[Twinning_N54]

So I just wanted to share my experience. I just recently got a letter from the DMV.

"SMOG CERTIFICATION REQUIRED AT A STAR STATION"

I have a FBO except for downpipes for this exact reason, I didnt want to make a bad situation even more troublesome. After some hesitation, I took a weekend to put the engine bay back together since I had removed all the covers. I reinstalled the air canisters, stock air box & cowl.
I tried to make everything look as stock as possible. Put the Jb4 to the ZERO setting and went on my way...

After a 20min wait, the smog tech finally called me up, asked me to pop my hood and right away pointed at the silicone re-circulation hose to one of the turbo-smart DVs...

"thats not OEM, it wont pass" said the tech.

I tried to tell him that its just a hose and everything else is stock. That I replaced a broken hose and it was the fastest cheapest option. Then he pointed to the DV itself.

tech: "that not OEM, I cant pass anything thats not OEM. Get the original parts if you want to pass"

so defeated I left the smog shop... On the way home I quickly searched for smog shops on the way. Found TWO.

2nd smog shop was completely empty and only had one tech working. I popped my hood and asked if the car would pass the visual. He looked at the engine bay and pointed to the silicone hose.

no go...

left and with some time on my hands I decided to try the last shop on the way... A smog station slash liquor store. I know right!

drove in like I own the place, asked for a smog and an Arizona tea and chilled until it was over hoping they wouldn't ask me about the silicone hose.

About 15mins later the tech come over and ask me to join him near the car, hood open, proceeds to point at the silicon hose...

"Aftermarket???!"

I also noticed he had the VRSF website with the RACE 7" IC on his browser over the smog machine... I said "yes but told him that wasn’t the version I had, mine cracked so I replaced it with an aftermarket one"

I actually have an ARM 5" stepped intercooler. but I didnt tell him that!

the tech starts making a phone call and 1min later looks me dead in the eye and says...

"Car has intercooler from stock?"
"yes" I said
mumbles in to the phone...
"boss says its fine"

10mins later I'm paying for both my smog certificate with "PASS" and my Tea...

like Tommy once said "some girls don't like boys like him, but "some girls do"

[Jeef]

Smog guys need to do their homework. From what I understand is that anything in the charge air piping or intercooler is not considered part of smog.

BOV won't pass because it vents to atmosphere but stock DV with metal pipe is fine. upgraded DV I can also see causing issues since turbosmart mentions theirs is not CARB compliant. Not sure why since it recirculates any way..

[srey]

Ugh. I know many on this forum live in the great state of California, but that whole process freaking sucks. I think safety inspections for vehicles is a good thing. Texas and Utah (two states I've registered cars in) had safety inspections and emissions testing, and I think there were fewer hoopties on the road as a result. I live in Idaho now, which outside of Boise doesn't require either. I see cars broken down all the time, and sometimes it's really annoying because it impedes traffic. Regardless of the laws and regulations of those three states, I've never had a problem with my FBO N54. California sounds like hell for a car enthusiast.

[Smgs1992]

Makes me glad to live in ohio where we dont do any testing although sometimes i see cars on the road i do wish we had safety checks for

[E90Montego335]

So you can just set JB4 to map 0? Interesting I’ve always completely uninstalled it from my car but that’s definitely nice to know. I’ve never taken off my cone intakes to pass smog and I’m in Cali not sure if they matter or not.

[ky0u]

Originally Posted by Jeef

Smog guys need to do their homework. From what I understand is that anything in the charge air piping or intercooler is not considered part of smog.

BOV won't pass because it vents to atmosphere but stock DV with metal pipe is fine. upgraded DV I can also see causing issues since turbosmart mentions theirs is not CARB compliant. Not sure why since it recirculates any way..

Honestly it probably is functionally CARB compliant but they didn't wanna pay for the certification. Same reason I had to switch from my VRSF DCIs to BMS. Same cone set up, just BMS had it's CARB sticker

OP, that sucks man, I know Cali is bad for smog but hell that's some bad luck. I brought my car in with my DV hoses completely disconnected and still got passed

[Twinning_N54]

All in all, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I really thought I would have to reinstall the stock CP and DVs. My next plan is going to spray all the silicone hoses and DV down with matte black and replace all the t-bolt clamps with the regular snail clamps.

But that’s two years down the line! I just wanted to give some other N54 owners an idea on what to expect when trying to smog a car in California.

[Twinning_N54]

Originally Posted by E90Montego335

So you can just set JB4 to map 0? Interesting I’ve always completely uninstalled it from my car but that’s definitely nice to know. I’ve never taken off my cone intakes to pass smog and I’m in Cali not sure if they matter or not.

What a headache! Im glad I help at least one person. I just get it to zero which basically turns off the JB4.
I forgot to mention I also have aftermarket turbos, and aftermarket inlets/outlets. And passed the sniffer test with flying colors.

[DASN54]

Just got my lovely registration renewal in the mail and of course a SMOG check is required. So I'm pretty much screwed.....

[ky0u]

Originally Posted by DASN54

Just got my lovely registration renewal in the mail and of course a SMOG check is required. So I'm pretty much screwed.....

Just get a giant single black piece of plastic and cover everything in the engine bay. Then stick a BMW roundel on it somewhere with some silver accenting. Seems to be the stock aesthetic nowadays

[DASN54]

Originally Posted by ky0u

Just get a giant single black piece of plastic and cover everything in the engine bay. Then stick a BMW roundel on it somewhere with some silver accenting. Seems to be the stock aesthetic nowadays

I seriously think that would work, I live in a pretty small town and my plan is to just somehow rig the stock engine over over my valve cover and re-install the stock air box as well as the downpipes. Such a headache to deal with every two years.

[CALWATERBOY]

Originally Posted by Twinning_N54

"SMOG CERTIFICATION REQUIRED AT A STAR STATION"

"thats not OEM, it wont pass" said the tech.

I tried to tell him....

The man's right. Unless it has CARB certification, which means a CARB sticker on the part, it's an automatic fail, zero tolerance.

Now, CARB Cert's almighty expensive and hard to come by - generally only big box mfg's afford it.

Words to the wise: Don't get caught. A world o'dung awaits the poor soul who motivates CHiPs enough to do an inspection!

[CALWATERBOY]

Originally Posted by DASN54

Just got my lovely registration renewal in the mail and of course a SMOG check is required. So I'm pretty much screwed.....

Not so! Just use your Jedi skills to return it to stock....for now. Usually stuff comes out easier than it went in.

Just pop the bonnet, and:





Happy 4th!