California to start checking OBDII cars for tunes
 

Just a heads up. If you have chipped or flashed a custom tune on your car that isn't CARB certified it will fail California smog checks soon. From CARB:

[QUOTE][My vehicle failed a Smog Check for having modified software. What can I do?/QUOTE]

Move state. South Dakota, Florida or Texas; not Oregon.

[QUOTE=freebeard;652566]Register somewhere else. All registration systems are based on troglodyte technology. I started accepting credit card payments a decade before the Oregon DMV started...

I've got an appointment scheduled for Aug 31st to title and register a vehicle, which was the earliest available time. The police don't cite expired and unregistered vehicles, so now's the time to steal cars and drive 'em like you stole 'em, with impunity.

Never been a better time to be a scoundrel.

Aha, bahaahahahh,hahaha hahaha.
The government has demonstrated catastrophic lack of understanding to obd2 tuning.
I can drop the ecm out of my firebird in about 15 minutes with out any practice, pry the hot eprom chip out, insert an OEM tune eprom, then in 5 minutes move the distributor base advance to the BS 8 degree setting with a timing light.
After smog is passed put the hot eprom back in and crank the base timing back up to about 20 degrees by eyeballing it. It's good for about 2 to 3 mpg and at least 25 more hp.

CARB knows exactly how OBDII tuning works. Depending on how they implement their check will determine if simply flashing back will work. They could look for modified file names, the checksum, the tamper bit or all of the above.

Flashing an ECM changes the checksum. Most manufacturers (maybe all by now) put a "tamper bit" in their ECM. If the checksum ever doesn't match the correct value it flips the tamper bit which is memory that is not rewritable. That flags the ECM as tampered permanently even if it is flashed back to the factory tune. Manufacturers do this to combat warranty fraud were someone tunes a car, damages it, and the puts it back to stock and tries to file a warranty claim.

If CARB is just checking for files names and the checksum then flashing back will work. If they are checking the tamper bit then tuned cars will need to have a stock ECM to swap back in for smog testing. From my reading on this Massachusetts already checks for tunes and checks the tamper bit.

Checking the ECM is also a way to check for internal modifications that aren't visible If you have done hidden modifications (cams, pistons, valve work, gutted cats or DPFs, etc) it may be hard to get the car to run right on a stock tune.


At the end of the day this is about making illegal modifications more expensive and a hassle. This should help move people to legitimate tuning companies that do legal tuning and performance upgrades.

Don't forget the eprom memory that tracks how many times software has been installed and Cali currently looks at. You can fudge the checksum if you can read it, load the software twice to flip the tamper bit back to original. I can buy a non neutered cpu for my VW and like oilpan4 said take 15 minutes to swap it.

Why bother? I do miss the 50+ mpg and performance the Golf has pre neuter, and the not every other day regens, but the mods violate my old age requirements of keeping it stock simple until 2013 when the fix the check engine light up to including a whole new engine and gimme a free rental warranty expires.

No they dont.
Checking the program is laughable. The only people who are going to get caught are people who bought a used car that was "tuned" and had no way of knowing or dummies who just fragrantly disregard the law. I think they will find an overwhelming number of first one.
Bigger cam, different pistons to raise compression is not "just tuning the ECM".
If they understand obd2 tuning so well then why did it take them 25 years to think of this?

It's like having your own emissions standards and still taking all of the top spots for most air polluted cities in the United States.

Wait is it actually true that they can tell if an ECU has been reflashed back to stock? Dealers do that for factory recalls all the time, it can't possibly make you fail...

Thankfully, my car ain't registered in California, so I get to keep my mpg gains :D

You could still keep your gains, you woud just have to go with out for a few days each year.

Yes, manufacturers can tell when a ECM has been reflashed. When a dealer flashes the ECM it doesn't flip the tamper bit because it is an authorized flash that is accounted for in the new flash. The tamper bit isn't looking for the number of times an ECM is flashed - it is looking for deviations from the factory authorized flash.

Say you factory software version 1.00. The ECM will know that for version 1.00 the check sum should be A. You can flash version 1.00 as many times as you want and the checksum will be A so the tamper bit doesn't flip.

