[631twentyeighteye]

Copied this from the 1 series forum. Haven't posted here before so hi to all you guys.

Hello all, as i've promised here's the thread i've been hinting at.


My New York State inspection was coming up at the end of the month and i've been in a hurry to figure out how i was going to pass.

I contacted Andrew at AA to discuss the possibility of secondary O2 spacers to eliminate the CEL/SES with an updated tune to maintain headers fueling changes. He said that would be completely possible but that his tuner says their tune passes NYS emissions testing now. Andrew immediately had them check out my file and within 4 days i had an updated tune that should be NYS testing compliant.

This morning i took my car to a local shop that i have no affiliation with nor does AA; just a random shop around the corner from my house that i used for inspections. They ran through the usual, lights, blinkers, brake pads, tire tread etc. Eventually he busts out the obd2 plug and begins the emissions scan... and it passed with flying colors! He scraped my old sticker off, put the new one on and asked for 37 george washingtons.


TLDR; Active Autowerke's updated n52 tune for 3 stage DISA intake manifold and catless headers now passes Emissions testings and obd2 plug in(At least in NY State). NY has the same standards as Cali so the rest of the country should be okay as well. There is no SES/CEL and the car runs even better than with the previous tune.

My nexus 7 tablet running torque. Showing the emissions tests readiness'


New inspection sticker and the receipt

[andrey_gta]

Interesting how your Nexus shows Catalyc status but the test is a pass. You would think that would be a flag.

Any case - Congrats This is a great development for AA


In Canada, ON my freind was hassled for having a bad Cat o2 sensor- the only issue. After some leg work, new sensor, resulting in a conditional pass until next time ... Would be interesting to know if this flies through Canadian tests.

[Dracon]

Originally Posted by andrey_gta

Interesting how your Nexus shows Catalyc status but the test is a pass. You would think that would be a flag.

Any case - Congrats This is a great development for AA


In Canada, ON my freind was hassled for having a bad Cat o2 sensor- the only issue. After some leg work, new sensor, resulting in a conditional pass until next time ... Would be interesting to know if this flies through Canadian tests.

Depending on state/area, you are allowed to have one test in the incomplete (not ready) status and still pass emissions.

If two or more were in not ready, then you would fail. That keeps people from just resetting all the DTCs (which also changes everything to "Not Ready / Incomplete" and immediately taking it in for emissions testing.

[MarkkyyMan]

This is great news, thanks for sharing.

[JDane07]

I just got my notice for registration in the mail today. I have till November to smog here in CA.
So are you actually using spacers (O2 sims) with your headers? And can you clarify a little more for me what exactly AA updated with your tune?

[631twentyeighteye]

Not using any o2 spacers/simulators. I'm not exactly sure what AA did to achieve this, i assume it's similar to evolve and they managed to control secondary o2 voltage through the tune to maintain no SES/CEL.

[Mike.]

where on LI? Im on LI too...and this is pretty cool, should take a video of your setup

[631twentyeighteye]

Originally Posted by Emozoo

where on LI? Im on LI too...and this is pretty cool, should take a video of your setup

I'm right between the forks. I have a few videos of my passed setups on 1addicts. if you guys have an exhaust media thread i can post them up in there.. or here if you prefer.

[MBP0202]

Congrats on the pass, this is the same result I had as well. AA suppresses the cat codes so that the CEL does not appear. The AA tune will not set the catalyst to "ready." Either they haven't figured out how to do it, or because it's highly illegal they won't do it. Whatever the reason the cat status will not be set to "ready." Only tuner that I know off that can do this or will do this is Evolve. But then again they're not US based...

As for the "incomplete" status of your catalyst reading, that means it has not achieved "readiness" status. Like Dracon said, it all depends on your state/local laws. Sometimes you can have one miss, like you did and still pass. Some places require all statuses to be "ready." Or some places, if all the other status are "ready" but the catalyst isn't "ready" then it'll be an auto-fail.

So as long as your state allows one miss, and you're not in an auto-fail cat state then I'd think you'd be okay. Thanks for the report.

[TheSt|G]

Originally Posted by 631twentyeighteye

Not using any o2 spacers/simulators. I'm not exactly sure what AA did to achieve this, i assume it's similar to evolve and they managed to control secondary o2 voltage through the tune to maintain no SES/CEL.

