My brother had the GTA smoged and failed the EVAP system leak test. Later the shop admited the car failed because the test equipment did not fit the filler neck properly. The shop claimed that's the only equipment approved by CA to perform this test. I suggested to my brother he get a second opinion from another test only shop. In the mean time, I was wondering, has anyone had their car smoged this month? The test tech was suggesing CA made a mistake and maybe this type of equipment doesn't fit an F-body. What do you guys think? Tech full of BS? Tech doesn't know how to use the equipment? CA sucks at life? Batman symbol?

Thats correct, there is only one or two devices approved by CA. That includes a pair of pliers to smash a rubber hose closed. They are supposed to have 3 adapters for different tank fillers.

I cant believe they dont have a cap to fit the tank properly. Call the BAR, complain to them. Only with complaints will they do away with this stupid test.

lol The tech did suggest we complain to the BAR.

Yeah, I did and they broke the rubber hose...doh.

It passed tho

Don, What car did you have tested? Bill

I need to have my car smooged next month what should I do to make sure it passes this new test?

What hose did they break Don?

Isnt that what I said would happen?
Sheesh.

So did they pay to replace the hose?

Just did it on Fri....car failed the 1st of 2 chances, but then he adjusted the clamp and it passed on the 2nd and final try.

Stupidest procedure ever. Really prolongs the time you spend at the station also. If your car takes two attempts, tack on an extra 20 minutes to your warm stay at your local Test Only.

I guess you missed this thread:

http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/so...vice-used.html (New emission device to be used as of 11/1/07)

Yes I did. Thanks for the link Kevin.

My 98 Dodge truck gets a smog check at a TEST ONLY place this year for the first time. With just over 80K miles on it and no mods whatsoever I doubt it will fail.

Lon

Thats why I had mine done in Nov before I got the renewal.

Jonathan's '92 TPI RS
They broke the little hose on the valve to the canister, and it still passed LOL!

No, they didn't pay for it.

Well this confirms everything I said would happen.

How much is the replacement hose cost? Im almost certain that when I go get mine done that the hose will break

LOL...it's just a piece of rubber hose, less than a foot long.

The point is "THE TEST IS DAMAGING PARTS ON YOUR VEHICLE".

Everyone who has a part damaged during the test should complain to the BAR and their State congressmen. Thats the only way this test will be either fixed or discontinued.

Yes, only a foot of hose.
For those who CAN fix it, it requires a trip to the auto parts store and your time to repair it, totaling at least 1 hour.
For those who cant fix it (old, disabled, know nothing about car repair, etc) it's probably a min $30- $50 repair.

And for me, its a $300 job...

Oh, wait... I 'm not THAT dumb...

I thought it was the plastic nipple on the canister that was breaking, from crimping the hose too close to the canister, rather than crimping the hose away from the nipple. So, did the hose break from being from being old/ dry / heat-soaked / etc.? As usual, I'm cornfuzed... Bill

The hose, and any hose other than new, broke because a pair of 12' long needle nose pliers were closed to the point where the hose was completely closed.

Go to any smog station and ask to see the crimping pliers and you will see why the hoses break. If not from the crimping then from the weight of those pliers twisting the hose when the tech takes his hand off them to perform the test.

I'd like to start sending these broken hoses with a note to whoever is in charge of the smog inspection. Would that be the EPA or the BAR or the CARB?

BAR controls the smog check program.

If you have to go to a TEST ONLY STATION and fail.
California will help you repair your vehicle to pass smog.
You pay the first $100 and the state will pay the $500.

""""""""""The Consumer Assistance Program is available at participating Gold Shield stations for motorists who need assistance (up to $500) in repairing a vehicle when it fails a biennial (every other year) Smog Check. Click here to learn more about the Consumer Assistance Program and to obtain an application, or visit us a www.smogcheck.ca.gov. """""""""""

Only if you're poor.
This is about them breaking stuff in the process of testing, which they are supposed to be 100% responsible for.

What about the cap not fitting on the filler neck? Anyone else have that problem?

If your car is not stock, expect to be required to put everything back to stock before they do anything. It does not matter whether the aftermnarket items have CARB aproval or not. The stations doing the work for the state will demand you put stock exhaust manifolds back on, replace any aftermarket runners or large bases, and install a stock chip. If it doesn't pass with a stock chip because of a cam, expect to be required to replace your cam with a stock piece. In short, you don't even want to go there unless you have a dead stock machine. The techs won't know how to deal with a car with any modifications, so they will look to put everything back to factory before they trouble shoot it further.

Not True. If you're required to use a test only station, you pay the 1st $100.
If you're below the income level you only have to pay $20.

It's true if you've changed you're engine from stock then you are on you're own.

I'd love to test that theory with their 'available funds'.

