It is my understanding that cars with California emissions have a sticker somewhere under the hood identifying that the car is so equipped. Others without California’s standards supposedly have stickers stating they meet Federal emissions standards. I’m not in Cali, but I do wonder whether my MCS has Cali emissions. I’ve looked and I see no sticker one way or another. Can anyone point me to where these stickers are?

 

Mine's under the hood on the driver's side.

 

Thank you!

I do not have a sticker there.

 

I brought mine from Canada, and yes they did ask for it when I moved to Cali. I think your cat. should have a CARB Executive Order (EO) number on it as well.

 

I’ll have to look on the cat.

This car was first sold in Boston, MA. I am not sure whether cars sold in Massachusetts in 2002/2003 were required to have Cali emissions, or not. I had assumed not, but a mechanic suggested it is possible.

 

Huh?
And after 22 years of ownership; I thought I knew everything about my Mini?
Here's mine...


Ordered my '04 R53 new; Oct 16, 2003 from Orlando, Florida.
Never even noticed or paid much attention to this sticker until you'd brought it up.

 

I think you are missing the sticker. It should have at least a sticker that says it is 49 state legal.

 

So you’ve got Cali emissions in Florida back in 2004. Good data point. That reminds me, I’ll have to look for posts to see how your cat saga turned out. My cat is still rattling, and I was told that if I had Cali emissions setup, I’ll need to get a Cali rated cat…

 

That’s a reasonable conclusion, though I don’t know if they put stickers on from the beginning of US production or if it happened later. For instance, I don’t have an emergency boot hatch release cable, I guess because it was too early in production for everything to have been properly sorted.

I’m the fourth owner, so if it had a sticker, I think it must have come off before 2010.

 

Oh that's right - You're also the one "WhoHasGotThe(rattling)Blues" - (my apologies for that joke) - But seriously (regarding emission/CAT failure); Yes, I had concerns about passing state emissions especially in California, since work may have me go out there (possibly for an extended period). With regards to resolving my CAT issues - I'd decided against buying one of the aftermarket ones off eBay or scabbing on a Magnaflow (not all 50 states/Cal compliant) and just to be safe + OEM, purchased a low mileage OEM one here on NAM from @2out2sea ​​​​​​.
​​​​​​I must say it was one of the best decisions I've made for keeping my Mini (near) original.
I'm not sure how you would go about getting the 'Cal compliant emissions sticker'; but I would highly recommend trying to score or replacing your manifold/CAT with a good used OEM if at all possible.

 

I just read the thread where the cat and header were offered up to you. Glad you two had a good transaction, that it worked for you, and I hope to be so lucky. It will have to happen soon for me or I’ll have to gamble on aftermarket.

 

Mine is rattling like crazy and I confirmed that it is clogged. Still passed the SMOG test in cali, though.

 

Yeah, mine rattled so bad it almost drove me insane.
Embarrassed beyond words having to stop at a guard gate and sometimes having to turn off the car so we could hear each other without distraction. Although, I never had a smog test while it was broken - during those couple of months It never threw a code.
The internals actually broke off in one solid piece but never clogged.

 

Also big performance drop but no codes when it happens. Installing a new converter in a week or two (so you guys don't think I'm mistreating my mini lol)