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Right?
They’re not performing a “sniffer” or true tail pipe test on any late model vehicle with OBD-II. Currently they’re only checking the OBD monitors for readiness and a visual inspection of the emissions components. I guess the assumption is that the monitors could be functioning properly, however the mods could push the vehicle beyond acceptable tail pipe emissions.
When I moved here from Hawaii I was pulled over (for my tint) and asked if I lived here. I told the officer I moved here a couple months ago and he issued me a ticket for not having current California registration.
That's always been my argument. The CARB overlords are likely basing this all around the idea that the vehicle owner can change settings with a tuning tool whenever they want, which would allow the owner to easily choose a tune that wouldn't pass the test. Sure, that can happen, but that's not usually how it works.
So long as you have an out of state license you might be okay with the out of sate registration trick - having a different state license and vehicle registration tips them off to what you're doing. I don't know how many people are willing to go to those lengths, since it causes issues with other things in every day life.
Especially in my case, no way he would go for "I'm just here on vacation, I'm driving home to Hawaii
They can tell if the ECU has been flashed and re flashed. That's the problem.
I'd bet that matters more for warranty claims on blown engines. I'm guessing so long as it's an OEM tune, that's all that will matter for smog tests - how they'll be able to tell that what the stock tune is supposed to be, I don't know. It's probably easy to tell with the right scanner. I'll admit I haven't kept up with the ECU tuning process much lately. My old track car was OBD-1.
From what I have heard, they can tell if the ecu has been re flashed....kind of like checking your browser history.
I'm not saying they can't - I'm just saying that it shouldn't matter to them. You could have bought the car from someone who tuned it and set it back to stock for all they know. Now if the smog shop shares the flash/re-flash data with CA, and the data shows WHEN you re-flashed it, and that it happened when you owned it, and that it was an aftermarket tune, and then that comes back to bite you down the road in some way, well hell, at that point I'd be pretty damned impressed that CA was able to actually pull that off with the way the state functions.
Yeah, I dunno. I remember back in '14 that was the talk, don't buy a 15 because they can read the ECU flash history, get a 14 (which I did).I'm not saying they can't - I'm just saying that it shouldn't matter to them. You could have bought the car from someone who tuned it and set it back to stock for all they know. Now if the smog shop shares the flash/re-flash data with CA, and the data shows WHEN you re-flashed it, and that it happened when you owned it, and that it was an aftermarket tune, and then that comes back to bite you down the road in some way, well hell, at that point I'd be pretty damned impressed that CA was able to actually pull that off with the way the state functions.
