360 CA smog test

Tino -- call me.

The 360's pass the "emissions/sniffer" test, but don't meet the full battery of OBD II diagnostic tests that Ca. Law requires now. Several of these OBD II diagnostic tests will show NOT READY -- you're only allowed to have 1 not ready test as of 1/1/04 (last year 3 "not ready" were acceptable). The smog station will tell you that you need to drive the car more (put miles on) so the car can complete certain driving cycles (and they are strange driving cycles at that) allowing the OBD II system to run certain self-diagnostic tests on the car's emissions system. I went thru this with my 1999 -- my buyer put on more than 800 miles on the car and the same 3 tests remained in the "NOT READY" state. Ferrari is aware of this problem -- they say it's the Ca. computers interface with the F-cars computer. Others believe the glitch is in the Bosch OBD II software running in current Ferraris. Who knows?

More info that you wanted to know -- so you don't have to call me.

 

Very interesting. I never heard of this.

Gary

 

my stradale passed just fine.

 

Hi Ben -- I should have said SOME 360's.

I personally know of several 360's (primarily MY1999 and 2000)that had this problem and were given the "drive the car more" run around at the smog test station. The Ferrari district rep was involved and eventually these cars got "passed" with dealer intervention and assistance. Some cars required the use of the "referee" process.

 

Yeah the guy who tested mine tests all of Symbolics and said lots of 360s failed.

 

CA requires smog tests on new cars??? Doesn't make sense. I thought new cars didn't have to be tested for some number of years. I've been away from CA for a few years, but I don't remember new cars having to be tested. ?

 

I just had my 04 360 tested and it failed the OBD test. The car registered 3 "not ready's" . The catalyst, 2nd sys, and o2 sensor. The car has only 200 miles on it and it runs beautifully. Maybe it does just need more miles. If the car is not up to running temperature it can also cause these "faults" to register. Mine was very warm. Strange.....

 

New cars that come from out of state dealers require a smog test prior to registration in Ca, as well as the resale of a "previously owned" new car, i.e., flipper cars.

A new California sold car in the hands of the original owner is exempt from testing for the first 4 years of ownership.

 

Wow! This is definately interesting. My business partner just bought a '99 Modena with 9k miles on it and he had the same thing happen. It passed on all the emission-related tests but failed because of some sensor needing to be reset. The dealership told him he had to put a few hundred miles on it. If Ferrari is aware of the problem you would think they would stand behind (and resolve) all the cars that fail because of this glitch.

 

I had my 2000 tested this May and it passed with no problems. If there is a problem and Ferrari is aware of it I would not hold my breath for them to step up to the plate to to resolve it (personal experience)!

 

This is definitely an issue, at least with 1999s and 2000s. My 1999 360 is at the dealer and they are driving it around through all sorts of rigamarole trying to get the O2 sensor and the O2 Heat Sensor to switch from "Not Ready" to "Ready." They claim all have to be "Ready" for it to pass.

They said there is a new campaign to get the 1999 and 2000s to even present info to OBD II correctly, though mine seemed to do that. They did the campaign, but it didn't fix the "Not Ready" read-outs.

Tomorrow they are going to try again. They now want it to completely cool before the hook it up again.

They gave me a sheet of paper on how to cycle the sensors, and it was a ten step driving program that pretty much required different times and distances in different gears at different speeds - all laid out. I tried it as best I could with a few traffic signals mixed in, and it didn't do it, so I left it for them to figure out.

I've put about 1200 miles on it the last 60 days, and did a bunch of driving over the last week - including a high performance driving class at Infineon Raceway yesterday, but I guess I didn't vary the speeds, RPMs, and gears enough.

Hope this doesn't take too long! What a pain.

 

I forgot to mention - this isn't just affecting Ferrari, thought it seems Ferraris take more mileage to get the resets than other cars. The dealer said it can take up to 200 miles of driving to get the ready lights on our cars; whereas GM cars seem to reset in about 70 miles.

Here is more info: http://www.smogcheck.ca.gov/ftp/pdfdocs/obd_ii_faqs.pdf

Based on this, it would appear this has reared its head for a number of folks - not just Ferrari owners.

Fun fun.

The dealer also mentioned that we should not be disconnecting the battery, as that causes all the sensors to go back to a "Not Ready" state. I haven't disconnected mine, and it has never been left to drain - the car is always on a battery tender trickle charging, so at least that isn't my issue.

