Anybody from California took their tuned R53 for smog check lately ?

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/e...-smog-testing/

 

I've sold a few unlocked ecu's with stock tunes so people could pass. there's still shops around that can get a heavily modded car to pass

 

F.Y.I. Adriancl on this forum can also set you up with a stock ECU programmed to your car.

 

Thanks MrBlah and cooper48 for the reply!

question though - If I buy a stock ECU for an R53 from a junkyard , will it work on my Car without additional programming to suite my car's vin# etc?
I would like to keep the tune for track purpose

 

nope, immobilizer will prevent he car from running.. I sell facelift ECUs with either the S, JCW or GP factory tune and the vin changed to your vin for 250 $. If you ship me a good facelift core it reduces the price by 40 $

 

Do you know if there was actually a different tune for the Aisin auto JCW that was available in the UK?

As far as I know, factory JCW’s or JCW tuning kit installs werent available with the Aisin auto in the US.

 

NOPE...not legally !
ANY...modification to ANY part of ANY of the emissions equipment will cause an automatic failure, whether the engine passes or not. If the "visual inspection" flunks...the whole car flunks. If the updated readers point out modified computers...ha...good luck.

This is all new for 2021.
Hell, I took ,u JCW in last year (2021). The guy asked me if the vacuum/boost gauge was part of the JCW package. I said no. He said "you need to remove it and go to another smog station". Even though I may remove it in about 5 minutes, he's "seen it". He was nice enough to not enter my car into the system, so I was able to have another shop test it without problem.

There is a huge fine if a station passes ANY car or truck that is, in fact...illegal. And the fine is stepped. The first shop I went to showed my the "book". I didn't but just glance it it, but it's aimed t close the shops that let...a "buddy" pass !

So any California cars and trucks of ANY kind that needs to a pass smog test, better make sure that the vehicle IS stock as far as emissions equipment go. Or...know someone that doesn't care if he/she looses their license.

Mike

 

Yeah I'm pretty sure it's different I'd have to look in my files to see if I have a JCW automatic version. You can also just take an s automatic tune and copy all the JCW or GP maps onto it.

But if you're in Cali that's going to be messing with the tables that are part of the checksum that they're checking now, I would expect it to fail a check.

I know there are shops in Cali still passing cars that shouldn't pass and I know that there is at least one shop that's figured out a way around the checksum check

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Research registering your car in South Dakota. You can do it online and you do not have to be a resident of the state. It's like the Cayman Islands for car registrations.

 

Hi Mr Blah,

I’m about to install 550cc and have adrian tune my new R53. Does this mean I’ll fail smog check checksum? I’m in Cali.

If so, am I better off with 380cc and just get a jcw or gp tune to pass smog? What can I tell Adrian to do/not do so I can still pass smog? I’d really appreciate your response.

thanks,

 

the checksum is altered if anything in the address area is altered. this includes the fuel scale, ignition and fuel tables. Try it and see, I'm not sure if they are really failing cars for it but I've sold quite a few stock drop in ECUs so people can pass . You would need 380's to get the ready monitors green before getting tested with the jcw ecu

 

Pardon my ignorance. What is the difference between an extra stock ecu to drop in vs reverting the tuned ecu to a stock tune aside from labor (ecu replacement) or tune (going back to stock MCS) does tuning permanently change the check sum that going back to a stock tune is not possible thus requiring another ecu?

 

As long as ALL you system monitors are still functioning and not tuned out like no rear 02 for decat it , would they still flunk it and if so how and why ? I went through similar situation here in WI and just changed a few things in my tune and installed a o2 defouler I got it to pass emissions WITH NO ISSUES . It's milwaukee testing , they DO test more systems and require less faults in order to pass than vs other counties and some counties don't require it ( like where my cottage is up north where I used to just register my car to ) . I could have just registered my car in at my alternate address buuuuuut I wanted it to pass just encase I ever were to move or sell the car.
my car passes with full boltons , sprintex sc at 21psi , catless exhaust, 550cc injectors and tuned by Adriancl..lol only thing stock on my car really is the lower end.

 

Just to clarify, if all I’m doing is 15% pulley, plugs, 550cc injectors, and tune, I can still pass? Everything else will be stock including the OEM catalytic converter. if anything, just cam and header. My concern is the tune.

 

Why do you think this will pass? Any tune that is not an OEM tune (S, JCW, GP) will fail once they read the CVN.
In fact; everything you've listed here aside from the tune will also fail a STAR inspection purely on the visual in CA. It's likely they won't eyeball the plugs or injectors too closely but anything other than a very modest banal looking pulley will fail a visual in CA. You may not get a STAR smog every time; but it's coming one of these days. I went to get my stock S smogged a few years back and was told it would fail because the intercooler boots were not stock (they were bright red and stood out). The intercooler was stock - as was everything else on the car.

