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Old 04-22-2022, 12:03 PM   #26
Domi
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SpicyPeaNut View Post
From the looks of it, Cobb hasn't abandoned us in CA. They are getting CARB #'s for nearly all the parts minus the flex fuel. Though I did read that they are working on new kits to replace the ones that are no longer for sale. I assume they will come out with a new flex fuel kit that will get a CARB approval # at some point.
https://www.cobbtuning.com/green-spe...te-april-2022/

I'd highly recommend sticking with Cobb parts since they will be approved for use in CA.

Thank you for adding something relevant to the conversation.

It would appear you're correct about cobb chasing carb numbers for their parts.What's going on with the access tuner and access port is definitely going to steer me away from cobb.

It's looking more like opensource or stand alone is going to be the the safest bet for tuning. The last thing i need is the government telling me which car parts i can and can't spend my money on.

I'll just have to keep bothering tuners to see which way all this is headed.
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Old 04-22-2022, 04:12 PM   #27
rtv900
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Originally Posted by Domi View Post
If at some point you'd like to stop spouting diarrhea and have an actual conversation im down. Until then ill just ignore you, lol.
Nobody is spouting diarrhea, just pointing out the facts about the state you live in and your challenges regarding modding a car there. Nobody at an inspection station is going to give a crap if you say your tune is for "off road"

but anyway, just messing with you because you are getting so riled up.
Maybe it's just a soundbite regulation that isn't enforced at all or ridden with loopholes like the CAFE fuel efficiency standards, which has produced zero results in 30 years but is still revered as critical climate regulation.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Domi View Post
The last thing i need is the government telling me which car parts i can and can't spend my money on.
Ummmm, they already are dude, that's what we're trying to tell you.
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Old 04-22-2022, 05:13 PM   #28
Waddlz
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Good luck

Cali checks for tunes, and if you have anything other than a CARB EO you will fail emissions and will get state ref'd to put your car back to stock

but hey, please tell the Smog guy your car is "off road"
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Old 04-22-2022, 10:07 PM   #29
Domi
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Waddlz View Post
Good luck

Cali checks for tunes, and if you have anything other than a CARB EO you will fail emissions and will get state ref'd to put your car back to stock

but hey, please tell the Smog guy your car is "off road"

I know, because there's never been ways around smog in Cali right? You just gotta know the right people. The only thing that's changed from my perspective is the amount of money you gotta give smog guys now...lol. Could also just register it out of state. I drive maybe 100 miles a week. Not everything is doom and gloom.

Reputable shops are still slinging e85, i just talked to my tuner earlier today, business as usual. They even have a work around for the Cobb nonsense.
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Old 04-23-2022, 04:19 AM   #30
Domi
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Quote:
Originally Posted by newsoltsc View Post
So from my understanding is when cars go out they give CARB a hash value of the ECU. When you go to smog they check that the ECU spits out the same hash value received from CARB.

I think it may be as easy as recording the stock ECU hash value, then copying it Bit-For-Bit, then verifying that B4B copy has the SAME hash value, and storing that B4B copy on a hard drive so when you need to smog again you can restore the B4B copy of the ECU and verify the same hash value.


There's gotta be a way to "clone" an ECU to make an image and verify the image with the same hash value from CARB.
I didn't even see this previously. Seems plausible, I'll start reading, thanks for the info.
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Old 05-20-2022, 05:07 PM   #31
jeffambo
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I just recently got really lucky. I'm in Cali and I have a 2013 WRX that I recently put an EJ20x in. It's technically not supposed to be legal because it doesn't have the air pump emission device and the ECU will throw codes because of it. So basically that's supposed to be a fail on the visual and the OBD2 scan. I also have an aftermarket DP lol.

However, I deleted the Air Pump codes using Cobb's software and that allowed me to pass the OB2 Scan at 2 different places. The first place I just asked for a pre-test and the guy told me it would pass the scan but I would fail the visual for various different reasons he didn't mention the airpump but he was just glancing around and wasn't getting too in depth because he was doing it for free(i was willing to pay). He also said I need the emission sticker that's on the inside of the hood.

Last week, I went to a different STAR station, nervous as hell because I've basically given up on being able to get this engine smogged because it's simply not legal along with my DP.

The guy took a long time and was very thorough, which I figured meant I was extra ****ed because I thought the only way I'd pass is if I managed to find someone who only did the OBD2 scan just glossed over the visual but he took 30 mins going in and out and under my car.

Then the cashier lady told me to come and pay, didn't mention the result, which I figured meant I failed and they just wanted to make sure I paid before I got the bad news and possibly try to get out of paying(which I wouldn't have done of course).

So, I pay, she hands me the reciept and papers and I'm walking out reading the results and BOOOM, I passed lol.

I'm sure the guy knew their was some ****ery because he didn't even come get me to tell me I passed or anything even though I talked to him a lot before and during the process. He certainly did enough work to figure out the engine wasn't the right engine.



