Jack667

I've had quite a bit of emissions trouble and I have a Durametric. It helps to clear codes but it's not good to let you know when your car is 'ready'. My son got me to buy this BAFX thing from Amazon and I'm a huge fan. Besides the cost of the item $27, there's also 1 $10 or $20 app to buy for your iPhone. It connects to your iPhone via it's own wifi. It works on his Miata and on my 997. It allows you to read and clear codes, and it also let's you know when your car is ready. It works great for us in GA, and I assume it would work in other states like Cali. I also assume you could read through the comments and questions on Amazon or the google and figure that out on your own.
This has minimized the hassle of those inspections!!!
For my son, we need to game it so we take it in as soon as it's ready, get the 'pass' and then the codes start showing up soon after. For my 997, I finally fixed the last of my cat codes with inexpensive spacers from Amazon. My codes were different than yours so I'm not much help there, but IMHO, you've got to buy this item you can confirm it works well for Cali
Good luck!

Alfnado

Y'all really need to stop acting like lawyers (and making up wild hypotheticals). I'm sure it goes without saying (though maybe I'm not), but no one should take legal advice from anyone on this board. Especially unsolicited legal advice. And I'm including myself in that group, an actual lawyer.

Anyway, OP, ignoring the pretty unsound legal advice, it sounds like you got some good technical starting points. Keep us posted and hopefully we can continue to contribute something of value.

Zygrene

Well said. I'm not looking for legal advice here.

Late update but good news - took the car to a Porsche dealer and they reflashed the ECU back to stock (charged 2 hrs labor for what should have been a 30 minute job, go figure) and did a complimentary drive cycle. They said the drive cycle I followed wasn't quite right - apparently the car needs to be driven at exactly 55mph during the freeway stint, not 40-60mph. Again, go figure. Regardless, the CAT monitor is now ready but the Evap monitor is incomplete. According to Porsche, the Evap isn't needed to pass smog. Car is now with my smog tech. Crossing my fingers...

Alfnado

Good to hear! My understanding was that all OBD monitors need to be "ready" which is a change from a couple years ago when you could have one "not ready." They changed it when they did away with the sniffer for OBDII vehicles. But hopefully the EVAP is not part of that process. Fingers crossed for you! Smogging modified vehicles is the absolute worst and that's why I sold my Evo IX and bought a Porsche that I can't afford to modify.

southbay

The statement regarding the Evaporative system is correct based on this (see page 4): https://www.bar.ca.gov/pdf/On-Board_..._Reference.pdf

PV997

Lol, love it how people get worked up when amateurs tread on their turf. Looks to me like the posters were simply pointing out that in California smog is the seller's responsibility not the buyer's. The lawsuit stuff was the typical bravado from anonymous internet posting. Anyways, glad it got sorted as I had the same issue with my old C2S and it was a royal pain.

Zygrene

Nice! Thanks for sharing. So close to passing smog, I can taste it (ew)

Same issue with the cat monitor and CEL? Curious how you got it sorted.

Zygrene

In case anyone's curious - I ended up having the dealer flash my ECU back to stock and they completed the drive cycle as a courtesy. With CEL cleared and monitors ready, I was finally able to pass smog. Stock cat was then replaced with Fabspeed and exhaust reinstalled.

Unfortunately, the CEL came back a couple days later. Same cyl 1/3/5 misfires. Will clear the codes and swap the ignition coils around when I get a chance in a couple of weeks. Hopefully the misfires follow the coils.

996_C4S

@Zygrene I feel your pain. I went thru 3 Fabspeed x-pipe cat units in 6 years -- I track my car a lot, and it's bored out to 4.0 liters. I've just now reverted to stock OEM cats after years of expense and frustration trying to pass CA smog. I'm done tracking the car (it has about 100 track days on it ... deserves a rest).

Passing smog with Fabspeed cats went from bad to worse when the DMV changed the test. Fabspeed does not -- nor do they plan to -- ship products with the CARB label. As I understand it the "visual" test has become more stringent ... used to be that if my car passed the "sniff test" they'd usually look past the absent CARB label and pass me. Now it's a non-starter.

So ... I just spent about $8K on the factory cats and new 02 sensors ... now I'm doing the drive cycle to get my cats ready for smog. My mechanic tells me these cats should last for many years, unlike the Fabspeed sport cats. And there's virtually no change in exhaust note.

Still ... what a PITA.

Zygrene

$8k... that's insane. Luckily I have a contact who's willing to lend me his stock cat for smog. Out of curiosity - why did you go through 3 Fabspeed cats? Were they causing an issue from track use?

996_C4S

All track-related. I blew thru two factory air-oil separators; the cats downstream got fouled. Then I installed a Porsche Motorsports AOS -- holding strong, but still I'm beating on the car and that's hard on cats - esp the 200-cell kind.

Zygrene

How did you install the Motorsport AOS? I believe your 996 C4S has the exact same motor as my 997.1 C2 and my mechanic told me the 996 Motorsport AOS I brought him would have required custom hosing to fit. I'm still running stock right now and wary of tracking the car.

996_C4S

BRRacing in Los Gatos put it in a few years ago and yes, it required a bit of modification. But it's far superior to the poorly-designed standard AOS; I haven't thought about it at all. One of several dozen mods I've had BRRacing do over the course of ~8 years and too many dollars. But now my car is really one of a kind: a RWD 4.0 996 with mostly GT3 suspension components plus Bilstein coilovers ... GT3 seats w/ roll bar & harnesses ... etc. ... etc ..... 911 Design in SoCal rebuilt my blown motor a few years ago; bored it to 4.0 and added a deep sump + third radiator. The car makes me smile every time I drive it. Which is why I stopped tracking it; too much abuse.

Zygrene

That's great to know. If I can get the low rpm misfire sorted out in my car (see my other thread) I'll probably have the motorsport AOS installed next. Do you mind sharing how much BRRacing charged for labor? I understand the motor needs to be dropped an inch or 2 to provide clearance.

Your car sounds like a ton of fun. I filmed a track prepped 996 C2 a few years back for my Youtube channel. It had the GT3 control arms, coilovers, etc. It was my first time driving any 911 aggressively and it just spoke to me. It's a big reason why I bought my 997.

cgfen

No, not with durametric.
If your O2 sensors are providing correct voltages;

• 0.1 - 0.72VDC cycling upstream
• 0.7VDC steady state downstream

you can usually get all readiness monitors to set via drive cycle
occasionally you need to see a tech with a PIWIS and have them force reset the monitors.

Good luck, its a PITA