California Smog Question

I got an '88 Mondial that I just picked up from New Jersey. The car was from Europe (Swiss) and brought in in '91 to Florida. Car Fax shows from '91 it failed smog but then passed 3 weeks later. It's past smog there and for many more year in NJ from the past owner (had it the last 15 years). Doesn't have the Catalyst sticker in which I ordered one yesterday.

I'll go under the car this weekend and verify the cats and mufflers. As back up I have family in Idaho and can transport it there for ownership and transportation but the $800 round trip adds up every 2 years.

Any Insights or other things to look for?

 

Bobileff services my cars too, and does a great job. Happily that does not include smog work, as we live way out in the boonies east of San Diego and our zip code frees us from the requirement until we sell the car. One little hassle and expense of living in the PRC avoided.

 

I got smog pump and cars if needed

 

Cats

 

I a little confused I live in westchester ny just outside nyc and I’m reading these post
If you live in California and your car does not pass a emissions test the state has a limit on what you can spend on getting it to pass or do you mean if the cost is too much you can try to get a approval from the state with out passing
I’m just unclear on this thanks


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I essentially agree with what mikeyr had to say. There is no limit on what you have to spend on an out of state car to smog it in CA and the fact that it has a 50 state compliant sticker means nothing. Essentially the CA smog requirements are different than all other states in that on newer cars with computerized smog systems they require ALL your lights to tick over to green whereas all other states (at least to my understanding) allow at least one not to register green because it is common knowledge that the computer systems are still hinky.

My personal experience is I bought a 612 out of state. On bringing it into the state they require you pass smog in order to get the car registered and to get plates. The secondary air light did not tick over on the smog test (which is very common). I worked with the state for months. The Ferrari dealer even wrote me a letter saying there was no known solution. California did not care. I ultimately went to the smog referee and passed the tailpipe test. So they gave me a one time exemption and said that I would have to get the computer system fixed the next time around so the light would turn green even though it was not smogging based on the tailpipe test and they said they didn’t care how much it cost (it ultimately was slightly over $10K to do all of the testing and ultimately rework the ECU--there was nothing physically wrong with the car). So definitely beware. I would not buy a post 75 vehicle out of state and risk trying to get it smogged in CA even if it was 50 state compliant and passed smog in its home state.

By the way, my solution after this experience was to buy a 65 Vette and put a huge crate motor in it and smog all over the place. In the future I will not be buying anything out of state that was not made in the 60s or early 70s (I am currently thinking about a Pantera—I would love to be able to run around polluting with that)!