They may be supposed to be responsible for anything they break, but you are probably out of luck to collect. They will undoubtably tell you the hose was ready to break anyway. If the same station gets too many complaints from owners of specific models of car, they may just tell you to take it elsewhere. If you want to fight "city hall," good luck. It is probably easier to just take a piece of hose to replace with you when you go for the test.

Why should I even allow them to do it in the first place, if I know the end result?

Thats half the problem though, most people will just suck it up instead of putting up a fight and getting rid of dumb rules.

My 2 cents worth of knowledge on the subject is if you fail for any reason, before you leave the test station, make sure that the smog tech input the correct information for you car. The last time I failed, the half wit tech had input all the information for my car incorrectly, one example was the 454 engine he input instead of the 350 TPI. These guys are not all that smart.

Thats why this $hit keeps getting worse and worse, NO ONE wants to take 5 or 10 min to file a complaint with the BAR.

Yes Russ, its only a short piece of rubber hose. But what is the cost if you have to HAVE it repaired. Even when you fix it yourself it takes a special trip to vadozone to get hosed (again).

Bret

Smog your GTA yet?

I do not have to smog my car 'till DEC 08. For the people who did smog their cars, why do not you complain to bar?, and if there is no out come, then we can all sue BAR

You cant sue government agencies, per se,
Best bet would be to beat on your local State reps, they are the ones who made this test a law.

Yep. Did it on the 28th. I put a post up on the SC3G board.

The EVAP test went fine. The car passed everything except the 25mph NOX. CA has reduced the numbers we are required to meet. New number we have to meet now is 706. My car blew a 900.

Tech suggested a possible EGR problem. IIRC, I replaced the EGR and EGR solenoid a couple years back when I had to tear down the fuel rail.

I suggested the tech re-run the test and shift the trans manually. That's what they did the last time and my car passed.

Tech recommended I run around the block first and run up the RPM's to see if it clears the car out. I took it around the block and spun it up in first gear. Blew the radiator by doing that.

Anyway, I came back to the shop and we put it back on the rollers. This time I sat in the car with the tech and shifted the gears — just like 2 years ago. Car blew a 655 on the 25mph NOX.

So, in the end I passed, but I fragged my radiator in the process. Not that big a deal since I have my new aluminum race radiator sitting the garage. Motivation to install it now.

Got sniffed today! 12/31.

They did that clamp thing on my car and thought awe crap!
Came through with flying colors.

The techs were confused as to were to apply the clamp though.

They did have the right fitting for the gas cap which I heard was a problem?

All in all... I passed with flying colors on that one.

My question is....
Does anyone who does not buy a new car every five years like living in Cali anymore?
I'm starting to hear this on a daily basis.

Not I

Bret
What was the old NOX number

When you have smog tests performed over 6 or 8 years you can see the different values the car puts out at each test. And more recent tests are not always worse numbers then older tests.

Question, those who passed, did you inspect your vacuum hose for cracks after the test?

I'd have to look it up in my old paperwork. I want to say it was 900.

Had mine done today and it passed everything including the EVAP. They didn't break the hose.

Its so nice how they can arbiterialy lower the pass number so more cars fail.
in this case 22% lower. I'll bet that 22% amounts to less than one-one hundreth of one percent of the smog output here.
but it sure makes the repair industry a lot more money.

When did they lower the numbers? Looking at the papers from my last smog test in '06 the numbers are the same. Max for 15mph HC 130 CO 0.94 and NO 1106. For 25mph HC 103 CO 0.74 and NO 936.

Here are the MAX numbers according to my test from last week.

15mph: HC 108, CO 0.71, NO 767

25mph: HC 83, CO 0.58, NO 706

I think California wants us either out of our old cars, or out of the state...

I looked at the papers from when my '88 GTA was smogged in '06 and the numbers are the same as yours. The numbers in my previous post are from my '83 and they are also unchanged from '06.

I'l have to dig up my paperwork from '05 and see what the numbers were.

Update: So last week I went to the smog place with my brother and sure enough, the cap for the EVAP test did NOT fit. Then we went to another smog shop and the same thing; the cap did not fit. Both shops automatically assumed there's something wrong with the GTA's filler neck but our cap fits fine. Heck even my Lotus' cap fits fine on the GTA. So my brother has an appointment with a referee tomorrow morning.

If that is actually true, your car is exempt.

"WHICH VEHICLES ARE EXEMPT?
• Model-year 1996 and newer. These vehicles are equipped with on-board computer systems that monitor the EVAP system and do not need this new test.
• 1976-1995 model-year vehicles that:
�� Were not originally equipped with a fuel evaporative control system;
�� Are powered exclusively by Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), or Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG);
�� Do not have a fuel fill pipe adaptor available for the EVAP tester"

Thanks. I just prited that out from the BAR to give to my brother.