OT: I think it’s time to let go of my audi…sniff….

[FlyerInHi]

It’s not a scam. Some countries like Germany don’t allow old cars at all.

We should develop sensible public transit. You don’t want old cars belching out pollutants in dense populated area. Move out in boonies if you don’t want to smog your car.

[spdrun]

bearishgurl — can you take any vehicle to a “test only” station where there’s theoretically no profit motive for them to fuck you?

[bearishgurl]

I don’t know how many other (street) vehicles flu has but if the car was in good shape otherwise, if it were me, I’d make sure it passed smog. He can’t sell it to anyone but a wrecking yard if it doesn’t. If that means replacing the head gasket, so be it. He can get it done for $1100 to $1200 (incl machining, if necessary) by numerous backyard and private mechanics in the county vs $1800 – $2000 at a shop.

And it doesn’t matter what it’s current “book value” is. Flu claims $1500 but if it looks good (no body damage or big upholstery rips) runs good and tests out fine by a savvy private party (or their mechanic), it could easily have a “market value” of $2500 to $4500. There is a BIG MARKET for decent-running older vehicles, not only in CA but the entire country! This is so because the alternative is to buy a later-model vehicle with NAV and parking assist, iphone hookup, blah, blah, etc which jacks up the resale value exponentially. A large segment of the used-vehicle-buying population could care less about all that junk.

[Coronita]

[quote=utcsox]Audi, which is owned by VW, shall be able to tell you what you need to pass the smog test….[/quote]

HAHAHAHA…… Actually, my ECU/car computer said it was just fine. I failed the visual…. I guess that’s consistent with what VW/Audi would say…..!

[bearishgurl]

[quote=FlyerInHi]It’s not a scam. Some countries like Germany don’t allow old cars at all.

We should develop sensible public transit. You don’t want old cars belching out pollutants in dense populated area. Move out in boonies if you don’t want to smog your car.[/quote]Umm, SD is not SF, brian. We don’t have “sensible” and reliable public transit. We have a cobbled-together transfer system which could easily take a rider nearly 3 hours to go 20 miles.

You’re talking “pie-in-the-sky” and I’m talking reality here.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=flu][quote=utcsox]Audi, which is owned by VW, shall be able to tell you what you need to pass the smog test….[/quote]

HAHAHAHA…… Actually, my ECU/car computer said it was just fine. I failed the visual…. I guess that’s consistent with what VW/Audi would say…..![/quote]Glad to hear that, flu. Now …. focus on any errands you need to do in the far reaches of Ventura County. Maybe there’s even a meeting you can attend up there for work that you can get paid 54 cents per mile for :=D

Get crackin’ ….

Oh, and first, get that stuff ordered from Amazon. It’s good stuff!

[spdrun]

I failed the visual….

What about YOUR visual? Did you see the car emitting white smoke on startup? Was it a wet/rainy day (i.e. could it have been steam)?

[bearishgurl]

[quote=spdrun]bearishgurl — can you take any vehicle to a “test only” station where there’s theoretically no profit motive for them to fuck you?[/quote]
Yes. Because you don’t have to take it back to them when you want a retest and they won’t be holding your vehicle “hostage,” trying to ‘hard-sell you that you leave it with them and pay $940 (or some other wildly unrealistic amount) they will assure you that it “passes” smog.

All a “Test Only” station made is $40 – $50 off you.

[Coronita]

[quote=Hobie]Flu: White smoke is from a coolant. Head gasket failure most common, followed by crack in head. Feel like a running a compression or leak down test??

Black is oil or super rich. Rich would be running really badly and you would have mentioned that already so that’s not it.

New catalytic is like the magic pill for older cars! I got a carboratoer in one of mine that runs great but it just is not as clean as fuel injected. I have a running bet with my smog guy!

If you are planning on keeping it, replace vaccuum lines and vacuum control ( CTO )valves. These are the vaccum switches that cycle depending on coolant temp.

But all of that is after having a different smog smog guy – pass or don’t pay place.

Oh, and maybe it would be good to make a couple of high speed freeway runs to burn off stuff in the pipe and really heat up the cat. Then take in for the test while cat is hot.

Doesn’t the car have to be dyno smogged? Newer cars get the plug in test.[/quote]

Actually, starting last year I think, cars 2000 and newer just do the OBDII scan test. They don’t actually need to be dynoed. Which is weird. I always passed the dyno test. I didn’t notice the smoke at all before. My car unfortunately is MY2000 so it does the new test. which should have been easier…

I think what did it is I probably have a tiny leak somewhere, that normally wouldn’t have caused it if I were driving that car daily. But I’ve left this car parked for almost 1 and 1/2months, and I didn’t bother to drive it on an extended drive before taking it to the smog place. I just tried it just now. I see the normal white exhaust you would get on a cold start, but after warmup, I don’t see that huge smoke that apparently the smog place saw.

