…So… I took it to another smog place today, somewhere in poway that has a free retest policy (I won’t say where, though they are a very honest shop)….And it passed. lol…
I talked to the guy who was doing the test, and I explained to him that the previous smog test station failed me on the visual because he claimed he saw white smoke out of the tailpipe when he reved the car twice.
So this new smog technician told me to do the same thing just to see as a pre-check. So I reved to about 6900 twice for a few seconds, twice. He questioned why I was revving the car so high, and I said “because that’s what the previous smog test place did when he failed me”….
The tech explained to me that the test is only a brief rev and hold to 3000rpm, not 6900rpm, and said if the tech actually revved to 6900 (which he did) he’s a moron. Furthermore, there was no white smoke even when I revved to 6900 this time.
The tech then ran the smog test on my car, OBD II test passed, visual passed. He even commented that given my car was 16 years old, that surprisingly it was in really good shape and doesn’t understand why the other guy failed it.
He then went on to explain that the newer OBD II tests were more subjective than the older tests that actually sniffed the exhaust from the tailpipe, since part of these newer tests were “visual tests” could vary depending on the tech’s opinion.
He did mention that he does think my car’s turbo seal is probably going soon, and that while me switching to a thicker oil helped, it’s going to be an issue moving forward, especially if oil/coolant starts leaking a lot into the cat. That’s fine. I think now I’ll take the time to replace the turbo.
Anyway, long story short. Don’t take your car to get it smogged in Miramar places that don’t offer a no pass->retest place. Go to poway, where there’s a dozen or so smog places that all offer free retests.
I don’t think you’d get coolant into the turbo from the bearing seals. The rotating seal only deals with oil supply to the bearings, not water supply to the housing.
Awesome. I’d also like to recommend College Smog. I’ve used them for a few years now. The guy seems pretty fair and knowledgeable, and he charges about $10 less than everywhere else I have seen.
[quote=The-Shoveler]The Smog check thing is a scam setup to get people to buy new cars etc… IMO.
I have a friend who moved to a small town in nor-cal (to retire) where they don’t have the smog test requirement.
I am kind of envious of him (especially at smog test time).[/quote]That is exactly where I might head in the next couple of years if I can get my CC account permanently straightened out with the bureaucrats, shoveler. I’ll take my (now 22 year-old) car with me cuz none of my kids want it, lol … and maybe I’ll end up buying a used 4WD as a second vehicle if it is a snowy locale :=)
I’ve also got peeps from “flyover country” (where my car wouldn’t be subjected to a “smog check”) who have actually offered to pay me FMV or a little more for my vehicle. They are amazed that I show up every year in it like clockwork, it looks and runs great and that it has ~275K miles on the odometer, lol.
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