CA is now smogging diesel pickups!

[oldracer]

Well I guess it is another way to try to make more $$$$ so the asses in Sacramento can give their staffers pay raises but smog checking diesel pickups makes little to no sense and I just went through the process! It went something like this:

- Got the smog notice with reg renewal and called several shops in the Chula Vista CA area and NONE had done one yet but were eager to see it.
- Decided to take it to the same shop I have used for years as they are pretty nice folks and he was the only one that knew it needed a visual, ODB2 read out and a snap test of the throttle.
- I was told the truck was failing as it did not have a CAT and he showed me the book where it listed a CAT for 2000 F350s with the 7.3 International engine. I said the book was wrong and showed him where the smog equipment sticker was on the engine so he passed me.
- The tech said that the after market parts (AFE intake, 4 inch SS exhaust and Edge controller) would need the CARB sticker next time.
- I contacted the companies and AFE has the CARB stickers for the intake and exhaust since they are used on gas engines but said that CA does not test on diesels. I called Edge and they said the same thing and that their aftermarket brain had been submitted 5 years ago when I bought mine and that CARB still had not tested them.
- Edge sent me a copy of the letter from CARB stating this so now I am covered for next time I think.
- I filed a complaint with CARB and Thursday afternoon the head of the San Diego office actually CAME OVER to meet me and look at the truck and get the story in person as I was the first to complain! I was impressed to say the least. He noted that my existing test was fine and he nearly chocked on his Coke when I showed him the letter from CARB about the Edge computer so he made a copy and said it was probably sitting somewhere in Sacramento and that the stuff would have to get caught up he felt!

So as a warning to the CA folks, get ready for some hassles if you have a modified diesel that is 2003 or later as they had a CAT and the aftermarket stuff usually replaced the CAT so gather all paperwork!

Whew!!!!

 

[Old 44 Guy]

My God; What will those Loonies think of next? Glad I moved out of there 7 years ago.

 

[perrazi]

another new low for the people's republic

 

[cowboy117]

Ah,Looniefornia.I lived there when it was a paradise.Another good thing has gone down.

 

[MO_mule]

oldracer:

Thanks for posting this. Very interesting development and worrying, too. I am sorry to hear about your troubles. Most diesel pickups are not modified and most are used for commercial use. Testing is a crafty way of squeezing more money out of small businesses, imho. Crafty because "no one can argue" with testing vehicles to ensure clean air. Disengenuous because modern diesels are fuel efficient, clean, quiet, reliable, and run forever. I don't own a diesel but I appreciate the technology and benefits of these neat engines.

Chris

 

[RPM2DAY]

Sorry you have to go through all that.
I read a while back that this was in the works. It seems that pretty much anything with an internal combustion engine in it is in their crosshairs now.

 

[ElToro]

Bill Wattenburg ( the only sane radio host on KGO out of S.F.) has been railing on this for a long while now. CARB ( Calif Air Resources Board) is the biggest bunch of idiots ever assembeled. they believe and implement any junk science esposing fool to come down the pike

hows the new sulfur fuel mixture treating your truck ?

if you use biodesiel or recycled fast food oil, will it pass ?

 

[Duke426]

Happiness was San Diego County in my rear view mirror.

I grew up out there and joined the Army to get the hell away from it. I simply cannot fathom any reason to live there.

The entire state hasn't been worth a damn since Ronald Reagan left the Governors office.

 

[dacoontz]

I guess my father in laws 2001 Ford turbo diesel just doubled in price. No wonder he hasn't wanted to sell it after replacing every pump it has.

Daniel #2322

 

[ecam8000]

I left So Cal only to find the same E-test here in Colorado. We've been doing the Diesel E-test for a while now. I've had mine for five years and it gets tested each year. I added a few upgrades, but the test shops never question them. In fact, one tester commented that I should be getting more power than I was putting out (the test are done on a Dino).
I told him I had it turned down for the test. "Crank it up" he said. We added 125 hp and it still passed with flying colors. Some upgrades increase smoke dramatically, that is what fails Colorado's test. I like the idea of a state inspection to make sure cars have brakes and lights (Texas had that when I went to school out there) but I've never been warm to the smog test. Colorado (Denver and surrounding cities) now have drive by vans that check gas cars emmisions. If your car has passed two test in the month before renewal, then you can skip the e-test. Turn that around and look for gross poluters and I think you have something there.

 

[wheelinthesky]

sounds....um.....simple...

 

[jframe]

Times like this I thank God for Alabama. We don't have to put up with ANY of this BS. Downside is, we DO have a lot of junk vehicles on the road, that are worse than being bad polluters. Cops don't ever stop them either; not enough revenue if they do. A bunch of them seem to be owned by Mexicans that look like they drove them across the deepest part of the Rio Grande to get here. Unfortunately, I am a Ford parts man, and it seems like most of those vehicles are, you guessed it, Fords.

 

[luis]

Truck owners should buy some Toyotas for elected officials. Replacements officials should be better.

 

[jphendren]

Clark County in Nevada has been smogging diesels for about two or three years now, cost about $45.

 

[truckemup97]

CARB is out of control. I love the geography and the vistas of California. Most of the people I've met there seem to be decent folks. They've just allowed a few kooks to run the government. My 1997 International, with a Detroit Series 60, gets 8+ MPG. The new trucks with all the pollution control systems get 5 to 6. How is that progress? Using 25% more fuel is a good thing? California and CARB have been at the forefront of all this "progress", which has added $20k or more to the cost of a new tractor. Talk to a trucker that owns an EGR engine. The EGR system needs repair several times a year, and it adds so much heat under the hood that alternators, compressors, belts, hoses, etc. wear out twice as fast. Ask someone how it feels to be going up the Grapevine when your Diesel Particulate Filter decides to regenerate and cuts your power by half. And now, reefer trailers more than 10 years old need a $10k refit to be able to run California. They aren't worth $10k, so now they're worth nothing but the scrap price.

And still, LA has more smog than any other place I've seen in the USA. Absolute lunacy. Sorry for the rant, but I feel better now.