mig1980

Question. My 98 C5 coupe had had to go on the rollers and have the sniffer test since I bought it 18 years ago. Would these new SMOG changes apply to my car?

madmatt9471

Unfortunately it will - you are still OBD 2 and it will affect the year 1998 - If I still had my '98 I would up the creek without a paddle. It was Supercharged and mildly cammed and it would pass the sniffer with the "SMOG" tune on it, but with it having to be tuned for the Supercharger (CARB Legal) it would of failed just like all the others are right now without the stock CALID in the ECU -

I hope all goes well for you -

Thanks,Matt

heggsc5

Late to the party, but knew I'd find a thread about this here lol. I'm a little upset/anxious about this as well. I just went through the ringer with the ref at the beginning of last year with mine, which means I'm due for smog again at the end of this year. I got randomly tagged for a "data check failure" and nobody knows how or why. I'm thinking they were already working on the ECU scanning back then. I've got the CARB legal A&A kit that passed at that time, but like others, I'm curious/anxious to see if they're saving enough of the tune data to even recognize changes in trivial stuff like fan programming.

Born and raised here, and I'm just hating it here more and more everyday lately. It's sad. There are PLENTY of heavily modified, late model cars on our streets that don't require a smog yet, but god forbid those of us who do need a smog are going through the ringer for mild, bolt on modifications. Apparently the only way to "safely" be a car enthusiast in CA nowadays is to have a pre-1975 or car less than 8 yrs old so you can avoid smog. I'm about ready to trade my car for a 250ci '74 Nova just to not have to deal with smog again

Can anyone that gets their modified C5 smogged report back with any feedback please?

madmatt9471

Have you spoke with A&A yet to see what has been happening with their vehicles and this new law? might be worth a call

Thanks,Matt

heggsc5

I still need to make a trip back there to have Andy look at a decel bucking issue, but we keep missing each other and life keeps getting in the way lol. I do intend to get the car there again before it has to be smogged, but with the way things have been going, I'm not 100% convinced I'll make it in time haha. At least I have HP Tuners now so if I'm able to get a CARB tune from them, I can load it myself if needed.

SSkull

I emailed Andy with the question the other week. He said the tune supplied with their A&A kit should have no issues. Afterwards I had another member here mention that Andy had told him he wasn't 100% sure. So I'm hoping someone will end up getting theirs smogged sooner than later with an A&A kit and give the real world results of what will happen.

I do believe I asked Andy after the other person(and the new law was going in effect after that weekend), so I'm hoping maybe Andy had came to a solid conclusion by the time he was answering me compared to the previous guy that messaged me.

madmatt9471

That's what I mean - call them and talk about what is going on, it's best to speak to them directly - California has been failing even their E.O. # and tune because it is not the factory ECU GM CALID - hopefully things have changed or will change.

The worst thing is is that A&A is doing their part as they always do and hasn't done anything wrong, it's all California and them not even recognizing their own issued E.O.#'s that are approved

I was and probably still will get a A&A kit for my C6 after all this BS blows over and gets straightened out, right now I am in the process of taking my 2009 C6 A6 back to STOCK - cam, torque converter, differential, GM stock tune

Andy and his business has gone above and beyond for us and for this to happen, even temporarily, is a frustration.

I hope this helps - I still suggest to give them a call, perhaps speak with Josh or Andy and inquire the latest - I am keeping an eye open for any updates on Facebook and Instagram

Thanks,Matt

heggsc5

I hear you man, but I think you missed the part where I said I need to bring my car back to Andy anyway haha. I'll just talk to him when I bring it out. I'm just curious to hear anyone's feedback that actually DOES go through a smog before then. With what hoops they made them jump through for the initial CARB approval, I wouldn't be surprised, or blame them, if A&A had no idea right now. As you said, the issues are 100% California, not A&A.

strand rider

The state only cares if you car is compliant when you are registering your car to return to service, you can take anything off the road you want. . I have had plenty of non operationl vehicle vouchers, they don't care about the car at that point, the form is just so you don't get hit with registration fees or late charges as if your car was still on the books. It used to cost $35, and is probably still nominal.

When you want to get the car operational, when you apply for the license tags, you get a one day legal on the road paper to go get your car smog checked. You pay up when you bring the smog tests in to get the tags needed to put your car back on the road. Once you get the smog done, they have vending machines dispensing tags around town, to accommodate the people who did it all on line. My local Home Depot has one.

