I've called/visited five different Smog Stations in SoCal and... (1 Viewer)

[JLH911]

I'm getting ready to get the biennial smog check on my 87 FJ60 and it has passed the last four years(two smog checks), but now what I'm running into are Smog shops that I believe do not want to smog pre-1996 vehicles(They all ask me what year it is and say something about it being older than 1996).

I think these shops are just being lazy and do not want to deal with what smogging one of these older vehicles entails. I believe vehicles older than 1996 have to be placed up on a dyno type apparatus (where the drive wheels sit on a rolling drum to simulate a load)and they all have told me that their machine is "down" and they haven't repaired it.

I'm calling b.s. and I believe this is just another ploy by the CA State government making it more difficult to get our vehicles easily smogged, and for the shops to repair their machines, with the hopes that we'll just junk our LandCruisers. Not happening.

 

[Seth_O]

Pre-96 = OBDI. I.e. the smog shop cant just plug into the car and have the car tell them whether or not everything is working. Its a different set of tests. I'm guessing many of the techs dont even know how to administer them correctly.

Carbureted vehicles are a whole different universe to a lot of these folks. Most of them were probably born after carb vehicles stopped being sold.

In my neck of the woods you can still get OBDI vehicles tested fairly easily, but they cost more. To test something with a carb there are only a couple of places I can go, and its ruddy expensive.

 

[JLH911]

Pre-96 = OBDI. I.e. the smog shop cant just plug into the car and have the car tell them whether or not everything is working. Its a different set of tests. I'm guessing many of the techs dont even know how to administer them correctly.

Carbureted vehicles are a whole different universe to a lot of these folks. Most of them were probably born after carb vehicles stopped being sold.

In my neck of the woods you can still get OBDI vehicles tested fairly easily, but they cost more. To test something with a carb there are only a couple of places I can go, and its ruddy expensive.

What's funny is that of the three smog shops that I visited recently,(other two I called)I have previously used them for the same vehicle and had no issues, so I don't know what's going on. I just think they don't want to spend the money on repairing their machines, if they truly are not operating. Probably not worth it to them for the few vehicles they may get in a month or two that require it. They need to push the smog exempt limit to 1990 or something like that. Honestly, when driving around SoCal, look around and try to find vehicles on the road older than 1990. I bet you won't see more than two for a while.

 

[hygge]

yeah, when I went through with my '89 the guy had a few questions like "do you even have one of these" and "I can't find X, but I'll just assume its there, even though I can't tell..."

Real crapshoot. Good Luck!!

 

[CaptHamster]

I ran into the same problem trying to smog my FJ62 last year. I went to 4 or 5 different shops who all looked at it and said "my dyno machine is broken". Luckily, the last shop I went to turned out to be the best one, not only did he smog my truck without hesitation, he explained why these other shops refuse to smog our trucks, or "pretend" their equipment is broken. For reference, I went to Pete's Complete Auto Repair in Tujunga. The youngest son is the one who does the smogs, and I appreciated his honesty.

Preface: This is what was told to me by the smog guy at my local place. I have no facts to back up his story, but somehow I'm inclined to believe him.

Supposedly, smog stations in California are assigned their "STAR Certification" by California ARB based on how many vehicles they pass or don't pass. The more vehicles a STAR smog station fails, the higher their "score"; the more vehicles that pass, the lower their "score" is with CA ARB. The idea is, if they fail vehicles requiring a STAR station smog check, they are considered to be tough and thorough, which assists the state in lowering the number of high polluting vehicles on the road, and are more likely to keep their STAR certification. However, if they have vehicles that require a STAR smog check, and they pass, the state ARB will lower their score simply because they are allowing gross polluter vehicles to continue to drive on California roads. A smog station's score can decrease to the point where their STAR certification can actually be pulled by the state, which will reduce the amount of business they can take in...to some, it's seen as a "punishment" for allowing too many high polluting vehicles to continue to drive the roads of California. The shops that look at our trucks and claim their equipment is broken, do not want to run the risk of having a passing gross polluter vehicle come through their station, which will lower their score and possibly cause them to lose their certification.

