[tailhappy]

Went today to get my yearly inspection. It's been eight months since .I went second stage with Bootmod3 and downpipes. The guy doing my inspection, told me my car wasn't ready yet. He handed me a piece of paper which said Not Ready Rejection. Now there are no engine lights showing on the dash. After you flash your ecu, the last thing Bootmod3 does is clear out any fault codes. So I'm wondering why it showing 02 sensor not being ready, with no engine malfunction lights coming up on my dash. Will use Bootmod3 tomorrow and see if it's showing any codes. Was hoping things would go smoothly. So much for my luck.

[MSH_]

Originally Posted by tailhappy

Went today to get my yearly inspection. It's been eight months since .I went second stage with Bootmod3 and downpipes. The guy doing my inspection, told me my car wasn't ready yet. He handed me a piece of paper which said Not Ready Rejection. Now there are no engine lights showing on the dash. After you flash your ecu, the last thing Bootmod3 does is clear out any fault codes. So I'm wondering why it showing 02 sensor not being ready, with no engine malfunction lights coming up on my dash. Will use Bootmod3 tomorrow and see if it's showing any codes. Was hoping things would go smoothly. So much for my luck.

I'm much more familiar with the VAG world of tuning but my sneaking suspicion having gone through all of this on a Stage 3 Golf R recently here in Colorado (which is full CARB compliance in Denver area where I live) is that BM3 merely suppresses the code so the CEL doesn't show on the dash.
Your readiness monitor, however, for the O2 sensor is not showing ready which is the reason for your failure on that monitor. Even if BM3 clears fault codes that doesnt change your readiness for o2 sensor showing not ready

[medphysdave]

Interesting. Does BM3 have the readiness capability? If not, then folks in tight emissions states will want to be aware.

[tailhappy]

Anybody else want to chime in on this. So Bootmod will not pass inspection?
I had a E92 with test pipes and a tune. I never had any problem passing an inspection. I hate to think I will have to spend my weekend, putting back on the exhaust so I can get the car inspected. Don't think I want to have to do this every year!

[to_riffic]

Not familiar with the tuning issue, but an OBDII scanner is a valuable tool, and relatively inexpensive, to show you what could be the cause, whether emission or readiness state

[jayee88]

Make sure you've been through a drive cycle to ready your sensors. I know you said it's been 8 months, but you'd be surprised how long some people go with their sensors not readying.

https://www.instructables.com/How-to...or-Smog-Check/

Also make sure since you're tuned that you did not actually disable your O2 sensor so that it's always in a not ready state.

[tailhappy]

I put my scan tool on. It showed no codes found. I have disabled the 02 sensors in the Bootmod3. I thought thats what was necessary when you do downpipes. Am I wrong?

[jayee88]

If you disable the O2 sensor it will be "not ready" forever. I don't know what the laws are in NC, but here in NY you can have one "not ready" sensor, so that's why people here disable the O2 sensor. If the shop is saying that the O2 sensor must be ready to pass then you have a few options:

- Go back to stock and ready the car each year for inspection.
- Get a high flow catted downpipe that won't trigger a CEL (Some high flow DP still cause a CEL, you can also get one with a GESI certified cat like the one AA sells but they are $$ because of the certification)
- stay catless and get one of those right angle O2 socket extenders that will hopefully trick the sensor to not trigger a CEL


edit to include details from another post:

Originally Posted by SEAT TIME RULES

The 90 degree spacer is a poor fit with the limited room. A 45 degree I found to be better fit on the S55 . I used a Racing Dynamics Mini O/2 Cat spacer to pass emissions with the Wagner 200 Cell Euro Cats. https://www.racdyn-usa.com/PROD/130+10+10+014.html

HTH,
HAZMAT

[tailhappy]

Just got a response fro Pro Tuning Freaks. Get this. He said it was simply a matter to flash back to stock, and reinstall the cats. I wonder how many cars this person has been under when he thinks changing cats is simple.

[medphysdave]

I was just about to mention that if you disable them they probably won't show the ready state.

[MSH_]

Originally Posted by tailhappy

Just got a response fro Pro Tuning Freaks. Get this. He said it was simply a matter to flash back to stock, and reinstall the cats. I wonder how many cars this person has been under when he thinks changing cats is simple.

Right...it's as I said above you need to separate codes from readiness monitors being ready. My Golf R would show zero codes with the OBD11 scan tool but when I checked my readiness monitors I had multiple monitors not ready. Unfortunately, I hate to tell you but you are probably going to have to put stock DP back on. To get my readiness set I had to put on stock DP and flash back to stock just as PTF has indicated.
You can try and play with spacers (as suggested above) or mini cats but that always seems to be a massive crap shoot if it works or not

Below are the list of Continuous and Non-continuous monitors for Gas cars. In Colorado which follows CARB guidelines you can have one non-continuous monitor not ready and still pass. Continuous monitors are ignored. Not sure if NC ignores Continuous and how many you can have not ready.
I suspect if you are catless both the O2 sensor and the Catalyst monitors (at a minimum) are showing not ready hence why you failed.
If you can get access to a scan tool to check all your monitors it would give you a better idea.
Again, I became more immersed in all of this more than I ever cared to be as Colorado is super strict since they scan for tunes, etc etc just like California.


