypasses the readiness code checks and it doesn't matter what state you live in. The fines for a mechanic doing the install are huge and even larger for the people that manufacturer the equipment. A few years ago I molded plastic copies of the 993 O2 connectors so that a stealth install of the SAI bypass switch could be made. One of the reasons it never went past the prototype (molds were made and a small batch of connectors were produced) was the $$$ fine schedule I received from the EPA.

justin993

you could try to drive a little harder

mborkow

reseting the codes isn't what i was talking about; i was saying that designing a circuit to bypass the emssions tests is a federal crime (but if anyone comes up with that circuit, i'd love to get one!).

98993c2s

What about products that are labeled for 'off road use only' like cat bypasses, etc? Do those things result in problems with the EPA? Technically even so much as adding a K&N filter violates federal law...

What about http://www.o2simulator.com/? This is a commercial product that is designed to fool the computer with regards to emissions. At the bottom of the page it says off road use only.

Just curious about all the legalities.

Paul M

Do a search, someone on the board came up with one. It was a plug & play solution that simply plugged straight into existing wiring harness connection without the need for splicing wires, etc. The problem was finding a source that would manufacture the connections in (relatively) small quantities. They needed a minimum order of something like 5,000.

Edit: LINK