It’s funny that my miata with a supercharger and borderline legal exhaust passed with no problem. I was more worried about that one failing, because that thing is probably more pollutant than my audi. I did change the cat on the Miata since it was only $200 and easy to access.

But I agree. I’m not going back to any smog place on Miramar. None of the smog places offer a free retest, unlike Poway Smog and other places off of Poway.

Oh well. Maybe it’s time for that BRZ/FRS anyway.

[bearishgurl]

Peeps, the moral of this story here is that if you receive a “STAR directed” registration in the mail from the DMV, you will likely have over two months before your registration expires. Don’t wait until the last week or two to get a smog check! You need to carefully plan and “prep” your vehicle for its STAR-directed “exam.” :=0

I hope flu has ample time left so he won’t be hit with excessive registration fees.

[spdrun]

If you don’t see the white smoke, sounds like the smog place is somehow trying to cheat you or is totally inept. Take it to a place with good reviews for a re-test. If it passes, dispute the CC charge with the original shop. No sense in supporting scammers.

[Coronita]

[quote=FlyerInHi]It’s not a scam. Some countries like Germany don’t allow old cars at all.

We should develop sensible public transit. You don’t want old cars belching out pollutants in dense populated area. Move out in boonies if you don’t want to smog your car.[/quote]

Maybe not, but the Methane gas leak at Porter Ranch pretty much eliminated all of ev benefits in the state.

http://ecowatch.com/2016/01/15/porter-ranch-methane-leak-spreads/

http://www.autoblog.com/2016/01/28/californias-methane-leak-wiped-out-ev-benefits/

California’s methane leak has wiped out most EV benefits
With Methane’s Potent Effect On The Atmosphere, Porter Rance Is A Bad Scene

In November, an underground natural gas storage facility near Porter Ranch, CA started leaking. Since then, it has spewed an immense amount of methane into the air. How much is still an unknown, but it’s thrown more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than any other facility in California.

So, what does this all have to do with cars? Well, other than the connection between leaks from facilities like this and natural gas cars, it’s the emissions. California has been the undisputed leader in moving its vehicle fleet away from gasoline. Thanks to zero-emission vehicle mandates and high-gas prices, Californians have purchased a lot of clean cars, many of them electric. Sad to say, but the methane leak at Porter Ranch has wiped out most of California’s electric vehicle efforts. As the Los Angeles Times puts it, the leak has spewed as many greenhouse gases as a car would emit if it drove 5 million – sorry, billion – miles. Yes, billion. With a B.

While the exact numbers are guesses at best (it’s impossible, apparently, to know how fast the methane is leaking out) here’s how the math is likely to work out when we compare the leak to EVs. The leak is spewing around 1,200 tons of methane per day and is estimated to take six months to repair. We’re currently in the third month. So, 1,200 tons for 180 days is 216,000 tons of methane. Since methane is 29 times more powerful than CO2 as a greenhouse gas, those 216,000 tons are the equivalent of 6.2 million tons of CO2.

Now, lets’ look at the average new car in 2016, which will emit the equivalent of about 60 tons of CO2 over its life. Given that, 6.2 million tons is roughly the same as 103,000 standard, fossil fuel cars. But electric vehicles have zero tailpipe emissions and, since California has sold a bit over 150,000 EVs so car, all of the greenhouse gas benefits of two-thirds of all the EVs in California are being wiped out by this single methane leak. That’s not to say all of those EVs were bought in vain – far from it – but it does put the Porter Ranch debacle into perspective for those of us who care about cleaner cars.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=spdrun]If you don’t see the white smoke, sounds like the smog place is somehow trying to cheat you or is totally inept.[/quote]flu posted that he took the car in after it sat for weeks without driving it (or it was driven very little). That’s a no-no, especially when smogging for a “STAR-directed” registration renewal.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=spdrun]If you don’t see the white smoke, sounds like the smog place is somehow trying to cheat you or is totally inept. Take it to a place with good reviews for a re-test. If it passes, dispute the CC charge with the original shop. No sense in supporting scammers.[/quote]He won’t be able to get the money back for his original smog test.

[spdrun]

Googling STAR, it seems to be some sort of enhanced inspection program. I didn’t see flu write anything about being directed to such a station.

But yeah, I’d drive the thing, take it to a different station with a good reputation, make sure it’s warm when being given for inspection, and see if it passes.

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