vg247

First off I apologize for the long winded post coming up:

For starters, I recently took my 09' 997.2 with 29K miles in for my first ever smog (registration renewal purposes) -the CA "SMOG Certification Required" type and I am currently undergoing a frustrating ordeal with no resolve in the forecast...

This last Tuesday, I took my car to an ordinary Smog shop and they used the OBD type to test my car (no longer use the sniffer style smog testers). All the read outs were fine, except "Catalyst Status" came back on the reading 'NOT READY'/'NOT COMPLETE'. The Smog place then told me to print some instructions and perform a Drive Cycle, etc. and come back to re-smog...

Since they were not Porsche people, I didn't trust them, panicked, and rushed to find a trustworthy Porsche specialist for second opinion...

<< As a background my car has been driven 4K miles ranging from street speeds to WOT entering and exiting freeways, etc. since it's annual service back in February at the dealer and to date, never had any CEL's, battery disconnected, or reset of any type done to it since my ownership from 2012 (car was bought CPO with 14K miles on it). My car has a Sharkwerks primary center muffler bypass and Gundo/Fister hacked side mufflers (that is all). >>

I was quite upset and surprised to learn that my car didn't pass its very first Smog due to the Catalyst Status reading NOT READY-not complete (my 20 year old Lexus beater passes smog to this day..). Being last minute, I knew I couldn't schedule to bring it to my trusted Porsche of Fremont dealer so I took it over to Bruce and the amazing team at BR Racing to take a look. The guys at BR are extraordinary I must credit, they had a full day's work, a race event to prep for, and yet Bruce set aside a last minute visit by me on short notice (whom he met only for the first time)....His tech Rico spent a good hour plugging into my OBD various diagnosis machines- 3 of them (sorry couldn't recall which is which), but unusually- at BR their readings show "EGR Status" as Not Ready in contrast to the Smog shop's, which showed Catalyst Status -Not Ready (EGR status at the Smog scan was Complete). After running further tests, Rico showed me "pre"-temperatures for both banks being "higher" than the "post"-temperature readings which he explained was odd. At the end of the diagnosis from BR, Bruce suggested that I disconnect the battery, and reconnect it to reset the memory; followed by a Drive Cycle Process and then re-Smog.... I shared with him that my car is still under warranty and that I like to take it to the dealer to see what they find out. Bruce did not charge me a dime (although I insisted for their time and professional courtesy- he refused any payment). Bruce and Rico were very thorough, patient, and true professionals (I must give credit where it's exceptionally due) ... they will get a lot of German car work from me in the near future that's for sure!!

Next-
I was able to schedule for a 7am appt on Wednesday at Porsche of Fremont and explained everything to the service advisor. Later in the day when I followed up, Gunter informed me they didn't have time to look into the car and all they know was the readings are coming back "EGR NOT READY" and they didn't know why. He indicated that it may be due to my having the Sharkwerks center muffler bypass affecting the back pressure, etc. I found this strange as this bypass was downstream and to date, there has been no reports of the Sharkwerks bypass affecting smog or emissions....

Come Thursday, and I called Gunter to follow up and see if there were any updates - he said that they are waiting to hear back from Porsche .. .. .. (no solution, no information)

Today Friday, I dropped by and visited with Gunter in person with hopes of understanding what's going on and he said they have not yet been able to determine why the "EGR NOT READY" is there and that they are still awaiting information from Porsche... I fully trust Gunter and his expertise along with his team's high level of work, but perhaps it's months end and Porsche of Fremont is busy with more precedent matters, as it boggles me that after 3 full days, there has not been any clue or answers as to what's going on with my car (other than Gunter pointing that the problem may be due to the Sharkwerks bypass I have).



So the wait continues and my car is still at Porsche of Fremont, waiting to see if anything positive comes to light by next week...


I would be interested and most grateful to know if anyone else out there recently had the OBD Smog on their 997.2 car and encountered similar issues they can share (EGR NOT READY reading), and how/if their dealer resolved it in order to pass the Smog. -->BR Racing and I both do not feel it has to do with the Sharkwerks bypass, however, I trust Gunter and at this point I feel oblivious/boggled as to what's going on along with "when" this can be diagnosed and finally resolved..

Thank you for reading about my smog issue and please do share if you have some perspective or similar experiences getting Smogged recently...

(This EGR NOT READY phrase is driving me nuts)


Many thanks in advance,

VG

jhbrennan

Hope this get resolved for you. I suspect the dealer's "Sharkwerks" comment is a prelude to denying any warranty claim. Good luck.

Bruce In Philly

I have an 2009 C2S with the Sharkwerks X pipe..... no issues passing PA. PA, as I understand it, uses the OBD2 also and just checks for codes. The car decides if there is an issue as was the whole point of the OBD system in the first place.

I suspect something is wrong with your car. I strongly believe the pipes/exhaust won't trip this. Google "EGR Not Ready" and you will get a boatload of stuff.

In this thread, it was the tire pressure monitor system that threw it off in a Miata:
http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=372107

Regarding a dealer declaring not warranty after an exhaust mod: find another dealer. They vary as to the flexibility they have with some even "throwing on parts" for customers. My dealer offered to install some aftermarket suspension parts and not effect warranty because they supported the sport-minded customer.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

Bruce In Philly

I don't "trust" any dealer or indy. No, I am not cranky or cynical, but I have enough experience over the years to know these dealers don't always understand the complexity of these cars especially when it comes to software. While they have Porsche training, they still learn on your car. This stuff is just way too complex.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

gpjli2

To summarize: you have modified the exhaust system in Cali of all states and now you do not know why you are having smog problems and wondering if the dealer is going to address the problem under warranty.

