Smog adventures (1 Viewer)

[thorslc1977]

As I am sure, most of the folks on here know about smog laws here in California. They are strict and designed to take old cars off the road. Took mine for the biennial inspection. Passed all the tail pipe and initial inspections. Failed due to only being at 2 degrees before TDC.
WTF!!!!.
I just checked everything before I took it down.
It was dialed in, RPM; dwell; timing; everything!!
I know the drill! It has always passed. I am the original owner and all the smog equipment is intact.
I was stunned.
Couldn't believe it.
Went straight home and checked. Timing was dead on at 7 degrees before TDC. Pointer right on the BB.
I made an appointment for a re-test.
Beyond stressed out in the lobby.
It is taking a while.
Tech slips by front desk and into bosses office.
Both go out to my rig and I shoulder past the kid at the front desk to go with them.
Me " What the hell is the problem".
"Well, it is now at zero degrees BTDC.
"Bull**** I just checked" "Let me see"
Pointer is at BB, timing light is at 0 advance.
Me. "Do you know how to use that timing light? That BB IS at 7 degrees before TDC".
Had to make them get on internet and check FSM to prove it.
Kid at front desk sheepishly gave me the Certificate.

Complete waste of my time and my money. Thinking about charging them for my time and extra blood pressure meds!!

This is the reason I do all the work I possibly can on my rig myself. Nobody cares for your ride like you. I absolutely despise being forced to hand my baby over to some inexperienced, ill-trained technician.

Rant over. Thanks for a place to vent where people might listen/understand.

 

[Otis]

Glad to hear you passed. I found a smog guy that knows land cruisers so I go to him every time. I still sweat bullets each time I go in. My ‘80 passed last week but the price of a smog check is nearly double of just 3-4 years ago and he thinks his days of testing the old vehicles are numbered. Equipment costs are very high and he just does not test enough older vehicles to justify it. I may be registering out of state at some point…

 

[Rocky_LC]

That sucks…. I was struggling with smog for my California FJ40 when we luckily moved out of state.

Arizona is very friendly to classic vehicles. Classic or Historic plates, classic insurance, and no smog checks ever again, plus you can renew your vehicles for 5 years at a crack.

Classic & Historic registration is very cheap as well, and you get cool, heavyweight copper license plates!

Rocky

 

[fjc-man]

As I am sure, most of the folks on here know about smog laws here in California. They are strict and designed to take old cars off the road. Took mine for the biennial inspection. Passed all the tail pipe and initial inspections. Failed due to only being at 2 degrees before TDC.
WTF!!!!.
I just checked everything before I took it down.
It was dialed in, RPM; dwell; timing; everything!!
I know the drill! It has always passed. I am the original owner and all the smog equipment is intact.
I was stunned.
Couldn't believe it.
Went straight home and checked. Timing was dead on at 7 degrees before TDC. Pointer right on the BB.
I made an appointment for a re-test.
Beyond stressed out in the lobby.
It is taking a while.
Tech slips by front desk and into bosses office.
Both go out to my rig and I shoulder past the kid at the front desk to go with them.
Me " What the hell is the problem".
"Well, it is now at zero degrees BTDC.
"Bulls*** I just checked" "Let me see"
Pointer is at BB, timing light is at 0 advance.
Me. "Do you know how to use that timing light? That BB IS at 7 degrees before TDC".
Had to make them get on internet and check FSM to prove it.
Kid at front desk sheepishly gave me the Certificate.

Complete waste of my time and my money. Thinking about charging them for my time and extra blood pressure meds!!

This is the reason I do all the work I possibly can on my rig myself. Nobody cares for your ride like you. I absolutely despise being forced to hand my baby over to some inexperienced, ill-trained technician.

Rant over. Thanks for a place to vent where people might listen/understand.

Lesson learned, next time bring your FSM with you. You didn’t really expect them to know the difference between the BB and the line, did you? “inexperienced, ill-trained technician“

 

[spotcruiser]

I get a laugh out of my mother complaining about having to take her Prius in for a smog check.

 

[Brian/99uzj100]

As a 20+ year owner of a 76 here in Cali, I feel your pain.
I've had a tech fail the rig because the engine didn't stall when he routed manifold vacuum to the EGR. Modern cars will stall, our 40's won't. The air intake to the carb will sound hollow, per the FSM for emissions.
I've had a tech fail the rig for not having a serial number on my Downey smog legal headers, that they never had.
When I go for smog checks I always take the FSM, Emissions FSM and a copy of certification/exemption for the Downey headers from the CA Air Resources Board website.

 

[Brian/99uzj100]

And Congrats on being an original owner!

 

[Brian/99uzj100]

Glad to hear you passed. I found a smog guy that knows land cruisers so I go to him every time. I still sweat bullets each time I go in. My ‘80 passed last week but the price of a smog check is nearly double of just 3-4 years ago and he thinks his days of testing the old vehicles are numbered. Equipment costs are very high and he just does not test enough older vehicles to justify it. I may be registering out of state at some point…

The local guy I go to said he leases his older car smog check machine (76-99?) from the state, because they're too expensive to buy. I have a '99 100 series I love, that requires the older testing machine as well.
Out of state registration has crossed my mind too.

 

[Racer65]

That sucks…. I was struggling with smog for my California FJ40 when we luckily moved out of state.

Arizona is very friendly to classic vehicles. Classic or Historic plates, classic insurance, and no smog checks ever again, plus you can renew your vehicles for 5 years at a crack.

Classic & Historic registration is very cheap as well, and you get cool, heavyweight copper license plates!

Rocky

Man, that sounds like dream land.

 

[White Stripe]

Smog testing is a waste of time and purely a money making endeavor at this point. In the pre obd2 era it was needed. Most vehicles are obd2 and monitor emissions themselves. For the few that aren't obd2, if they blow excessive smoke out the tailpipe the police should pull them over and issue a ticket.

 

[1969FJ]

Move out of California. Most people I know have done that. Either that or struggle with constant pressure on understanding older vehicles and the fact that manufactures cannot produce replacement parts forever. I would hate to live there.

 

[dmaddox]

I’m with @White Stripe
If it’s a visible thing, ok. Otherwise just a safety check.

 

[projectTuRD]

I had two newer vehicles recently fail due to visual things that they could’ve noticed before even testing them, but had to charge me full price for them. I’ve been going to the same shop forever. Even though it’s the standard test routine, it’s still kind of frustrating. Yes they invested their time and resources into the tests and I can appreciate that, when I told them I was bringing 4 cars in, I’d hoped they’d cut me some slack.
Glad my 40 is pre smog.