Well boys, I’m fucked.

[Daddy Shroom]

Got the B6 up and running again, took it to a shop to get it smogged that I was recommended to by a co worker. Told the guy what was done to my car, said it wouldn’t be a problem. Hooked it up, and tadaaaa! I have to go see a referee.

I am so unbelievably pissed off right now. I’m stuck, and I don’t know what to do. Spent 2500 getting my car up and running again including my registration, and now I’ve got to park it. Again.

Fuck California smog laws.

What’s modded?

K04
Bigger injectors
Test pipe
Fmic
Carbonio intake
Magnaflow exhaust
Custom down pipe
Slammed on Koni coil overs

“A certificate cannot be issued for this vehicle because the vehicles OBD system data is inappropriate for the vehicle being tested. A certificate may only be issued for this vehicle by a referee. Referee inspection appointment maybe a scheduled by calling blah blah blah”

Yeah I should have known better, etc etc but I’m past that point. No need for “I told you so” conversations.

Now I just need to know what I do to pass the ref inspection. I really don’t want to return everything to stock.


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[mobilesuit818]

Time to get another A4, swap everything over and then swap back after smog.

Good luck


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[xalents23]

Sorry, to say but, CA smog laws are stricter nowadays. I have heard they do the OBD scan test for 99.9% of the ECU data now. So, if you have a tune or code anything out you fail. And would need to go to a ref. With a stock ECU you would most likely pass.

[SoCal Ian]

Dang keep the updates coming- never heard of a referee but always knew I had to put the cat back on and flash back to stock to pass in California. Good luck!


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[itsmatt33]

I would never go to a smog shop i didnt trust 100% or have experience with already. youre only k04 so its not even that bad.

[BARRY]

i don't know why smog guys do this...i had a similar issue where i told the guy the previous owner of my car passed with the installed replacement Catalytic...he said yes we can test the car, no problem...


HE FUCKING INPUTTED MY INFO INTO THE COMPUTER AND FAILED ME WITHOUT DOING SHIT. then he said pay me 57 dollars and come back...you cannot go anywhere else, you have to fix your car and retest with me.

[obaka]

wow... here in Chile you just put 30 dollars inside the ash tray and the emission test guy passes you with bells and whistles ..... test pipe tinted windows stage 2+ flash wrong tires brakes anything its just ridiculous wrong lol it makes me feel I live in a shithole country

g/l passing your rig man I know how you feel.

[AvantNoir]

That test pipe is your main problem. Immediate visual fail. You need to reinstall your cat before going to referee, or he's just going to turn you away. As long as you're not running some insane sort of tune on the car, it should pass once the cat is back on.

[A4-Mike]

Where I live in Australia you only need to roadworthy the car once for reg then as long as you pay the reg never need to roadworthy again and my car passes the emissions with all mods including no SAI or EGR and full custom flash tune, oh and I don't even have the charcole canister.

But I do feel for you, all the work you put in and dumb laws just saying No by looking at it.


02 A4 B6 1.8TQ Stage 3

[mongold88]

That sucks man, I live over in Virginia and only a certain parts of the state have emissions. You could always purchase a piece of dirt in Arizona and register the car there :)

[GS Dave]

Unless the intake has a CARB EO#, I would swap that out as well. the turbo, big injectors and maybe the IC will be OK. Though the IC may be a problem as well. At a ref station they will usually look for anything that is not stock and then look for the CARB EO#. Of course the test pipe needs to go.

[projectvoltron]

Got the B6 up and running again, took it to a shop to get it smogged that I was recommended to by a co worker. Told the guy what was done to my car, said it wouldn’t be a problem. Hooked it up, and tadaaaa! I have to go see a referee.

I am so unbelievably pissed off right now. I’m stuck, and I don’t know what to do. Spent 2500 getting my car up and running again including my registration, and now I’ve got to park it. Again.

Fuck California smog laws.

What’s modded?

K04
Bigger injectors
Test pipe
Fmic
Carbonio intake
Magnaflow exhaust
Custom down pipe
Slammed on Koni coil overs

“A certificate cannot be issued for this vehicle because the vehicles OBD system data is inappropriate for the vehicle being tested. A certificate may only be issued for this vehicle by a referee. Referee inspection appointment maybe a scheduled by calling blah blah blah”

Yeah I should have known better, etc etc but I’m past that point. No need for “I told you so” conversations.

Now I just need to know what I do to pass the ref inspection. I really don’t want to return everything to stock.


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That sucks man

My wife and I talked about moving to CA and I just don't think I can handle all the emissions bologna that comes along with it

I hope you get it figured out

[PSI NRG]

I'd hate that. Here in Ohio there's only 18 counties have have e-check. Register your car to a non e-mission county and boom you don't have to worry about that BS

[audireme]

K04 and injectors are not an issue. I've been passing smog with no issues on my A4 and B5 passat, both have those and are tuned. Test pipe is the problem. I can't say for the rest of the mods. Coding out O2 sensors will cause you to fail.