Again, I have no way to verify this or back it up with facts, but it seems to make sense to me...maybe someone with more expertise can chime in and explain, but I feel like that explanation makes sense, and fits in with California's other shenanigans.

Anyway, I really liked the shop I linked earlier; they were honest and reasonable and I appreciated that...and they're only 2 blocks from my house, which is nice!

 

[Spike Strip]

I got the same bullsh!t this time, but there's prolly 100 stations in the SFV so I've found one in Northridge that did it (but I failed)....

 

[doug720]

^^^That is the case. I posted this a couple years ago, after a friend who owned a smog test station told me about how the system works.

This is a backdoor way to get older vehicles off the road!!!! BS

 

[JLH911]

I ran into the same problem trying to smog my FJ62 last year. I went to 4 or 5 different shops who all looked at it and said "my dyno machine is broken". Luckily, the last shop I went to turned out to be the best one, not only did he smog my truck without hesitation, he explained why these other shops refuse to smog our trucks, or "pretend" their equipment is broken. For reference, I went to Pete's Complete Auto Repair in Tujunga. The youngest son is the one who does the smogs, and I appreciated his honesty.

Preface: This is what was told to me by the smog guy at my local place. I have no facts to back up his story, but somehow I'm inclined to believe him.

Supposedly, smog stations in California are assigned their "STAR Certification" by California ARB based on how many vehicles they pass or don't pass. The more vehicles a STAR smog station fails, the higher their "score"; the more vehicles that pass, the lower their "score" is with CA ARB. The idea is, if they fail vehicles requiring a STAR station smog check, they are considered to be tough and thorough, which assists the state in lowering the number of high polluting vehicles on the road, and are more likely to keep their STAR certification. However, if they have vehicles that require a STAR smog check, and they pass, the state ARB will lower their score simply because they are allowing gross polluter vehicles to continue to drive on California roads. A smog station's score can decrease to the point where their STAR certification can actually be pulled by the state, which will reduce the amount of business they can take in...to some, it's seen as a "punishment" for allowing too many high polluting vehicles to continue to drive the roads of California. The shops that look at our trucks and claim their equipment is broken, do not want to run the risk of having a passing gross polluter vehicle come through their station, which will lower their score and possibly cause them to lose their certification.

Again, I have no way to verify this or back it up with facts, but it seems to make sense to me...maybe someone with more expertise can chime in and explain, but I feel like that explanation makes sense, and fits in with California's other shenanigans.

Anyway, I really liked the shop I linked earlier; they were honest and reasonable and I appreciated that...and they're only 2 blocks from my house, which is nice!

Wow, just wow. What is wrong with those CAARB people? That is horrible if true. I believe it too, after all, we're talking about California here. I completely went through my entire SMOG system about seven years ago and replaced what was bad, and righted what was wrong and, this is why it's passed the past two times, but now I can't find a place that wants to gamble that my vehicle will pass? That is just plain Nucking Futs.

 

[mattressking]

Depends on the smog station you go to, many do not do pre 96 because they do not have the tools, they are purely there to plug into a computer and spin the wheels on a dyno. You need to find a star certified shop as they generally provide repair work on smog/emission systems as that will require them to have a timing light which is usually the first hold up.

As a guy who moved to CA 2 years ago from VA which has pretty mellow emissions laws and quick tricks to skip it, I haven't found smog to be nearly as hard as people make it out to be, just need to be prepared, I think @OSS has mentioned this before as well.

 

[FJ60Seth]

I’ve been getting my 60 tested at this shop for about 8 years. The last time he said he wasn’t taking any new customers that aren’t OBD2 because it’s too time consuming and they usually fail and he has to retest them for free, but you could call him and see what he says. He’s always seemed like a pretty straight shooter. IDK if he’d remember me but you could mention that your buddy with the blue 83 Land Cruiser wagon recommended him.