Continuous Monitors
Misfire
Fuel System
Comprehensive Component

Non-Continuous Monitors
Catalyst (CAT)
Heated Catalyst
Evaporative (EVAP) System
Secondary Air System
Oxygen (O2) Sensor
Oxygen Sensor Heater
EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) and/or VVT System


Edit - I found some threads that are more specific to BMW and BM3 but at the end of the day the messaging/guidance is generally the same regardless of platform (i.e. Audi, VW, BMW, etc) to get monitors to ready....Flash to stock and swap back to stock DP or try to play with spacers/mini-cats...

https://f87.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1799389
https://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1667211

[ShortSides]

This is why I opted to NOT fuck with the downpipe on this car. Having gone through this headache as well on my previous BMW, I found that bribing a guy to get me to pass was a simpler solution than a swap every year. All in all, it's not worth fucking with the downpipe.

[MSH_]

Originally Posted by ShortSides

This is why I opted to NOT fuck with the downpipe on this car. Having gone through this headache as well on my previous BMW, I found that bribing a guy to get me to pass was a simpler solution than a swap every year. All in all, it's not worth fucking with the downpipe.

And it's only going to get more difficult as more and more states adopt full CARB compliance like most of the state of Colorado has done. The scanning for tunes caught a lot of people off guard here when Colorado implemented that additional check at the beginning of 2022. My stage 3 Golf R was really modified with MPI (port injection), upgraded LPFP and HPFP, hybrid turbo, downpipe, E85 tuned, etc, etc. so it was really nerve racking trying to get it to pass. Fortunately, I was able to just swap back to stock downpipe, flash back to stock tune and very gently (stay out of boost, low rpm as possible) do the VW specific OBD readiness drive cycle to get my monitors to go ready. As soon as readiness was set I drove straight to Aircare and passed.

[tailhappy]

Like I had said previously. I had a 2011 M3 with test pipes and a tune to match the pipes. I never had one issue getting it inspected. Nine years later?

[MSH_]

Originally Posted by tailhappy

Like I had said previously. I had a 2011 M3 with test pipes and a tune to match the pipes. I never had one issue getting it inspected. Nine years later?

sorry man. I know it sucks. Good luck

[tailhappy]

Thanks. At least I have a week to get it changed over. Its going to be raining here for the next few days. Going to break it down into a few days. Just hate being on my back on concrete. I'm getting too old for this shit!

[imperfectluck]

This is partly why I always opted to wait for a decent sale to pick up the Active catted DPs with their Gesi cats. Originally I couldn’t fathom to understand the 3k price tag but having got mine on a nice discount new, I have no concerns worrying about emissions ready state in NYC. I’ve done my fair share of finding a habibi guy in the city and paying extra to get that sticker. Nice to not have to worry about it as I never stay with the stock DPs for long on my cars once I get them.

[ShortSides]

Originally Posted by imperfectluck

This is partly why I always opted to wait for a decent sale to pick up the Active catted DPs with their Gesi cats. Originally I couldn’t fathom to understand the 3k price tag but having got mine on a nice discount new, I have no concerns worrying about emissions ready state in NYC. I’ve done my fair share of finding a habibi guy in the city and paying extra to get that sticker. Nice to not have to worry about it as I never stay with the stock DPs for long on my cars once I get them.

Honestly, it's all about finding that guy that can pass you for a little extra.

[jayee88]

Originally Posted by imperfectluck

This is partly why I always opted to wait for a decent sale to pick up the Active catted DPs with their Gesi cats. Originally I couldn’t fathom to understand the 3k price tag but having got mine on a nice discount new, I have no concerns worrying about emissions ready state in NYC. I’ve done my fair share of finding a habibi guy in the city and paying extra to get that sticker. Nice to not have to worry about it as I never stay with the stock DPs for long on my cars once I get them.

NY is going the way of CA pretty quickly. My shop gave me a heads up that a sniffer test is getting added to the new NYVIP3 machines when they roll out. Also I've seen talks about having a checksum for OEM tunes for each make/model and failing anyone who's not stock tuned. Then there's the ridiculous SLEEP act that they're rolling out with sound cameras...

Anyway, I'm in the same boat as you waiting for a sale on DPs with GESI cats. The price is expensive because GESI went through the testing to have their cats licensed to be emissions compliant.

[ninjagaiden]

when did you last flash the ecu? you have to drive cycle the car for like 200 miles after resetting ecu before you can get smogged in CA. even if you change something small via bimmercode you have to drive cycle it.

[ninjagaiden]

Originally Posted by tailhappy

Just got a response fro Pro Tuning Freaks. Get this. He said it was simply a matter to flash back to stock, and reinstall the cats. I wonder how many cars this person has been under when he thinks changing cats is simple.

no one thinks its simple. you need to pay to play, simple as that.

[SEAT TIME RULES]

Originally Posted by ninjagaiden

when did you last flash the ecu? you have to drive cycle the car for like 200 miles after resetting ecu before you can get smogged in CA. even if you change something small via bimmercode you have to drive cycle it.

Resets only take 30-40 miles tops