Dumb Question...

[Phan]

Hey guys, I just have a quick question I want to ask. When you get the registration renewal paper, and they want you to go get your car smog at a test only center. Well, If you fail the test can you fix it yourself or is it by law you have to bring it to a mechanic for them to fix it? (this is in California by the way)

[300ZXttZMAN]

Honestly I have no clue, if no one knows after a little bit of time I'll promote the post a little to get some answers for you.

[nexus08]

Here in NC, you can fix it yourself. But CA is a whole nother beast.

Also, in NC they have a "good try" type clause where if you spend $200 trying to make it pass they will give you a 1 year waiver.

For my wife's car, the tester told me to go that route, but I went ahead and spent the $50 to put in a new O2 sensor and fixed it myself. The garages were quoting me $250 to replace the O2 sensor. Took me 5 minutes.

Now the O2 sensors on our cars are a real pain to try and replace.

[BigTDogg (MA)]

They're not MISERABLE, but they're not a walk in the park either. Did both of mine in about an hour with a lot of swearing.

As for Cali... Good luck OP. Their smognazis is why I'll never move there.

[nexus08]

They're not MISERABLE, but they're not a walk in the park either. Did both of mine in about an hour with a lot of swearing.

As for Cali... Good luck OP. Their smognazis is why I'll never move there.

It really depends on the size of your forarms. I've got pretty big forarms and I could just barely touch the stupid o2 sensor on the drivers side, and then I had a sharp nut from the power steering slicing my arm. Ended up having to get my wife to help me get the new one started.

Passenger side was cake after I took the battery out.

[NolimitZ32]

u-joints and extensions my friend.

[helio300zx]

you can fix it yourself, its just that if you use aftermarket stuff for repairs they will not pass you, and remove it demanding oem spec. my friend civic had a cone shape air filter directly plug into the stock intake. ( I remove the plastic cover and the square shape filter and just kept it like that ) so its not really a aftermarket intake just the filter so he had to BUY a new OEM intake since he threw it away ( the plastic cover not the square shaped filter). IT also depends what your using like aftermarket radiator I dont think they care, but if u got like aftermarket gasket which isnt as good as OEM they will tell you have to get oem or something like that.