Cali smog laws are a bunch of political BS! I had a car fail because its timing "was not to spec". I had it re-timed, it then passed with almost twice the emissions as before and running like crap.
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I work for a dealership with 30+ ASE cert mechanics. All of whom think the Cali smog laws are more political then environmental. For my car to pass it had to pump out more polution. Sounds like a political problem to me.
to all in california who fail smog...take advantage of CAP (consumer assistance program.) every smog tech who fails a car should be informing you of this program. if they don't, ask about it. basically the state will pay up to something like $500 towards any repairs needed to get your rig to pass smog. if you read the fine print, you can also get a waiver after you've spent "x" amount of money and you still can't pass. a waiver basically means you get a 2 year free pass until your next smog check. here's the CAP link:
Consumer Assistance Program Fact Sheet
take advantage of it!
Ellington12 is spot on, but that's not much help for the long run unfortunately. When we were testing 1985-87 FJ60's during 1998-99 attempting to get our TBI conversion smog legal, what we discovered was that 98 percent of all emissions equipment on all test vehicles was already dead. We had rusty water pouring out of valves, valves falling apart in our hands, etc.. Some of the pieces we needed to continue the Federal Testing which were not even available any longer. We had to epoxy some pieces together just to continue testing. Most people will not have the $1.000's to replace a complete smog device, nor will the State assistance go very far. I've found that many times just installing a fresh Cat after flunking will get the rig to pass on your return visit to the tester.
isnt there an age limit to where you do not have to pass smog any longer? I just found that many of the emissions parts are discontinued by Toyota or will be shortly such as the HAC Valve which is already gone except in secondary markets.
I would think a 20 year old vehicle would not be held to the same standards since most manufacturers do not keep parts for that long....Toyota is an exception.
before replacing your cat, make sure your air injection system is in good shape. a few years back i tried to throw a cat on my truck hoping it would pass. end result? i failed again due to a stuck AIR check valve. air injection is key on the 2f and without it your chances of passing even with the most efficient cat out there are slim.
75 years old or built prior to 1975? Wow so how do they hold a vehicle built in 70s or early 80s responsible for smog if the parts are no longer available through manufacturer or aftermarket? Is that when they tell you to crush the vehicle and get another?
Where is this air check valve? I don't know too much about the air injection system, only that my air rail has holes in it. I'm putting on my new (to me) air rail on thursday, and I ordered new vacuum lines from mcmaster-carr.com that shipped yesterday.
There are too that look identical. One threads onto the end of the air rail on the fender close to the exhaust. The other one threads on the air rail that goes on the head and is on the front side of it where the air come into the rail from the ABV.