Well??? I'm in NY with an AWE system for past 7 years. If I had been having your problems at the Indy I would have put stock system back (you gundoed mufflers? great), cleared any codes, and then gone to the dealer with fingers crossed.

What to do now? Call Sharkwerks and see what they say. Fall on your sword? Sorry for perhaps a lack of sympathy here but you had to be out ahead of this from the getgo. Good luck (no sarcasm intended).

david

Listening in...this is exactly why I've been unwilling to tweak the exhaust system while living in the CA Republic...

Para82

Come to Florida and enjoy freedom.

Macster

The first shop gave you good advice. (And I note you received very much the same advice from the 2nd shop.) Likely the car needed just to be driven according to the drive cycle guidelines.

Too many owners believe that hard driving prior to a smog test is what is best but this may result in the DME being unable to complete its readiness monitor tests and if some of these are incomplete this can cause the car to fail smog.

Now my experience with my 2002 Boxster is even if one tries to adhere to the drive cycle the car may fail, if there one (or both) converters are marginal.

My Boxster had what later proved to be a loose converter brick. When it failed its smog test I checked with my local dealer's senior techs and was advised to take the car out on a longish drive (30+ miles).

While had driven the car quite a bit before the test to ensure the exhaust systems were fully up to temperature the driving had been mostly city driving.

Also, I have in the past noticed a marked improvement in the engine of my cars after a 30+ mile freeway drive.

So I did the drive and then some. Around 2 hours later after the 1st test the car was back and passed the 2nd smog test just fine. The drive really improved the converter performance.

Had you asked me I would have advised you to follow the recommendations you got from the 2 shops.

Only if the car failed the 2nd test then would I have suggested you take the car to have this looked into.

A complication is the car has what is probably illegal exhaust mods and the dealer is not likely going to be able to help you. You are probably just going to wait a few days before the factory comes back with something that points out the car is not like it left the factory and has what I assume are not CARB certified exhaust mods done to it so the factory (and dealer) will wash its hands of the car.

If this happens you can still try the drive cycle thing and have the car retested. There can be a complication though that if the car fails too many tests in a row it can possibly be classified as a problem car in some CA/CARB legalese blah blah blah. This may cause further complications. I can't find any real info on this but my advice is to strive to get the car to pass the next test. Ideally the car should pass the first test and if not the first test the second test. I would not want to learn the hard way what complications can arise from if the car fails subsequent tests.

With this in mind you might consider putting the exhaust system back to stock and with an OBD2 code reader/data viewer/logger clearing all error codes -- to reset the DME learned fueling -- and then subject the car to a proper drive cycle and before taking it in for a retest confirming the readiness monitors are all set to complete -- do not reset the error codes again! -- and then get the car tested again.

Wayne Smith

Just to clarify, speaking for an F150 I once dealt with, clearing codes turns off parts of the sensing and control systems. That truck gradually turned the systems back on, one at a time, over the course of about 200 miles of driving.

This was California, about two years ago.

Note: On my truck the hose to the PCV valve had melted creating an error. If I had simply replaced the hose the system would have corrected in a few miles. By clearing the codes, it took much longer.

So after clearing the codes, go on a long drive.

douvillier

The EGR system works off back pressure supplied from the exhaust system. Less back pressure from a modified exhaust system causes EGR problems. As stated above, the Dealer will not help you because you modified the emissions system. Either put the car back to stock or buy the Sport Exhaust system.

golfnutintib

^^^^ THIS ^^^^

I have an 09 Carrera 2S with Sharkwerks center muffler delete (see avatar pic <--------------). No problems with smog testing. I drove it 15-20 miles normally on city and freeway traffic and it passed with plenty of room to spare. I suspect it is the combo of your TWO exhaust mods causing the problem, as relating to the EGR loop (Exhaust Gas Recirculation...get it?).

I think you should try a long drive cycle with the car as is with codes cleared (>150 mi, easy/normal driving, get the cats nice and hot so they work at their best, even if they are limping, then retest.) If that fails, be ready to revert to stock (especially the side mufflers mod) to try again.

As good a guy as Gunther is at Fremont, he cannot bail you out of this one with PAG warranty as your car has been substantially modded, and modded specifically in the exhaust gas flow area that the car is signalling there is a problem...

Bruce In Philly

I find your aggressive response quite interesting........ It is reasonable and rational to be concerned that modifying these complex machines (insert any brand here) could cause a problem. However, among Porsche enthusiasts, exhaust mods are as common as oil arguments at the Hersey swap meet. Having been reading these Porsche boards for over 15 years, and EGR Not Ready issue is as rare as hen's teeth.

Swapping out the exhaust parts, cats aside, appears to be quite harmless. It was not too long ago, that it was fine to remove the 2nd cat and still pass emissions around the USA.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

jhbrennan

Yeah...but this is California, not the USA.

myw

keep us updated steve. I'm pretty sure that as others have stated, the dealer will likely use the Xpipe as an excuse to put the car on the bottom of the priority list.

Bruce In Philly

Hmmmm... you raise and interesting question that I really don't know the answer to...... is California's requirements more or different that other USA states, and I guess more relevant, do cars today in the USA simply comply with the most stringent regs?

Further, I thought that it was our cars that determined the pass/fail flag based on the check engine light (re the OBDII readings). In other words, if the cars are set to light up if it fails the lowest bar, then the state is irrelevant.

Any information on this?

Peace
Bruce in Philly