Mine show up as ready(or complete per your tablet), so this is not the same as what Evolve does.

[3002 tii]

Thread bump...

OP - do you think them passing with incomplete status was just because your local shop didn't care or that's consistent with how any NYS facility would act?

So just to clarify, you have catless headers, NO O2 sims/spacers/bungs/etc, and no factory secondary cats neither?

I'm moving to NY in a few months so now I'm really considering going catless headers lol.

[J-Spec Dan]

this is very good news. i have to get my car inspected after moving to Chicago. michigan didn't require emissions...or any kind of inspection...

[631twentyeighteye]

Originally Posted by 3002 tii

Thread bump...

OP - do you think them passing with incomplete status was just because your local shop didn't care or that's consistent with how any NYS facility would act?

So just to clarify, you have catless headers, NO O2 sims/spacers/bungs/etc, and no factory secondary cats neither?

I'm moving to NY in a few months so now I'm really considering going catless headers lol.

This shop checks everything just as every other certified NYS inspection shop. He even mentioned that I need new rear pads which I was planning on doing a few days later.

I have catless headers but the rest of my exhaust system is now stock again besides the 135i muffler.

Basically you're allowed to have one emissions system reading as not ready/incomplete and you can still pass in NYS. It's a state law loop hole per say.

[Mike.]

Great news for us in NY. I was thinking of getting headers and calling it a day, screw the SC for now..

[1QuikWS6]

Good news as long as you live in a state that does NOT also require a visual inspection to pass - car would fail for no cats based solely on this if the insp. station has any idea what the hell they are doing...

Not knowing exactly how the BMW sensors work, I always wondered why some company just doesn't make O2 Sims similar to the one's I used on my TransAm when I went with Long Tube headers & cat delete?

Don't need them now as that car is Emissions Exempt due to drive <5000 mi/yr, but they were very compact, & simply sent the correct Mv signal that the ECM required from the O2 sensors to 'think' the cats were still there.

[smellthebeans]

In California catless headers/downpipes would not pass based on visual inspection. The first step performed by the technician I observed 3 months ago was to pop the hood and use a flashlight to inspect the exhaust system. Then, he plugged in the OBD system and started his diagnosis. You say NY is the same perhaps, you were lucky?

[631twentyeighteye]

Originally Posted by smellthebeans

In California catless headers/downpipes would not pass based on visual inspection. The first step performed by the technician I observed 3 months ago was to pop the hood and use a flashlight to inspect the exhaust system. Then, he plugged in the OBD system and started his diagnosis. You say NY is the same perhaps, you were lucky?

I've never had a mechanic bother opening the hood or put it on a lift for older models with cats in the mid section.

They're supposed to I suppose, but it doesn't really ever happen in my experience. I still have my secondaries in place for smell.

[rick100]

Do you have AA headers or what type of headers?

I m really thinking about putting the AA headers but failing emission test is really holding me back...

[631twentyeighteye]

They're headers made by Mapleridge(an e90 member). They're the stock collector design, simply without the catalysts.

What state are you in? As long as there isn't any sniffer testing(though I read another member passed this with headers) and they don't visually check, you'll be fine. You might be able to pass off the secondary's as the catalysts if the mechanic isn't too bright.

[rick100]

Originally Posted by 631twentyeighteye

They're headers made by Mapleridge(an e90 member). They're the stock collector design, simply without the catalysts.

What state are you in? As long as there isn't any sniffer testing(though I read another member passed this with headers) and they don't visually check, you'll be fine. You might be able to pass off the secondary's as the catalysts if the mechanic isn't too bright.

no inspection here as far as I know and no sniffer. But I believe they still connect the computer to see if you are good .Although the website shows no test required for if the car is newer than 7 years , however my dad just had to do his ( only computer was connected) and his car is 2011 . I need to find out

[StealYourFace]

Visual inspection is the easy part. Just need to know a guy

[3002 tii]

Quick bump, here's the language straight from NYS DMV regarding "Not Ready" status:

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines allow up to two monitors to be in a "not ready" state for model year 1996 through 2000 vehicles and one monitor "not ready" for 2001 or newer model year vehicles.

http://dmv.ny.gov/brochure/what-do-y...cars-not-ready