The interesting part is that on the paper under the Air Pump section and the ERG section, it just says 'not applicatable'.

Basically, I got lucky. I still have to get the CHP inspection because the car is salvaged and I'm trying to register it.

If anyone has any advice on that or how to replace the airbag system for cheap, let me know.

but the point is that I was able to flash the ECU back to the COBB STAGE 1 CARB legal tune and also delete some of the codes, so it wouldn't throw a check engine light and it passed the OBD2 test at 2 seperate STAR smog places.

I'll probably delete this comment in a couple days just so it's not floating out there for an authority figure to read but it might be helpful to a few people wondering.

Why is the process more complicated than 'how much pollution does your car make?'. I don't understand why they don't just put the test hose in your tailpipe, read the emissions, and that's it. So typical of california to make the process more convuluted than necessary.

As long as my car isn't polluting more than is reasonable, I don't feel guilty passing at all.

The Smog shop, which I won't name, didn't have a lot of online reviews and they weren't great, like 4.1. So I made like 6 accounts and gave them 5 stars on all 6, not saying anything dumb of course, just saying good generic stuff.

'bro passed me when I shouldn't have, everyone go here and get John Doe, 5/5 can't wait to go with my straight pipes next time'

Last edited by jeffambo; 05-20-2022 at 05:19 PM.
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Old 06-21-2022, 07:37 PM   #32
Suber Krout
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Default ECU tune/California Smog

California: As of, July 19, the state's notoriously strict smog testing will automatically fail any car when it detects modified software onboard, aka, a tuned ECU. Drivers can't register a car in the state unless it's passed a smog check. Car Bibles first spotted the updated policy and the California Bureau of Automotive Repair confirms the changes on its website.

All is not lost for those driving a modified car in need of a smog check, though. The state government says drivers can simply restore the ECU to the OEM standard, pass the smog test and then do whatever they'd like after that. As long as your car won't puke its guts out running a stock map, drivers should be all right. This is, more than anything, a good reminder of the policy change.

In addition, California smog testing will still have zero issues with cars running ECU tunes with a California Air Resources Board Executive Order. These EO tunes receive approval from CARB, so companies can still sell their tuning services in the state without any emissions repercussions. If you're running an EO ECU tune, there's no need to worry about this new policy at all. In addition, the policy doesn't change anything regarding vehicles from the 1975 model year and older. They still don't need a smog check for registration in the state. Cars nine years or older than their sale date still require a smog check every other year.
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Old 06-29-2022, 12:37 PM   #33
Hagbeard
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Note that is as of July 19, 2021. Maybe the database to check the ECU checksums isn't deep enough for older cars, my 2004 passed smog this year with an Accessport tune.

Update: According to this article, the checksum is one of two ways they'll check, and the less common. The more common method is by using a database of ECU data collected during smog checks since 2015 and comparing it to the test car. Since my car had the tune before 2015, my tuned data is part of the database, as is anyone else that ran an Accessport in that timeframe, which might make it difficult to identify modified software on older cars. Including this year, my car has been smogged 4 times since 2015.

It's possible that as time goes on more data from untuned early 2000 cars will make my car stand out, and it's equally possible that the age of the cars and them getting off the road mean there will be less data points to expose the older tuned cars. It seems like cars up to 2008 have the best chance of not being detected since they would have been required to start smogging right when the data collection started and they would have the most opportunities to populate the database with tuned data. Knowing exactly what data is collected and compared is key, and I'm sure they're keeping that information really close.

Last edited by Hagbeard; 07-01-2022 at 03:12 PM.
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Old 06-29-2022, 04:00 PM   #34
BipBoby
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Hi, I'm new to this forum. I'm dealing with the same California problems. I have bone stock Outback XT 2005 with 2.5 EJ255 motor and thinking of replacing motor internals and adding COBB 20G turbo.

My understanding is that day to day I can use custom tune and for SMOG I would have to reflash back to stock.

Thanks for sharing your struggles and solutions!
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Old 06-29-2022, 04:01 PM   #35
BipBoby
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Hi, I'm new to this forum. I'm dealing with the same California problems. I have bone stock Outback XT 2005 with 2.5 EJ255 motor and thinking of replacing motor internals and adding COBB 20G turbo.

My understanding is that day to day I can use custom tune and for SMOG I would have to reflash back to stock.

Thanks for sharing your struggles and solutions!
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Old 07-09-2022, 02:30 AM   #36
NutBucket
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Old 07-14-2022, 08:12 PM   #37
King_Erotiq
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Im curious about this. Anybody else try this as a california resident?
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Old 07-16-2022, 08:19 PM   #38
NutBucket
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A coworker has his Evo registered in Montana. Not sure if he used this company. Our RV is registered in MT but that's for tax purposes.
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