stanged

I posted this question in another thread that was not going anywhere so decided to post it as a separate thread.

I live in California and have the Custom Tuned SCT X3. I am interested in the JLT CAI but am concerned about meeting the CA smog checks and do not want to have to re-install the originals to pass. Does anyone have experience with the JLT CAI and smog checks in CA?

chronos

By what I have seen, not that many folks here are in California so you may not get many responses. I don't mess with it cause I already know what a pain in the butt the smog checks can be. If you keep you car for a few years, then you'll wind up at the check only stations and they are more of a pain.

stanged

Thanks chronos, that's what I was afraid of. Looks like I will be leaving it stock and only convert back to the original tune when I must do smog. We are currently trying to sell our condo and a possible move out of CA.

DRock

You can always call JLT and CNL or one of those big intake places and ask them if there intakes come with a CARB aproved sticker of paper......If they say yes then your golden.........if no then swapping it out every time a check comes around is always an option.

nohobandit

Your car will pass smog with the X3 and CAI. I have the X3 w/ the Steeda CAI on my 07 and pass with no problems. Just make sure not to remove your cats or you wont pass the visual.

stanged

Thanks all, really appreciate the info.

sycd

Not true, CA is a lot stricter than other states.

chronos

Yea, California is wacko crazy strict. Not to say that there aren't some mods that may pass, since I gave up on trying to figure the rules out long ago. The problem is that some rules are retroactive and some are not. So what may be OK today may not be tomorrow. Another problem is the station inspector can be a real Ahole and decide to make your life difficult. Sure, I hear someone saying "Then get it checked some place else" Not possible. Once you fail at one station (for whatever reason) that is electronically submitted faster than you can say "Holy Crap" and Sacramento already puts you on their black list. Then you have to go to a state referee after you make the suggested changes and hope that that referee doesn't look for anything else than can ruin your day. Through the entire process I am sure there are fees that have to be paid since there is NOTHING in California that is free. To make matters even worse, once you are on that black list, they will more than likely mess with you every year from that point forward. It's just like being audited by the IRS. Get audited once and you are SOL from that day forward. So I'm sure you are asking "But there has to be a solution?" Yep, Stanged already said it MOVE! I know that's what I will be doing as soon as I can sell my place.

Derf00

Only questions you should be concerned with are

1) Does the CAI have a C.A.R.B number (California Air Resource Board)? If so, be sure to have the sticker or paper work from the CAI manufacturer handy to show the Smog center. If you're not sure if your CAI maker is CARB compliant, ask them.

2) Does the tune you run shut off the rear O2 Sensors? If it does, contact whomever made the tune for you and have you a smog safe tune provided. (lose a little bit of power but turns on the 02 sensors and makes sure you'll pass).

I used to live in CA (20 years) so I am very familiar with how strict they are. Oh and BTW you CAN mess with teh cats but they too require a CARB number. I passed with highflow cats that were CARB approved.

stanged

I communicated with Brenspeed regarding passing CA smog testing with their tunes. They say that normally their tunes turn off the rear O2 Sensors so if a OBDII scan is used for the check the car will fail. If only a sniffer test is used they think the car will pass. When you order their tunes you must specify that you want emissions testing friendly tunes.