[BARRY]

smog station didn't care about my intercooler...don't think state ref would like it though as they state you should have zero modifications to the intake and exhaust track from OEM. all parts an hoses must be OEM or similar to OEM.

[Ephry73]

That sucks man

My wife and I talked about moving to CA and I just don't think I can handle all the emissions bologna that comes along with it

I hope you get it figured out

get a vintage car. done

[Ephry73]

smog station didn't care about my intercooler...don't think state ref would like it though as they state you should have zero modifications to the intake and exhaust track from OEM. all parts an hoses must be OEM or similar to OEM.

Sucks man. Stock SMIC and get rid of the test pipe. Did the car have any check lights? I would be mad at the co-worker as well for recommending the place

[projectvoltron]

get a vintage car. done

Or live in a place where they don't test emissions

[DarkoNova]

I'm curious how this goes because I was planning on taking my cats off while I have my transmission out but I was nervous of what would happen when smog time rolled around...

Good luck, bro.

[nighthawk86]

Just an idea... in CA there are a small handful of zip codes that don't require smog. South Lake Tahoe is one of them. Get a PO box up there, change your address with DMV for this car, and you will get a new registration letter without a smog renewal requirement. You can keep your car registered in CA indefinitely without ever smogging this way.

[A4-Mike]

^^^I'd be trying this before anything else!

02 A4 B6 1.8TQ Stage 3

[b1337]

^^^I'd be trying this before anything else!

THIS

[LINDW4LL]

Pro tip for next time, check the readiness monitors with VCDS prior to having it inspected. If something is coded out improperly, it will appear as "Not Installed"/Not Applicable. States have a database of what emissions systems the car had from the factory and if one of those systems reads as N/A in readiness, then they know something is up. That will also show if any readiness monitors are properly enabled, but haven't yet passed (example, if you recently cleared codes).

[Chuckster]

Anything that modified air and fuel needs an OE# for CA CARB state law. Catalyst stuff cannot be modified per federal law.

Some things are CARB exempt (catbacks ~literally means post-cat and back lol~ and stock location FMIC). Things invisible (fuel injectors, cams, turbo depending on location, tune that doesn’t code out any smog sensors) can pass only because the ref can’t notice or wrench apart your car to verify, but are still technically illegal in CA.

To pass for state law, swapping to a oem airbox or intake with an EO# and either the stock tune or one that doesn’t mess up the readiness sensors are needed here.

To pass for federal law, need to remove the dp and test pipe and put the oem cats back in their stock locations. Things to fool the smog sensors ~like O2 spacers- are illegal.

The state refs are typically done at the local college. The visual inspection is thorough and if that passes, then the plug-in test. The fees used to cover 2 attempts...I don’t know if that’s changed. With the citation, until you pass, you are not allowed to drive the vehicle on highways unless it’s to/from the state ref.

I dealt with this many years ago. Was running late for college and took my road race car on the freeway and CHP popped me. Oops. Where in CA it’s registered only addresses the test needed every 2 years, so playing with your address isn’t protection from getting pulled over and cited. That’s why I don’t mess with the cats. It’s not worth the inconvenience of a mobile smog check (there were a couple in LA just last week) and having to find “hook ups” constantly. Also advise not to post anything too specific in public forums....licenses for a smog tech are their livelihood.

[Daddy Shroom]

Thank you all for the support and replies. I have one ace in the hole if things go sideways at the state ref, and that would be transferring the title to a family member in a state that has zero smog laws.

That being said, my plans are to toss my stock cat back in, and replace both O2 sensors (since I found out they were throwing codes) then drive it for a couple hundred miles during my 60 day permit period. I have a feeling that when the codes were cleared and then I took it in (without knowing beforehand) is what fucked me. Then I’ll take the car into the ref with the cat in it, and see what they say. Good thing is, I never got a citation or pulled over for it. So basically, I have no deadline with the exception of the permit. So toss the cat in, and take it to see what they say. If they tell me to take things out that I won’t have the time or money for, then so be it. I’ll register it elsewhere under someone else’s name. But, if they pass me, then I should be good to go from this point out, and whatever is in when they pass me should hopefully be able to pass in the future.

Anyhow, I’ll let you all know what happens once I have the cat in, new O2 sensors, and I take it to the ref.


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[Nollywood]

I feel your pain bro.

We/re lucky this side of the pond. My 2000 B5 2.8 Quattro Sport was able to pass it’s test, including emissions. And that was with a lightly breathed-upon 4.2 V8 40V, from a 2005 D3 A8. No cats, just a pair of Milltek down pipes.

[Nollywood]

I think these days, modern catalysts are hardly restrictive. There have been tests where cats were pulled from cars, and the car was then dynoed. The results were surprising. Some returned the same figures as stock, some gained about 3 hp, while others were down on power, by as much as 12hp.