When the factory comes up with a new software version it also tells the ECM to look for a new checksum. So version 1.01 may have a check sum of B. Again, you can flash this as many time as you want.

You can also flash version 1.00 back onto the ECM without an issue.

The tamper bit get flipped when someone flashes unauthorized software, and the ECM runs a check sum and gets a result different from the expected result.


You might ask why someone making a new tune doesn't just change the checksum to so that the ECM sees what it expect to see. The answer is that it they do (you need the checksum to work or the car won't start) however the tamper bit part of the ECU that is also looking for checksums is encrypted. So the tuner will need to break that encryption.

Of course any software can be hacked but OEMs don't make it easy. In the past that encryption was model year based so if you could crack one ECM you were good and could create a tune for that specific engine and model year. Now they are VIN based so just because a tuner hacks one car doesn't mean that software will work on another car of that year. The idea is to make it not worth the effort. Of course there is an arms race between the OEMs writing the software and the tuners trying to hack it and OEMs have really stepped up their game now that the market is moving to over-the-air software updates.

Chevy claimed the C8 ECM couldn't be hacked when it was launched. I don't think anyone has been successful to date but I'm sure it is only a matter of time. The 2017 Duramax took 2 years to hack and that was with a rebuilt ECM so their is no danger to Chevy that someone will blow up their engine and then claim a warranty.

Encryption works until a copy is distributed to each end user.

Who besides Tesla is using over-the-air updates.

Almost every automaker does OTA updates for things like navigation and infotainment now. When you get to changing things like ECM software the list is more limited.

GM is doing on select models today and expects to have OTA updates across the full line by the end of 2023. (OTA requires a new electrical architecture so it takes time to role it out to dozens of models)

Ford has full OTA on the Mach-e and VW has full OTA on their newer EVs.

OTA updates for engine controls came to the HD market around 2018 and quickly rolled across the industry. Daimler, VW, Volvo and Paccar all have OTA updates today. I think Toyota (Hino) is the only manufacturer without OTA.

Okay that sounds plausible to me but can you fail smog with a stock checksum just because the ECU's been tampered with before? That just sounds silly, it means any ECU that's been tampered with but restored to factory tune will fail.

Thx. I'm barely invested, my newest car [see avatar] has OBDII.

OTOH, the 1979 Dasher has a quartz clock in the dashboard! That ticks!

As I mentioned before, I'd just never register in a county that requires a smog check. Mom "owned" my Acura until a few years ago. They wanna play games, I'll play and win. Dumb laws need to be exploited until they break so that they can be replaced with something sensible.

At this point, smog checks are probably pointless. I saw somewhere that 50% of failing vehicles get passed anyhow just because people want to be nice and pass others out of kindness considering Gaia doesn't care if an individual car pollutes more than others.

It depends on whether CARB is checking the tamper bit or not.

Yes, it would mean an ECU that has been tampered with would fail. It also means people can't just flash they car back to stock for the test and then right back to the illegal tune.

Odd that has never happened to me when I've failed a test. I don't think I even interacted with a human the last time I went to DEQ. They had a self service kiosk with a cord to plug into the OBDII.

My recollection was from some local PDX news story; probably among the last I ever watched over a decade ago.

Makes me wonder how those aftermarket programmable ECUs would fare under such test, even if they can be set up to a stock tune when a stock replacement ECU is hard to obtain.

Afaik, the software mirrors all the CALI requirements even if it circumvents the OE patents. Cali has a spec to use the tamper bit, but there may not be a requirement to reset or update that bit, OR, the programmer could just ignore changing it. Not like it's an EPROM that comes set to '1's that you have to write zeroes and then open the case, zap with a UV light to erase or rewrite.

It's also not that hard to coment out a compiled line of code on a test computer. In Pascal or C++ it's a couple of [], much like the quote or font codes here.

It is also import to think about legal liability for the tuner. Tuners today work under the legal framework that it is legal to modify emissions equipment for vehicles that will only be used off-road or for competition use. Tuners do the old wink and a node and claim everyone that buys their tunes (or other aftermarket parts) is using them legally off-road even though they know the vast majority of of what they sell is used illegally on-road. However, there is a little bit of plausible deniability.