 

The saga continues...

The "not ready" status doesn't seem to want to change for the oxygen and oxygen heater sensors, despite Ferrari of Silicon Valley (FSV) driving it around for 3 days with a hand-held OBD-II monitor attached.

They are now taking the car to a BAR SMOG Referee to get it passed without those sensors. It seems they have taken a number of these cars to the referee for this issue.

My next question is: what happens in 2 years when it needs to be re-smogged?

 

Hmm, kind a creepy first part of the thread as I wasn't paying attention to dates. RIP!

 

It has been happening with a lot of 360's. I suspect that the only way Ferrari will step up to the plate is for everyone affected to officially complain to BAR. If enough people do BAR may force the issue with Ferrari.

 

Just take it to the referee. They know about the problem and it's an easy pass. Problem is, some of these problems are intermittent. One time it might pass, next time not.

Art

 

FYI:

I took my prior 99 - 360 to the Referee here in Sacramento. The car was passed by the Referee. The computer showed the OBD II system staus constantly open before and after the test. It requires the referee to overrule the system and pass the car.

DO NOT TAKE IT TO A SMOG PLACE FIRST. A carfax will have multiple failed smog tests on it and God knows this FREEKS everyone who wants to buy your car later.

I called the Referree ahead of time. It cost me $70....the test cost the State of California $398.00 !!!!!!!

 

Thanks for the advice.

The car has not been taken to a smog-check station. The dealer has hooked up the OBD-II cable and gotten the "not ready" status, but I don't think that means they have started a smog test. It goes to the referee today at 1pm PT - the dealer is taking it.

FWIW - you can look up smog checks here: http://www.smogcheck.ca.gov/vehtests/pubtstqry.aspx

Mine only shows one test, prior to the initially delivery to the first owner, which is what I would expect.

 

Good news! FSV just called and let me know the referee passed the car! Woo-hoo. I'll get it back tomorrow. Unfortunately, I may be doing this every 2 years in CA.

 

Could you scan and post this "procedure" they gave you. We have (2) '02 360's that we can't get cycled. We've talked to 4 dealers who say "good luck". One dealer said to follow Land Rover's Drive Cycle Test.

If scanning is tough, could you fax it to my office???? pretty please????
(512) 474-7240
We are having a Ferrari club meeting in the morning covering OBDII and the TSI (Two Stage Idle Test) that we now are mandated in Austin. Would be real helpful for me to give this info out.

You can also email me at [email protected] or pm me here.............crossing my fingers you see this tonight.

thanks

dave

 

How about solving the riddle of how to contact this "referee".

I presume it must be a "fight" for the term "referee"to be used!

I consider judges to be referee's.

Are we litigating here?

 

For those in CA who might be interested, I did answer my own question above by finding an info link for the "referee":

http://www.smogcheck.ca.gov/stdPAge.asp?Menu=/includes/Menu_GenInfo.htm&Body=/Geninfo/Factsheets/Referee_Centers.htm

 

Aw heck. I forgot about this when I bought my '98 F355B. Between the time when I bought it, and the time it went to a CA smog station, it had covered less than 40 miles. Prior to that, the battery switch was set to "off" (sitting in the dealer's showroom), presumably for a long enough period that codes were erased, and everything read as "Not Ready." Unfortunately, this was transmitted to the CA DMV so now my Carfax will show it had failed one smog check .

The smog guy told us to drive it around, and forty minutes later, we were back at the station and the OBD-II readout was good, and the car passed. But that record will be in the DMV computers forever.

 

The problem is more widespread and complicated than what evertone is reporting on ferrari chat. I have been working with the EPA concerning this b/c my 360 will not pass. The only people that can officially waive the car is the EPA. I had my car initially waived with a letter from FNA and now that the EPA is involved they have instructed me that that is not legit and they are working with California and FNa to resolve the issue. Ferrari has been skirting the issue and there may be a recall on the 360 b/c the EPA has found out that more than 20 cars have had the same OBD problem and FNA did not report it to the EPA. You can call me and I would be happy to discuss all my research and dealings with FNA and the EPA. It is too much info to list on Ferrari Chat. It has been a 8 month process and we are still moving forward with the EPA.

Clark 770 712-3892