Quote:
Originally Posted by Saint
All mute at this point. The State of Calif has temporarily suspended this program due to budget cuts. Most likely wont see it come back to life anytime soon.
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The CAP program was back in full swing on 10/17 when I brought my car back in. I had failed smog a few months ago and was approved by the BAR for the CAP program, only to find it suspended due to the budget issue this fine state has been dealing with. I called the BAR and they told me my certificate was still valid and got an extension until November.
While the program was suspended I did not use the 190, but spent quite a bit of time researching failure reasons (Thanks Duke 2.6!), and correcting anything I thought to be a factor. To make a long story short, I made my appt. at the nearest "Gold Shield" station (same place I had failed at). The tech asked for my paperwork and last test results, after a quick review, he said I would probably need a new CAT (high HC's) and took my $100.00 co-pay.
I had heated up the CAT while running up and down Interstate 5 in 3rd gear and kept it running at 2k rpm while waiting. I asked him to keep the engine running while doing the visual portion of the test and he did. Then an attractive news reporter came in and asked to interview him........ He shut my car off while he spoke with her for 10-15 minutes.....
After the interview he started her back up rev'd it to about 2300 rpm for a couple of minutes, stuck the sniffer in and started the treadmill portion. You should have seen the look on this guys face when he got out off the car shaking his head saying "It passed" !
The couple little tweaks that I had done and some new vacuum lines resulted in a 25% reduction in HC's on the 15 mph test and a whopping 50% reduction on the 25 mph test (with a fairly cold CAT) He gave me my test results and refunded $40.00 of my co-pay and I was on my way to the DMV.
The amount of info on this board is amazing, and would really like to thank "Duke2.6" for his in-depth explanations. Knowledge is Power!. Though I was approved for the CAP program (test only per the DMV), I am thankful to have not needed it, and found my own solution. PS. short term testing is showing a 2-2.5 improvement in MPG.
Thanks again all !