The "off-road only" argument no longer applies and plausible deniability disappears once they flip the tamper bit. There is no reason to flip a tamper bit back - the vehicle will work just fine with it flipped. Once you flip it back to fool a manufacturer or pass an emission test with illegal software the tuner is committing fraud and emission tampering.

Considering some tunes could actually lead to an overall "cleaner" running, such as changing the shifting points in an automatic transmission, in the end this new regulation is quite pointless.
https://www.dieselarmy.com/news/cali...he-workaround/

I had thought about the possibility of someone setting up a library of loaner ECUs for people to use to pass smog. (As noted in the last paragraph) It could be a moneymaker.

As to the idea that some tunes decrease emissions - LOL. Sure they do. If a simple tune could be used to reduce emissions OEMs would do it and book the emission credits.

Dieselgate 2.0

I mean that is sure again lot of work for no gains from the goverment side for a problem that is not a problem. Meaning almost all modern cars stock program only meets the regulations in the official drive cycle. In normal driving you are not using those parts of the maps much so why on earth its now super important to use the stock files that wont meet any standards for most of the time anyhow?

Also I havent seen a system or car that cannot be made to look normal even its not. I know the hassle from normal car inspections that it takes one day to make it registration ready and one day after inspection to make it work again like it should. All the work to get a fresh stamp for your car. There are easier ways to get fresh stamps than swithing parts back and forth, but who needs that knows them already or will find ways to make it work also in the future.

The issue with "smog" software is the concept that it causes a loss of performance or old lady driveability.

Notice I said concept. The hypermilers here are accepting things to get high mileage results that I won't do, mostly for my convenience. Sure aren't going to get Joe Average to buy into KOEO pulse and glide or high EGR.

Mentioning EGR: back in my hotrodding days, EGR was a serious thing to avoid because it reduced HP in a vehicle that the typical was trying to squeek the last bit of HP/performance out of.

Todays cars are making more power cleaner than ever. Imagine a stock aircooled VW making 200+ hp reliably for 100,000 miles or more and passing CALI smog rules. Kind of boggles the mind. No valves to adjust, no points to set, never fiddle with the carb, just gas and go.

The off the shelf tunes most people get that bump up some ignition timing and lean out the open loop AFR map do run cleaner though...for a while at least (maybe with marginally increased NOx emissions, esp with people who disable EGR). OEMs try to avoid running rich on the test cycle but in normal operation some cars dump a pretty good amount of unburned fuel out the exhaust.

The only problem I see is the guys who run without cats and force the emissions readiness monitors to pass. The number of people attempting lean burn is close to 0, mostly because of the widely held belief that lean burn raises EGT and doesn't help fuel economy.

Real-world driving is way different than the standardized certification tests, to the extent that a shifting point other than what EPA requires may eventually lead to a much better efficiency overall. And a more efficient engine burning less fuel due to better shifting may also feature a decrease to the emissions.

Yes, real world driving is different than standard certification test. That is why after the diesel emission scandal (involving more manufacturers than just VW) regulators around the world are adding on-road emissions tests in addition to dyno tests.

Fuel economy and emissions are often at odds. VW's approach to emissions cheating was specifically focused on improving fuel economy at the expense of NOx emissions.

JSH: my Golf has lower compression than your avatar, and it makes less NOX comparatively for it's size. Vw got stuck in a spot where they couldn't compete with gasoline powered NOX standards applied to their diesel engines instead of the appropriate diesel specs they were aiming for. The brouhaha ended with Cali giving them an exemption to "pollute" more in fewer cars. My golf emission is still cleaner than the same year suburu WRX.

Perhaps VW was onto something with the intelligence they programmed into the vehicle to pass the test and adjust the operating parameters.

Maybe vehicles should have variable tuning that relies on GPS to determine where running dirtier but more fuel efficient is fine, and where tighter emissions tolerances are needed.

I just went on summitracing.com and there are 2000+ items listed with CARB EO numbers. Camshafts, carburetors, headers, cats, cat back systems, superchargers, CAI kits, computer chips and modules. Jegs had more than 1300+.
All perfectly legal for street legal, emissions compliant vehicles in the California.
So you can modify your car/truck for better performance or fuel economy and still be emissions compliant.
Also note this rule about ECM’s is not new. It’s been the law in California and the other (I believe) 20 states that follow California’s emission rules. The change is they're just now starting to check for the ECM mods. It won’t be long before those other states follow.

