CG901

Anybody have good experiences with their 993 in the SF east bay at particular Smog stations they can recommend? I am coming up on my bi-annual rectal exam and want to arrive with hot CATs ready to pass.

Rick-A-Shay

I had to send my '88 to a "Star Certified" station. I have a suspicion that the states' database indicated that some stations were more "liberal" in certifying Porsches than other stations IMHO. Therefore the "Star" invention as applied to stations that, I assume, go strictly by the book. The tech was crawling around under the back to check for any mods. My car passed at the limit with 92k miles but next time??? Haven't has my '96 done yet, with another year or so to go. Maybe FD Motorsports in Brentwood might have a suggestion..

jmg3

.....

Ed Hughes

Why do you have reason to think it wont pass?

kjr914

+1
Mine always passes with ease. My methodology:
1. back out of garage
2. drive 5 blocks
3. give keys to test only station guy.

If your car is in good working order, you should be ok. Ok, my real secret....drive the hell out of the car when you drive it, and several times a week at grin inducing levels. That's about it.

truegrit

JA automotive on Pine Street in Walnut Creek. Nice guy.

CG901

Thanks all. Reason for concern is it would be my first smog with a 993 and wanted to get it right.

A4Ultrasport

A bit of a newbie question, but is it only the 96-98 that have trouble passing smog compared to the 95's? Why is this, and do the 95s really not have any issues for the most part?

JB 911

Read the sticky on the 993 page about the SAI system, it'll get you started in understanding the differences.

ard

Union 76 in San Ramon at the corner of San Ramon Valley Blvd. and Crow Canyon. Joel is the guy who does the smog tests - nice guy. I like them because they have an in-ground dyno unlike some other smog stations which have a raised dyno and that setup does not play nice with my lowered car and RS front splitters.

HTH

/alex

PiB993

That 76 always has lots of ferrari's but it's not a 'star' station.

PiB993

Sorry the Arguello and Lake station. Good reputation but not Star certified. I was about to take my car there.

nine9six

I did some reading on the "Star Certified" stations...Sounds like more CA political bs in trying to remove older performance cars from the road!

Just a month prior to having my smog at a star certified station, I threw a CEL...Diagnosis codes were misfires on cyl's 4, 5, & 6...Many here suggested DMF failing causing the misfires, but I reasoned that this issue would not be just the one side of the motor, and thought maybe O2 sensor going bad. OBD II reader diag of the O2 sensors showed them green...

A careful review of the records, which were by no means complete from PO's; showed distributor caps and rotors may not have been changed on my 70k mi car. Removal of the caps, revealed traces across the contacts on the primary cap.

Replaced with new Bosch caps and rotors, performed drive sequence to reset the thrown codes, and all is ready to go,prior to smog. The saga continues...

My Star certified station tech, started crawilng upside down on my floorboard with a flashlight trying to look up under the dash...I asked, can I help you? He murmered OBD, in his broken English, and I showed him the port to the right of the driver footwell...

Then the tech kept looking around the engine bay and I could tell he hadn't much idea what he was looking at...He also crawled around both rear wheels, peering up at the exhaust cans, is all I could figure...Long story short, the star certified station did not even put the car on the dyno rollers, and let the computer take readings at idle and 2500 rpms.

Bottom line, my 17 yr old car passes star certification with flying colors; and per the tech, runs cleaner than most new cars he's tested!

As I originally stated; star certifified stations are nothing more than the latest interation of the state of Kalifornia to try to push older cars off the road...

As Keith and co have stated, a well maintained car is a clean running, happy, smog passing vehicle

Dr. No

My 0.02. Find a smog only station that's not too busy. Make an appointment if possible. Take the car out and get it to operating temperature. Perform Italian tune up. Take it in for test on time.

Here's another great Rennlist tip that saved me the price of a new gas cap and a smog re-do. If your gas cap vacuum test fails: remove gas cap, flip the rubber ring, and try again.

User 122821

They are star certified according to the California Smog BAR site

http://www.bar.ca.gov/pubwebquery/st...ationlist.aspx