Star!

California has passed a star program that randomly selects (all obd1 cars) cars for special smog requirements. I have a 4runner i daily drive with a fresh motor, fresh exhaust with new cat and egr, it has never failed smog until now. And now i am forced to pay the 4500 dollar repair bill in order to sell, retest, ect my truck. I cant fix the false problem my self(a vac line was magicly dissconnected to the egr) im fucked. Now what. What do i do. Who wants a 4runner and alltrac? Considering ill never be able to drive them in ca again. WTF is up with this state. They offered me 2k for my truck in order to get a bad car off the road. So 2k takes her. And 2 k takes the trac. Ill let them sit and rot away befor i let two bueatiful toyotas get distroyed my ca.
Ill take someone's money out side of ca befor i let ca have my rides. It cant be legal. We the people need to fight for our rights. We need to put the government back in its place. Who wants to help put a protest together. My cuz is in the same situation. He bought an 87 jeep that the dmv will not let him put in his name on a pno with out a star smog slip he tried to explain that it doesnot have a motor and will not be driven for years. They simply said you will have back fees if you do not have it star certified. Wtf he cant even own a project. Also after i decided to keep my trac i decided to pno it just to save money until its ready. Now i cannot put it back on the road with out a star smog and inspection. I highly dought my 3 inch ex, egr block, and soon stand alone will pass the smog and inspection, especially seeing my 4runner with a new motor and exhaust will not pass. all i can say is its time to move. I wont live in an over taxed under paid over governed state any longer. Sorry for typos im on a cell phone

I feel your pain bro, I recently took my car for a smog test only and as soon as I pull up and show him my DMV papers they tell me my car requires a special STAR type of smog test! REALLY!!! WTF!!! from a $30.00 dollar smog test I always do to a $125.00 pricetag but lucky my car is completely stock as fuck and I did a Tune-up, oil change, replaced fuel and air filter which helped it pass I guess but overall all bullshit!!! I didnt hear anything about these new updates on smogging OBD1 Vehicles

Yeah I have no clue on the CA rules, inspection/emissions, Star, etc...but that sounds pretty shitty. I may have to go read up on it (just for my fyi).

Whenever considering if and where I'd move to, I never once considered California due to the regulations they have with cars. Sure, there are just as many people who don't have these issues, but there is a higher percentage of people who don't have issues in other states too (Oklahoma being one of them).

Bryan

Isn't that monopolizing if they try and force you to repair there? Cant you take it, fix it and retest? What gives them legal right to be the ones to fix it and what did they try and say was the issue? Something isn't right there.

4500 for what?!?!?!?!

Is it possible one of the mechanics wants your vehicle and is trying to scam you? The CAP program only offers 500 for repairs in cali. What program is it where they buy your vehicle?

Edit:
http://www.smogtips.com/vehicle_buy_back.cfm

Smells of scamming you. Cali's program is delayed for retiring and it only offers up to 1500.............I would say take it, fix it and take it to a test only facility. This is just my views with no real knowledge except what I see on the net.

That is a crappy law. I moved from Washington state(emission test state) to Kansas( NO emissions test) This is where my alltrac is gonna be for a very long time. I was happy i didnt have to pay extra for a stupid test just to get my car registered. Sorry to hear the crappy news though. :/ you seriously consider selling both cars?

Washington only does emissions for certain areas. I have my cars registered elsewhere and have never had to do an emissions test.

Sorry to hear your troubles, unfortunately a lot of wacky stuff from CA is spreading.

Anoo21":1bh3psjc said:

That is a crappy law. I moved from Washington state(emission test state) to Kansas( NO emissions test) This is where my alltrac is gonna be for a very long time. I was happy i didnt have to pay extra for a stupid test just to get my car registered. Sorry to hear the crappy news though. :/ you seriously consider selling both cars?

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yes unless some one has a plan to get star banned. A car is easier to replace then a house and career.

Wait what is this star program crap? As far as I know, awd vehicle are inspected differently, as for passing smog, just replace the cat, and u are good to go right?

OH yeah, you can get a quote for the repair, then fix it and resmog again at least thats what I recall it to be. Even if you fail smog, doesnt mean they dont give you a time to fix ( aka go to another shop) to redo the smog check again. From what you are saying its like you are forbidden to re smog the car.

here is the actually DMV notification:
http://www.smogcheck.ca.gov/80_BARResou ... 20Back.pdf

anyways, what did the tech say, or wrote on your certificate? is all about proof man.

I'm with Utahsleeper , I smell a scan. I dont know about Cali , but in our state the inspections are held by a state setup inspection building. All surrounding states to me do inspections at repair shops which IMO is the best setup you can give shops if they want to scam people ... I will never live in a state that pulls this crap ... Good luck with this problem man. You've had a black cloud following you around. Hope ya shake it soon

That totally blows. I just got my Trac up and running a week or so ago. I was so excited I didn't even give it a tune-up - just gassed it up and drove straight to DEQ. Passed with flying colors. PLUS I got a nice surprise - 25 year rule kicked in. I'll never have to smog it again! Does Cali have a 25 year rule or something of the like?

sinerasis":2qorymyh said:

Washington only does emissions for certain areas. I have my cars registered elsewhere and have never had to do an emissions test.

Sorry to hear your troubles, unfortunately a lot of wacky stuff from CA is spreading.

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That is true i forgot. I lived in king county so i had too :/

Like others have said, this definitely sounds like some kind of scam by the shop. If not, then Cali has an even bigger lead as the crappiest place to own a car.

I spoke to the bar today and they gave me 30 days to retest for free because the shop is under investigation.

RallyX-GT4":u9eocu66 said:

Does Cali have a 25 year rule or something of the like?

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It used to be a 30 year rule, but that was frozen in 2005 at 1975... All cars 1975 or newer need a smog check of some sort every 2 years, starting 7 years after the car was sold as new or when the car is sold on the second hand market.

I just snuck under the wire with the Gold Star program on my Alltrac. I paid my registration last fall (October, I believe) and was able to smog it earlier this month under the old rules. I made sure it blows clean out the tail pipe and found a smog shop that 'understands' the car.

-Charlie

That is so stupid. I hope it is just a scam and you can continue to use and drive your vehicles. If not please PM me and consider this my "dibs" on your vehicles I am in Oregon and would take very good care of them. I already bought one alltrac from CA and would love to get one for the woman. Also in need of a 4runner to put my son in and drive over stuff with. Even have a nice trade offer (that will pass )

Well, this thread alone has persuaded me against moving to cali. Oregon, here I come.

awww man, I was going to call dibs on that alltrac, and I live in ca :lol:

anyways yeah you have another 30days, so good luck! if anything there are some decent shop here in LA but doubt you want to drive that car to get it inspected.

Glad they are under investigation.

Now just get it fixed and find a inspection only location.

Yours does seem like a scam because when I smogged my Trac the tech pretty much did the same procedure as a regular smog test meaning check emission CO,Nox, ect, Hold Rpm to certain level, Cat, EGR and gas cap which was pretty straight forward normal so WTF does the STAR mean if nothing is different other then price

dustinbart":16lhuebf said:

Well, this thread alone has persuaded me against moving to cali. Oregon, here I come.

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hit me up when you do! haha