Pasadena Test Only & Smog Check
1920 E Walnut St #2,
Pasadena, CA 91107
‭626-395-7792‬

 

[doug720]

Found the old post - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/california-smog-testing-station-quotas.1009795/#post-11212850

 

[doug720]

Here's the other one - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/sm...e-generated-by-the-state.878240/#post-9915490

Believe what you want, CA does not like or want older vehicles on the road!

 

[Haggis]

CARB Nazis are real. Man, I feel your pain. I have a 2000 Tacoma registered in Kali and I just went through hell getting it smogged. I'm convinced if it doesn't have batteries powering it, their goal is to make your life miserable. California use to be a wonderful place...

 

[IslandJ]

Similar experience last year trying to smog my 60.
2 shops said the machines were broken, another said they would have the right machine up and running the next day.
The last guy I called explained that every year its getting harder and harder to pass older cars due to regulations.
If you're close to K&H I recommend taking the cruiser there. Or maybe just call them and ask who they use.
Really nice guys

K&H Imports Land Cruiser Specialists

 

[joebattle1]

K&H did the very first work on my truck 10 years or so ago, the old guy there was great. I heard he got sick and the place went down hill. I have no personal experience with that.

I’m sort of with @mattressking here. Get your rig running right and it will pass. I struggled because so much crap was wrong with my rig. Bad valve, exhaust leaks like crazy, charcoal can not working, Etc. Fixed them all and the truck runs great as well as passed emmisions.

Find a place that will run a pre test before the actual state test. Thats what I did (5 times). If you take the state test and get labeled a “gross polluter” you have to test every year.

I also found a place deep in the hood cause I ain’t scared. This guarantees the price being low cause y’all scardy cats stay away from these places.

 

[lcwizard]

Makes you wonder what happened to "a government for the people by the people" ?
I wonder what how far our government has to push before April 15 comes along and no returns get mailed.
But then again there seems to me a new green deal push for even more government oversight.
America once believed every law passed was another freedom lost

 

[IslandJ]

K&H did the very first work on my truck 10 years or so ago, the old guy there was great. I heard he got sick and the place went down hill. I have no personal experience with that.

I’m sort of with @mattressking here. Get your rig running right and it will pass. I struggled because so much crap was wrong with my rig. Bad valve, exhaust leaks like crazy, charcoal can not working, Etc. Fixed them all and the truck runs great as well as passed emmisions.

Find a place that will run a pre test before the actual state test. Thats what I did (5 times). If you take the state test and get labeled a “gross polluter” you have to test every year.

I also found a place deep in the hood cause I ain’t scared. This guarantees the price being low cause y’all scardy cats stay away from these places.

Yeah I heard the same but my experience there was really good. The guy that took over for the og owner worked there before and has a passion for all things toyota. Very honest rates for LA as well. They are one of two places I'll go to for jobs that need Toyota specific knowledge. Both places are more than 45 mins from my house.

This will probably be deleted but the powers that be have never been for the people, they just have done a better job looking like they are.

 

[nomadsurfer]

And yet another reason I bailed CA. In the very near term future fuel base vehicles will be pushed out of CA; it is part of their master plan.

 

[joebattle1]

And yet another reason I bailed CA. In the very near term future fuel base vehicles will be pushed out of CA; it is part of their master plan.

100% True.

Tesla swaps coming soon... Wheel for a day... Solar charge the next. haha!

 

[Spike Strip]

One of the young employees at K&H named Richard bought out the owner, also named Richard when he retired. There was a learning curve as the 'old' Richard had most of the LC experience (he drove a FJ62), but K&H is still way ahead of your generic Toyota repair places, for LCs at least. If you're in the L.A. area and you need LC service, they're a good place to go. The current staff is friendly and fair though I haven't been there in a while.

The Politics of Kalif are the kind people vote themselves in but have to shoot their way out.