So close yet so far! CA Smog

[jiho2]

I'm implying nothing of the sort! I'd never be that stupid! Give me some credit!

The cutpoint tables on the BAR site clearly aren't right, and to me that's a red flag for the root of the problem. They add up to an awful lot of entries for an awful lot of "certified configurations" (which I assume is what the individual lines correspond to, being what everything around there is based on), which makes for an awful lot of opportunities for mistakes of various kinds. Were those tables contracted out in order to get enough people to do them all? Who knows.

Meanwhile, the situation you describe sounds like the techs are forced to use some kind of add-on system hack, which works around the problem in a predictably clumsy fashion. You'd think it should have been easier to just correct the tables. Unless BAR has two totally different and unconnected software systems for this data .... which would at least double the opportunities for mistakes.

But hasn't all of this been discussed somewhere already?

Anyway, I'm sure glad I only have the 2-speed idle test!

(Knocking loudly on wood to keep bureaucrats at bay.)

 

[jiho2]

I apologize for derailing the OP's thread. From time to time I have to thrash around, getting up to date with how crazy things are now.

But to summarize ....

The OP's (macatoni's) report shows MAX numbers that match the online table for '87 Regal 3.8L (VLT #18880). (VLT = Vehicle Lookup Table.)

ravege's report shows VLT #35326. This is missing from the online table, but must exist somewhere or the test could not proceed.

There is a note at the start of the online (2010) table that says anything not found there defaults to a (2003) table that has year-range groups only, no car-specific numbers. But in that table the numbers are lower than macatoni's, let alone ravege's. So evidently Buick Turbos are covered by secret entries in the main (2010) table, which should be found automatically from the barcode but aren't, hence the need for the secret code "GN" which must be conveyed to the tech.

Futile rant: It is obvious that obsessing about a dwindling fleet of old cars that are driven less and less will not help reduce smog. And that's if the system is working right, which clearly it isn't. I don't want to think about the tax dollars.

 

[jiho2]

Futile thread-hijacking addendum: And of course old cars would matter far less still if they were allowed to have E85 conversions. But the Feds and the state effectively prevent that by requiring car-specific certification. Otherwise it's "tampering"!