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If any of you are still up posting tonight.... should I take the car for a drive before the smog check to heat up the cats (but not whomping on it like I did last time)? Coulda sworn that last time I had my smog check someone told me to get the cats good and hot (which is the reason I drove it so hard before the test a couple days ago). The smog place is only a mile from my house, so they won't be at temp if I just drive straight over there.
If any of you are still up posting tonight.... should I take the car for a drive before the smog check to heat up the cats (but not whomping on it like I did last time)? Coulda sworn that last time I had my smog check someone told me to get the cats good and hot (which is the reason I drove it so hard before the test a couple days ago). The smog place is only a mile from my house, so they won't be at temp if I just drive straight over there.
That was the rule of thumb for a car that can barely pass the sniffer. I wouldn't even bother. Last time I smogged my car, they didn't even put it on the dyno or sniffer. Just plugged in my ODBII port and I was out in a few mins. That was a '05 car though.
Hey, missed ya at the QC AX track on Saturday. Low turnout and great weather, so we got tons of laps in.
Yea, I was thinking of doing it, but went out to the desert with my wife as it was the last weekend we can use our condo until probably April or May as we have it rented out.
IIRC, the STAR testing is no different from regular stations, just OBDII
The requirements are the same, but the STAR stations are held to a higher standard than non-STAR stations. The same STAR shop did both my 996 and my Corvette; since the 996 is (according to the paperwork) AWD, they did not dyno it. They DID dyno my Corvette.
My old guy plugged in the OBD-II, tested the gas cap, and sent me on my way; the STAR stations I've been to have guys with flashlights and inspection mirrors; they spent WAY too much time poking around.
Here's what BAR says about STAR stations:
"STAR stations are Smog Check stations that meet higher performance standards established by the Bureau of Automotive Repair."
And this is why you got sent to a STAR station:
"All 1999 model-year and older vehicles (the model years most likely to have high emissions) will be directed to STAR inspection stations."
Basically, BAR got wise to the fact that people have "friends" who were hooking them up; they started randomly performing roadside emissions testing. Mysteriously, 19% of cars that had recently passed a shop smog test failed roadside testing.
If any of you are still up posting tonight.... should I take the car for a drive before the smog check to heat up the cats (but not whomping on it like I did last time)? Coulda sworn that last time I had my smog check someone told me to get the cats good and hot (which is the reason I drove it so hard before the test a couple days ago). The smog place is only a mile from my house, so they won't be at temp if I just drive straight over there.
A one mile drive while it will have the DME in closed loop mode the converters may not yet be at their optimum temperature. I wouldn't risk a failure due to "cool" cats if I were you.
Just drive the car around to ensure the engine and converters are thoroughly up to temperature.
There is no real science to this: I spend at least 30 minutes just driving around with a mix of city and freeway driving before taking either of my cars in. I don't really hammer on the car nor do I drive it like a little old lady.
If you suspect the converters may not be working at their best my experience is a bit of an "Italian" tuneup can help. Couple of years ago my Boxster failed its smog test. The snifter found IIRC too high of CO2.
I immediately went to the dealer and spoke to both senior techs, separately.
Both gave me pretty much the same response and advice. Both senior techs were surprised the car failed and both advised me to take the car out and really drive it, if you know what I mean, and I think you do.
So I did but encountered a CHP cruiser on the way back home so had to cool my jets the last 15 miles or so. Still I maintained freeway speed though.
A few hours after the 1st test I had the car right back at the same station for a 2nd test and this time the car passed with no problems.
Man, you scored. Congrats! I stopped using aftermarket emissions-related stuff after having to take off my long-tube headers to get the 'Vette smogged a few years back. When I put 'em on, I figured worst case, I'd have to swap 'em out every 2 years...which sounded a lot less of a hassle than it turned out to be.
So I'm having a similar issue with my SAI and O2 being in not ready status.
A little background about my car.
2006 Boxster S 3.2L
FVD Exhaust system
GMS Headers with 200 cell cats - has all 4 O2 sensors attached.
996 throttle body and distribution hose
ECU Tuning Group tune.
I had the car up in BC Canada since 2009 (although it is a US car) and had no problems passing the sniffer and obdII tests - both before and after all the mods except for the ECU tune. This is the first time I am taking the test with the tune on the car.
I went to get my emissions testing done last week in Texas and failed due to the 2 systems being in not-ready status. I figured it might have to do with the cat delete configured in the tune. I sent my ECU back to ETG in California and had them re-flash my ECU in order to re-enable the O2 sensors.
I cleared all codes and figured I would start fresh. I drove the car about 50 miles and attempted to follow the drive cycle you guys mentioned but it was really tough with the roads out here. Anyway, everything is in ready status now except for the Evap System (Which I know will turn on after some more driving), the SAI, and the O2 sensor. I can manually start the SAI using the Durametric system so I'm fairly positive the system is not bad; however, I'm not sure that I"m hearing the SAI start up when I cold start the engine.
I've attached a picture of the ready-status' from my DashCommand IOS app as well as another screen showing N/A for catalysts and O2 sensor - which i don't get. I would expect to see live results there.
I have also included a short video of a test I ran with the durametric system. If anyone can help interpret the video results and/or suggest I run any other tests, I would appreciate that.
Thanks!
12-19-2016, 02:41 AM
