Bryan, you know better than me that the sole purpose of the "emissions check" business is to encourage spending, one of the many small pacemakers for the economy.
Taking that into account, what is that you are complaining about ?
you could have probably be done w/ it by playing dirty, yet the government screws you, and the people playin dirty (thats how you see clunkers on the freeway w/ current tags) have been going on with their lives, while you, a mechanicly inclined entuesiest get jerked around.
... i would say learn spanish, but your a smog tech!
Didn't know Humboldt County was no smog. I am registered in Del Norte County, and no smog on any vehicles... The jeep would at least pass... unlike another...
Funny thing, i lived in Sac for 10 years and always seemed to get dinged for something from the smog only checks. Once i moved to Placer County, no more smog only stations.. mmm, it took DMV 2 years to finally get me out of the smog only rotation though!! California Smog in Auburn isnt the cheapest, 58$ out the door, but Tom is way cool. He let me use his ODBII code reader on my truck for nothin too..
I went through a saga like that also. I've got an 01 with 3 cats,(clean as can be) but it failed twice. I had a misfire, so I had to clear it, then go drive around until it cleared all the tests. The emissions were very clean however.
3 tests and $175 bucks later, Im saying screw it, and Im registering it to humboldt. No smog FTW.
And I didn't get a dyno test. I'll never let any shop drive it because of the aussie.
Just for the record, having a rear locker is no big deal for running on the dyno. Same with big tires. Just make sure your rear tires are the same size and set at the same pressure(which you should be doing anyway). I ran my own junk on the dyno many times and have had no problems at all.
I think the test only program has gone out of control. When it was started they were supposed to send about 30% of the vehicles needing a smog check regardless of their emitter profile. Much has changed since then, approx 80% of all high emitter vehicles and at least 50% of all the other vehicles go to test only repair shop. The regular smog check shops are dying off due to low demand.
Yeah, I understand about the locker. But people always ask me why it sounds like a roller coaster, and shops always wonder why I work on this thing. I cant even get a good alignment warranty because of the zj tie rod.
Smog is a head ache, and It's going to suck more in years to come.