I make the opposite prediction and figure DEQ testing will be a thing of the past in 15 years. Air quality has improved so much over the years, and EVs/hybrids are likely to be so commonplace in the future that DEQ testing will no longer be needed.

Oregon doesn't even have a statewide DEQ requirement, and I suspect it never will.

Oregon follows California emission laws but does not test statewide. They do test biannually in Portland and Medford areas. It’s not 100% statewide in California either. There are few exempt counties.
Whether or not other states follow Californian in looking for ECM mods is still TBD.

No, Oregon doesn't have a state-wide DEQ requirement. Despite the commonly held belief that emission checks are federally mandated they are actually put in place by individual states as part of their individual plans to meet federal air quality standards in individual metro areas. Oregon has DEQ requirements in metro areas where they have air quality issues related to vehicle emissions.


I don't share your view that emission checks are going away. We have made some big gains since the 60's and 70's but recently we are basically treading water. Yes, cars are getting cleaner but metro areas are rapidly increasing in population. So far it has been about a wash.

Yes, a Golf pollutes less than a Class 8 truck. A Golf also doesn't need to pull 80,000 lbs.

Things haven't been static that the HD sector.

The NOx standard has decreased from 6.0 grams per brake horsepower hour in 1990 to 0.20 grams per brake horsepower hour standard in 2010. In 2024 it drops to 0.05 grams and then to 0.02 grams in 2027.

For PM, the standard decreased from 0.6 g/bhp-hr in 1990 to 0.01 g/bhp-hr in 2010. PM drops to 0.005 g/bhp-hr in 2024.

Expect to seem some interesting solutions to meet those standards

This why CARB is targeting HD trucks:

https://fleetimages.bobitstudios.com...-720x516-s.png

VW got stuck in a spot where they decided to cheat instead of meeting emissions requirements. Regulators around the world have stopped writing special emission rules for diesels. We have almost got to the point where there is one set of rules for all vehicles regardless of fuel type.

That isn't quite how things work. Both CARB and EPA standards are base on fleet averages. Vehicles are certified into different bins (EPA) or tiers (CARB) based on their emission certifications. Then there is a fleet average that steadily tightens over time. So yes, CARB allows VW to make some Golf TDIs that are dirtier than average as long as they make enough other cars that are cleaner than average to make up for it. They do the same with Subaru and the WRX.

You can find way more info than you likely want here:
https://dieselnet.com/standards/#na

So it almost looks like checking obd2 tunes on cars is a waste of time.
Maybe go after heavy duty vehicles and stationary. Since HD is the biggest chunk and stationary are easy to watch.
Only a brain dead bureaucrat could look at the pie chart and be like, "lets go after that small slice and ignore all the bigger ones".

California has made some big gains since the 1960s, the top 7 spots for worst air quality in the nation. Now that's progress.

Has there ever been a study to determine the effectiveness of DEQ checks in the first place? What would be the pollution levels in a city without required DEQ testing vs with? Is the cost in both time and money worth whatever improvement in air quality is observed, or would there be better ways to improve air quality?

I wouldn't entirely be surprised if these questions were never asked.

You must have missed the part of my post where I mentioned the new CARB HD NOx regulations finalized last year that drop allowed HD NOx by 90%

CARB has an all of the above approach. Apparently they can walk and chew gum at the same time.

Looks like progress to me:
https://dynaimage.cdn.cnn.com/cnn/c_...geles-smog.jpg

Air quality in California is MUCH better than it used to be. That doesn't mean more work isn't necessary.

Everyone else was just able to do it better, faster, more efficiently, with less money and without creating a clearly failed bureaucracy.
That's why they; California still owns the top 7 spots for worst in the country. 20 years ago I think they had the top 8 spots, so I guess that's something, not much, but good job any way (not really).

In the end it seems to be more about revenue than effectively decreasing emissions on souped-up engines, as it may not be impossible to keep emissions within the limits even resorting to parts which may not hold an EPA certification.