[Coronita]

[quote=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.[/quote]

Uh, what makes you assume I waited until the last two weeks?

First, my registration isn’t due until end of March.

Second, as long as you paid your registration, before the due date, you don’t really need to smog it before your registration is due if you don’t plan on driving it. You just get a “registration incomplete” notice, and you don’t get a registration sticker. But once you smog it and pass, you get the registration sticker afterwards, now about a week later.

Technically, you aren’t allowed to park on public streets, but if you leave the car in the driveway, or on a trailer that is registered, it’s not an issue.

So I have about 2 months to commute with it to burn off excess oil if that’s the issue. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll just have to commute to work with one of the other 3 cars that still pass smog (for now).

It was stupid for to go to Miramar. I didn’t think this car would fail, and I didn’t want to take time off to drive to Poway on the weekdays to get it smoged where I normal get it done, and I was down in UTC and thought I’d save some time to just get it done yesterday.

[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.

[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.

[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…..!

[Coronita]

[quote=Hobie]Shouldn’t the car be warmed up enough and kept running before the smog test? With a head gasket failure it would probably fail the emissions but visual??

Barr’s head gasket sealer will work provided it is not a huge leak.

Obviously, you are on borrowed time but maybe a different tech could help.[/quote]

You know that’s what I thought. The tech didn’t do that, and it smoked. Plus the car hadn’t been driving in a month… I drove it for 1 hour just now and when I start up, it doesn’t smoke anymore.

So I’m wondering if there was a tiny oil leak in the head gasket that burned off once it’s driven daily.

The jerk smog check station in miramar charged me $40 and isn’t offering me a free retest. I think I’m going to take it to poway smog in march.

The way they do smog tests these days is they do an OBD scan and then they step on the gas pedal a few times to confirm if they see any smoke from the tailpipe. It’s pretty stupid and I should have known….

I do have a coolant leak, but that’a different issue. I have a tiny hole seaping out of the radiator when I it something, but it is literally a drop every two days or so.

Some have also told me to try to run a thicker oil. My current oil is 0w40 as it was recommended to me. I’ll switch to a 5w40. I’m due for an oil change anyway.

[Coronita]

[quote=zk]

I see Bloomberg taking as many votes from Trump as from Sanders. A lot of republicans are relatively sane, and think Trump would be a disaster.
[/quote]

Personally, I am either going to vote for a third party this year or not vote at all. I can’t bring myself to voting for Trump. It’s not Trump by itself that bothers me, it’s a lot of his voter base.

I can’t bring myself to voting for Hillary or Bernie either, nor Cruz.

The only viable candidate from the GOP that I would consider is maybe Rubio. But I don’t think he’s going to make it.

[Coronita]

I’d like to get a negative mortgage rate please.

[Coronita]

Don’t bake it. If you don’t know what you are doing, you’re royally fkd. Just give the apple store a call. $250 was include parts and labor from what I recall for my motherboard. But it was awhile ago.

[Coronita]

When I did something really stupid to my mac, I took it to the mac store, and to replace the motherboard it was like $200. Which isn’t that bad. It might be worth it.

[Coronita]

[quote=bobby]are those even out yet?
I would not track a 991.2 either. Expensive if crashed. I love nice car but hate a steep depreciation curve. Rather buy a little used and suffer less depreciation.[/quote]

Orders are being taken. But yeah, first year run of turbos…Uh, yeah maybe it’s better if someone else is the guinea pig.

[Coronita]

Thanks folks for responding… A few questions.

1. Mixxalot. I looked at the US mint website, but it seems like the price of the american eagle or buffalo 1 ouncer is really really high. It’s around $1400/ounce. Spot gold is around $1100/ounce, and it seems like there are many dealers selling around $60-70 above spot. So I’m wondering is there some reason why the US mint prices are higher than what dealers are selling for?

2. Moneymaker From sandiegocoin’s website,

http://www.sandiegocoin.com/gold-widget.php

What exactly would be the difference between the american eagle/bufflao versus say the canada maple leaf or the Krugerrand or the Suisse bar. Isn’t 1oz of gold the same as 1oz of gold. Why the variation in price (albeit small)?

3. milkspot. How often have you bought from apmex? Reputable?.

[Coronita]

Typically if you rollover an IRA or Roth, unless the place your are rolling into has access to the same mutual funds, you won’t be able just to transfer the funds over. Usually when to do a rollover, you would initiate a rollover request from the old place, and that would cause your funds to be sold. You would either get a check in the mail or you could do it electronically. You then have a short period of time to deposit it into your new account as a rollover. You get a tax form that shows the amount you rolled over, so you won’t be subject to taxes. And that’s it.

There certain cases when shares can just be moved over. It is unlikely if you move into vanguard, that will be the case for you though. However, call vanguard to double check.

Depending on how much you are rolling over and what funds you select, you may be qualified to buy their admiral shares which are lower cost than the non-admiral share equivalent.

I would also compare the performance of your old fund versus the new funds you are planning to roll into.

If you are just sticking with index funds, then that probably doesn’t matter as much. But if you are moving between managed funds, I wouldn’t just be considering cost.

[Coronita]

[quote=bobby]991? or 991.2? you mean..[/quote]
Typo 991.2

[Coronita]

[quote=ltsdd]Looks like the layoffs at brcm has begun.[/quote]

Not according to my sources in SD. In fact, some say that got a pretty big bonus recently. Drat….I missed that. oh well. I am hearing engineering in SD won’t be that impacted, at least not initially..No official notice has been given out yet in the SD location, at least based on the colleagues I know that still work there, and I’ve asked a few of them.

[Coronita]

[quote=bobby]I know what you mean about a “track” car that doesn’t get used at the track due to the car’s cost.
My own experience is the car is still quite fun when used 6-7/10 on the street. The experience is really special each time you get behind the wheel. The way the car shakes, the sharp response, the shiny paint, the exhaust note, etc, make the drive quite fun – even when not at the track.
If you can swing it, get it. Not many car quite like the GT4.[/quote]

I think the window for me to get a GT4 passed already. Frankly, I would be “fine” with a 911s. The one that I test drove at Porsche of San Diego was a no bells and whistle one, which was exactly the way I liked it. That too passed. That one was I guess in color that most people didn’t want to get and was marked down significantly, and it happened to be the color I would want to get. Guards Red. I miss that thing.

The 992 will be interesting. Expensive…But interesting.

[Author]

Posts