CT Emissions NastyGram

[SMOKE]

Anybody in CT ever put a "tuned" Marauder (or otherwise tuned vehicle) through emissions with the tune loaded...and then received a letter from the state saying an audit of the test (benchmark profile of the factory OBD setting versus what was read off the car) showed a performance-enhancing change was made?

Somebody over on svtperformance got one and posted a scan of it. Got the letter this past December, his test was back in June...

Saw some regional responses to older threads around here but figured I'd toss this out there...

Seems CT may not only be scanning for codes during the test and that no codes = pass may only be a little short-sighted...

The letter didn't have anything overtly punitive noted in it...just said the next test needs to show a direct comparison in the data or it could result in an immediate fail...and not much else...

Jonathan

[KillJoy]

So.... now you can't even retune to get better gas milage???

:dunno:

KillJoy

[Raudermaster]

I'm confused by reading your post. My friend's cousin owns a '96 GS-T Eclipse pushing 415ish fwhp and he lives in CT. He's never returned his car back to stock and has always brought his car back to regular garages/dealers for stickers and has always passed with flying colors.

[Breadfan]

I'm confused by reading your post. My friend's cousin owns a '96 GS-T Eclipse pushing 415ish fwhp and he lives in CT. He's never returned his car back to stock and has always brought his car back to regular garages/dealers for stickers and has always passed with flying colors.

Undoubtedly not all tests are audited, probably only a very small random sample.

Luck of the draw...I mean..."Unluck" of the draw.

[bob6364]

Yeah I got one too... My tuner says not to worry most tunes have some o2 sensors shut off for better performance he will turn them on for me i'll run emissions then turn them back off . Of course i've spent more then a couple of bucks with him and he won't charge me...but if your just using a SCT then you need to dump the tune I guess.

[SMOKE]

Yep - sounds very random...no word from the independent inspector who
offered to poke around and report anything back...

I might crack open my tune and seek out the o2 sensor setting - but
thats saying a lot since I haven't even put the SCT software on my
laptop yet...probably not worth the effort.

Grabbed a scrubbed copy of the letter in case you are curious as to
what it looks like (unlike bob6364 who seems to have his own personalized
copy ;)).

[FormulaMarauder]

Well this just sucks. Eh, no biggie, get it flashed back to stock. Strange though, you are probably releasing LESS hydrocarbons.
The way I see it is if you pass, you pass.

[SMOKE]

What's the consensus out there regarding a quick flash back to stock...

Test...

Then flash back to happy performance land??

Discussions elsewhere are bringing up some folks stating there is an issue
with the PCM showing "not ready" with a hot swap of the tune back
to stock:



You cant do that. When you flash the computer, the computer erases all the readiness tests. So you would need to drive the car sometimes a few minutes sometimes it takes a few days for it to go through all the readiness tests. You will get a P1000 code and fail.


Bottom line is, if your car can run on the stock tune, do that with some
drive time, perform your civic duty, then flash back? I've got the time
to do that so it's my plan rather than risk a nuisance letter from the
state essentially saying I can be guaranteed a "fail" the next time
though...if I'm audited.

There is a whole bunch of other stuff regarding what is "supported" in
the DMV software versus what it sees on the car with the tune loaded,
but at any rate a "fail" or a letter is apparently still part of the "gamble"...


JWM

[hot-rauder]

best of luck to you man.... i dont understand their thinking, especially if you are runnning cleaner. oh and i love the side text...

Seat Belts Do Save Lives.

[thePunisher]

i just put mine thru in august...and it is heavily modded. im in naugatuck CT

[bob6364]

i just put mine thru in august...and it is heavily modded. im in naugatuck CT

I went thru in Sept and got the letter a month or more later,its supposed to be random,of course with 6 cars registered i have a better chance at be a random choice :rolleyes: With our cars they can see when codes are turned off.I know my mechanic buddy has to but 50 miles on a car after clearing codes or the emissions people tell him to come back.:bigcry:

Connecticut
......:stupid:......

[thePunisher]

yes this is to get rid of the p1000 code and set the obd monitors

[jonroe]

I don't know what's going on with mine but I have had trouble getting rid of the P1000 code. It has stayed there (as reported by my AeroForce gauge) for MANY miles and days after returning to stock. In fact, the last time I was on stock tune for a few weeks and it was still showing. I finally put the after market tune back in without ever seeing the P1000 disappear. Could it be that the AeroForce gauge is not reporting codes properly?