I read about the lines and paperwork which are obviously not fun, but consider the millions of people they process, so I can somewhat understand the shotgun approach to deal with the volume. Of course , there is always room for improvement, but service cost money. Taxes are already a sore subject, just imagine if they somehow managed enough staff to provide service equal to every other service provider we normally encounter. Some politician trying to make a name would be jumping up and down screaming about a boondoggle waste of tax money because of the red carpet service down at the DMV, for a special very small class of people trying to register questionable cars in the first place. Probably make a pie chart about the cost of these people verses the normal service cost per person.

cv67

This really sucks....go back and forth about a C5-6, or even building a better engine for my 02 1500.
With this law everything has to be stock period. F that.
Cant put lots of carb legal parts on cause the tune is illegal. What next?

This is gonna kill the value and saleabilty of tons of late model cars/trucks.

GLmajer

Last week had my 2008 Z06 smogged for registration renewal. Car has heads/cam package from American Heritage Performance done 6 years ago. 535 rwhp and 490 trq to rear wheels. It has a stock tune otherwise and PASSED the smog test!!!! The tester did do the "mirror" test under the car to check cats, o2 sensors and for headers all which are stock. It passed this time but not sure what will happen 2 years from now when due again. Although, by that time I most likely will be retired and living in another state!

heggsc5

You're definitely not running a stock tune with a heads/cam package lol. This is good news though. That's one tuned vehicle that's gone through smog with no issues 👍👍 Looking forward to more reports like this!

madmatt9471

I wonder if the station was not up to speed as of yet or if this is something that offers a glimmer!

After I complete my return to stock I am going to take my Vette over to my SMOG shop and have them do a test and see if the "Stock" tune that I saved on HP Tuners is good to go or if I will have to still get the ECU flashed by GM -

Thanks,Matt

C5Natie

I passed in May with my tuned C6. Bolt on car mostly but still tuned. My evap wasn't working but they said that wouldn't cause a fail. I'm relieved that I have 2 years to go till the next smog but I'm still worried and trying to prepare myself as much as possible before my time comes back up. I got ported heads and a cam waiting for me in the garage that I'm holding off on installing until I learn more.

madmatt9471

I hear you - it's a bit on the ridiculous side.

I am going to take my C6 over to the SMOG shop that I use after I finish with the "Project Back to Stock" and see if the stock tune that I saved on HP Tuners is fine to pass smog or if HP Tuners leaves a thumb print and makes it fail -

It has all the stock criteria in the information but the file may have a HP Tuner signature thus allowing it to fail -

All I know is that when I dropped my stock tune in with my mid cam there is no way that they would of passed it just by the sound - LOL

Thanks,Matt

hungryhippo

Hey Matt, thanks for doing all this research. I think being able to flash a stock tune with hptuners rather than the dealer will be the big difference for most of us. Anyone with a more modded car would be using hot smogs and I wonder how this affects them with the vin id.

madmatt9471

You're very welcome -

I am hating to go back to stock but it is what it is and I don't race the Vette, I have always been a 1/4 enthusiast more than anything else and I didn't even have plans to race it, so I will cruise and if anything just enjoy the handling and styling of my Vette

As soon as I know what happens I will post up -

Thanks,Matt

C5Natie

That would be good to know. I actually bought a spare stock ecu with a stock factory tune flashed into it based on my vin

madmatt9471

Here is some good information regarding CVN Checksum(s) that I found that really helped to clear things up - So I might just be able to drop my "Stock Tune" saved on my HP Tuners and download it since all the values will be there - The last link speaks about the C6 Corvette E38 PCM (ECU) - very interesting

https://tis2web.service.gm.com/tis2web you can see your operating system here and checksums (CVN)

https://forum.hptuners.com/showthrea...ng-Smog-Checks

https://forum.efilive.com/showthread...e-tuning-world

https://forum.hptuners.com/showthrea...anty-Reflashes

https://mechanics.stackexchange.com/...ber-cvn-unique

https://forum.efilive.com/showthread...VN-s-Explained

https://forum.efilive.com/showthread...VN-s-Explained

https://forum.efilive.com/showthread...-Flash-Counter

​​​​​​​Thanks,Matt

heggsc5

Taken from a post in the top hptuners thread, quoted from BAR:

"The new system reads out the VIN and specific data over the vehicles OBD2 port. That information is then cross-referenced against a database compiled from data supplied by auto manufacturers. If the system detects a mismatch, the smog technician would then need to check for a CARB EO label for the tune for that specific vehicle."

This makes it sound like those of us with A&A kits will be safe. Since each car should need a custom tune once an A&A kit is installed, the CARB EO for the kit itself should cover the tune. I know A&A has a CARB specific tune, but I'd be very surprised if it were a canned tune that is given to each car. It would almost have to be custom to some degree to account for differences among each motor. I know canned/over the shelf tunes have been commonplace with other manufacturers for a long time, but I would be surprised if the A&A CARB approval was done with a canned tune.

The thing that would cause an issue, which would have already caused an issue before this new process began, is if there have been changes to the tune from one smog to the next.