 

I am the one asking if it will, not the one who thinks it will. MiniManAdam is the one who didn't have issues . That is why i am asking. .

So you think it will fail with a fuel remapping for 550cc? And that I'm better off with 380cc and a GP tune and hope my 15% pulley does not get seen? My CAI is hidden in the oem box .

 

MinManAdam's comment is not relevant at all in this thread. This thread is about ECU-tuned cars in California.

 

That’s what I was thinking too.

So no to ecu tune to stay smog legal?

Can I do 380cc, keep 15% pulley, and the get a GP tune and still pass? Granted they don’t see my pulley of course. Oem header, oem cat and everything else.

 

I'm not a tuner so I can't comment on that. I've no idea if a SMOG station will expect to see a GP car when they interrogate your OBD port and see a GP tune. I suspect they will have no idea. I suspect all they will see is a number (CVN) that matches a list of acceptable numbers in their computer and pass based on that.
If you want your car to pass emissions in CA (especially if you get a STAR smog test); then the only certainty is if you show up with a stock car with stock ECU.
If you want your car to fail emissions in CA (especially if you get a STAR smog test); then use an intake without a CARB EO, a custom tune, remove your CAT etc.
Everything in between those 2 extremes and may have issues.

My '05 has a pulley, M7 intake (M7 are one of the few manufacturers that bothered to get an EO) and has passed emissions testing many times over the years. The only issue I've had is the aforementioned IC boots which I've replaced with black ones. The M7 intake is always questioned but I just show them the paperwork and it's good. Nobody has ever noticed the pulley. They'd need a calipers to measure it and it's not easy to reach. If it were bright purple it would fail (even a 0% pulley).
I've been toying with the idea of 380cc and a custom tune but after reading this thread I may go with 380cc and a JCW tune and be done.

 

Thank you for taking the time to write this up. in your guess, would an ECU that's been tuned and then tuned back to stock still pass? Is there like a tamper sign? I'm thinking of going 550cc and custom tune, and then switch back to 330cc and stock tune every two years.

But like you said, I might just go with 380cc and a JCW210 tune and be done. Set it and forget it kind of thing.

 

All else being equal; I wonder what 550cc injectors will give you over 380cc injectors. The duty cycle of the 550's will be lower but with the same pulley/cam/exhaust combo I don't know that the 550's will net you more power (which is why I assume you want bigger injectors). The 380's with a 15% pulley will run around 82% duty cycle which is close enough to the optimum (80%) imho.
To be honest - I don't know enough about tuning to give you any advice. I would check with someone like adriancl on here and see if you would be content with 380cc + the 210 JCW tune. My understanding is that the 550's would be worth it if you're looking at other mods too but if you plan to swap back/forth in order to pass emissions, that seems like a lot of work. Mr Blah has pointed out above that the ready monitors may not show green on the JCW tune unless you have the 380's anyway.

Good luck with whatever you choose!

 

Since there really are zero records of Official dealer installed kits tied to a VIN …

is it possible to re-flash an MCS ECU with the factory JCW mapping (tune) … and have it
pass Cali smog ?

A dealer installed 210 JCW ‘kit’ had the head, intake, exhaust, 11% pulley and 380cc injectors and had the dealer re-flash the ECU … but, there is zero record of that ‘kit’ tied to the VIN …
Would I be correct in assuming that if I were to do that on my own … that someone in the business could re-flash my ECU with a factoy Mini JCW map, that it would pass ?


.

 

Thanks for the insight. Cali laws really make it difficult for us.

regarding the 380cc, I thought they ran close to 100%. My previous r53 with 15% and Bytetronik tune logged 96% IDC. Here’s a thread. 380cc vs 550cc but I could be wrong.

I’ll text Adrian to make sure. I still think switching back and forth between 550/tuned and 330/stock tune should be passable. Or I can alway get one of Matt’s (mrblah) untuned stock ecu’s.

 

I think it will would just fine but as others mentioned IF they do a visual inspection I'm not sure but even if they say " hey that's changed thats changed " but your car still passes why could you not tell them there just aftermarket parts ? Your not required to strictly use oem parts just not performance altering ones , so who's to say they know AND can prove the difference or will even bother.

 

How do you think it's not ? I'm asking what and why it would flunk there when it passes else where who too have strict standards....
I'm asking how are they gonna tell the programming is altered ??? When they brought my cars ecu up it didn't look any different than any others. How do they see it has a performance tune in it ? Does it detect differences in like injector sizes and actually look at the tune file and compare it to a stock tune file ? Because if that's the case how would a early jcw r53 EVER pass Cali emissions? I was speaking with the guy that did my emissions and after it passed I was like " lol awesome it has this mod....." and we talked for awhile and from what I could tell ALOT of the test is just based off the inspector and what they say , I know the govt likes to scare its citizens into line so I too wanna know EXACTLY what they can see in the program to flunk it ecu wise. Because a visual inspection can be bullshitted around.