Some that gained, had dips in the power curve.

My opinion? Get a decent Sport catalyst, that has enough cells to do its job, yet not be restrictive to escaping gases.

Good luck!

[Kevin C]

On cars that I have done engine swaps and turbo conversions I had to get them certified through a referee station. I did this twice in the 12 years I lived in California. To me it was a small price to pay to have clean air in an area that has geography that makes smog an issue. The referee that I went to was a bit of a super wiz car guy. He also taught auto mechanics at the local community college.

My car got a very thorough inspection to make sure that ever part either had a CARB sticker, was stock for my vehicle or was from the donor vehicle. My blingy over the valve cover turbo pipe got flagged, obviously not stock. My ancient MSD was old enough that it didn't have a CARB sticker ( new ones do) so it got flagged as well.

Even when I had my setup certified the local stations refused to inspect it. They were always wary of stings by CARB to find shops that aren't following the rules and didn't want to make a mistake. I just went to the referee station for my inspections. The referee guy was nice, easy to work with and followed the rules. The only thing that he let go was that I had made up my own intercooler piping (kind of a must since the stock IC pipes from a Starion wont work on a Dodge Raider). Those pipe were done in steel and painted black to look stock. They got a comment and he accepted my explanation. The custom aluminum over the valve cover pipe did have to get swapped back.

To me, you got flagged for having cat delete software and no cat, I would expect a full inspection and any non stock non certified engine part will get probably get noted and need to be removed to pass.

[Daddy Shroom]

On cars that I have done engine swaps and turbo conversions I had to get them certified through a referee station. I did this twice in the 12 years I lived in California. To me it was a small price to pay to have clean air in an area that has geography that makes smog an issue. The referee that I went to was a bit of a super wiz car guy. He also taught auto mechanics at the local community college.

My car got a very thorough inspection to make sure that ever part either had a CARB sticker, was stock for my vehicle or was from the donor vehicle. My blingy over the valve cover turbo pipe got flagged, obviously not stock. My ancient MSD was old enough that it didn't have a CARB sticker ( new ones do) so it got flagged as well.

Even when I had my setup certified the local stations refused to inspect it. They were always wary of stings by CARB to find shops that aren't following the rules and didn't want to make a mistake. I just went to the referee station for my inspections. The referee guy was nice, easy to work with and followed the rules. The only thing that he let go was that I had made up my own intercooler piping (kind of a must since the stock IC pipes from a Starion wont work on a Dodge Raider). Those pipe were done in steel and painted black to look stock. They got a comment and he accepted my explanation. The custom aluminum over the valve cover pipe did have to get swapped back.

To me, you got flagged for having cat delete software and no cat, I would expect a full inspection and any non stock non certified engine part will get probably get noted and need to be removed to pass.

See, and that’s the thing. I want to cooperate fully, and within my means. If it’s stuff that can easily be fixed, and it passes, then I have no problem taking it to a ref all the time! If it’s beyond my budget, then I guess I’ll just have to park it until it’s something I can afford. Hindsight is 20/20, and it makes me look back and wish I would have known better about the carb stickers and stuff so I wouldn’t be in this situation now.

Another thing I was looking into is to see how feasible it would be to register my car as a custom vehicle/show car so I wouldn’t necessarily have the same smog restrictions. This isn’t my daily driver, it’s my baby.


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[Chuckster]

You can register as non-op, but you will need to tow it to and from your car shows because it won’t be registered for street use.
And your car isn’t old enough to get any historic options.
So I think your goal of bypassing CA smog or the ref for a late-model weekend car isn’t possible.

I got burned by a smog tech that was just supposed to run a test only since I had new cams and wanted to see how it impacted the 15 mph and 25 mpg tests. This idiot transmitted my results, so since I had an official fail, any other tech didn’t want to be the one to pass me if it wasn’t 100% legit. You’re in a shitty situation now, and the easiest way unfortunately is putting the stock parts back on. The referees go through everything. It can take an hour just for their visual. The more modded your car looks, the finer toothed their comb.

[Gunnarrrrr]

Lol I thought your username said daily shoah for a sec got me hyped

don't trip tho fam I just went through the same shit a few months back

luckily you just have a k04 and easily reversible mods. All you need is to ditch the test pipe. referees are no fun. took me 6 trips.
just put a real cat in, and stop running a test pipe in california. its not worth it for virtually no gains over a good HFC
also the ref will fail you for a fmic, idk if you're running one or not. they also failed me for a boost guage tapped into the hose next to the intake manifold.
good thing is, even if you have to swap your k03 back in, its stupid easy. If you need one, me or anyone else on you shouldn't have a problem loaning you one. But I doubt the ref will notice the difference.

AND CHECK YOUR REDDINESS MONITORS BEFORE DRIVING TO THE REF!

If you need any tips, hit my dm's. I can prob answer most questions for you being I just dealt with a ref ticket last year.