ULPT: If your vehicle needs yearly emissions inspections and you can’t pass because of a bad catalytic converter get an O2 sensor spacer.

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show_me_your_secrets@reddit

Careful with the spacer. My fun car had one unbeknownst to me. Took it to get emissions and they flagged the car. Had to take it for a full inspection at some local gov agency that treated me like a criminal and examined EVERYTHING.

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jollytoes@reddit (OP)

Did they get under the car and look at the o2 sensors and see ihe spacer? That would be the only way they could know and that is one very thorough inspection.

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Lucentdepths@reddit

They may have tested the actual emissions with special equipment rather than just reading the sensor, if say, the air coming out of the muffler was suspiciously dark or smelly.

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show_me_your_secrets@reddit

Pretty sure they saw when they also changed the oil

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Lucentdepths@reddit

Inspections are not maintenance. They aren't changing your oil.

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show_me_your_secrets@reddit

They are when you take it to the oil change place to get an inspection and oil change at the same time.

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Lucentdepths@reddit

Now you're just stretching to the point of being silly. Why would somebody cheating with a spacer do that? Lol, not sober anyway.

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Ponklemoose@reddit

Sounds like California, they are a little nutty about it.

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show_me_your_secrets@reddit

Utah, land of coal rollers

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going-for-gusto@reddit

California inspections can not be done by maintenance shops, independent testers only.

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Cuneus-Maximus@reddit

Or start a LLC in Montana, transfer ownership of your car to the LLC, and register your car in Montana.

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yert1099@reddit

Guy I know just bought a $400k sports car and did this. He avoids/avoided all sorts of fees and taxes.

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stewie3128@reddit

California are actively going after people who do this right now

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Cuneus-Maximus@reddit

And yet they are powerless…

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beastpilot@reddit

They can go after the LLC which owns the car. Which is you.

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Cuneus-Maximus@reddit

Go after the LLC on what grounds? Lol…

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beastpilot@reddit

CA and most other states are not stupid. They have laws against this. In CA:

"4000.4. (a) Except as provided in Sections 6700, 6702, and 6703, any vehicle which is registered to a nonresident owner, and which is based in California or primarily used on California highways, shall be registered in California."

So they can fine the LLC, or they can eventually impound the car owned by the LLC. Having an LLC in one state does not mean the LLC is immune from the laws of another state if their property is in that state.

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DapperDone@reddit

Just two things to look into before you go down this path:

You may be required to purchase commercial insurance if the car is registered to the LLC. This can often be more expensive.
I’ve heard of some places in California who have laws against this and may actively pursue you.

That said, this may be a great option depending on your circumstances.

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No-Nefariousness8816@reddit

Believe it or not, Mississippi does too. If your plates don’t match your DL address, it’s a big fine. We have high tag tax on newer cars,and folks try to used Florida addresses because it’s a lot cheaper. I know a doctor that got caught doing this.

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Cuneus-Maximus@reddit

Yes. I am not a lawyer. Consult your actual lawyer. It may or may not be right for you, listen to what your actual lawyer says.

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Cant_Work_On_Reddit@reddit

That’s the thing, 100% legal on Montana’s side…possibly very much less so from your state itself

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bob_smithey@reddit

Are there recommended companies that help you navigate this?

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Krimsonkreationz@reddit

The DMV in the state you wish to register at.

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BikingEngineer@reddit

Google Montana LLC and take your pick.

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aosmith@reddit

If you plan a head they also have 0 sales tax.

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Krimsonkreationz@reddit

That could be said about almost all states, all about the planning and paperwork!

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Cuneus-Maximus@reddit

Yup!

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Plz_DM_Me_Small_Tits@reddit

Just be warned your car will become a lot stinkier when you go hard on the throttle. Also gas mileage will go down a bit too.

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dagget10@reddit

That's why you put it on the downstream o2 sensor. Upstream is for adjustments, downstream is to make sure the catalytic converter hasn't started to fail

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Plz_DM_Me_Small_Tits@reddit

It is on the downstream. According to my mechanic friend, the sensor starts thinking you're getting way more air with the spacer in so it dumps a bunch more fuel in to compensate, which is where the nasty sulfur smell comes in cuz it's being let out unburned

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jollytoes@reddit (OP)

Good point. This doesn't fix the problem, it just gets a car passed by inspection so they don't have to worry about a traffic ticket on top of the repair that still needs to be done.

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LazyAssLeader@reddit

So what exactly does the spacer do? Isn't it still a closed-ish system? Won't the sensor still get exposed to the same exhaust?

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jollytoes@reddit (OP)

The spacer makes it so the sensor doesn't sit directly in the stream of air going through the exhaust. If you search for o2 sensor spacers you can see what they look like and there are videos that show how they work.

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LazyAssLeader@reddit

Thanks.

I thought I had a decent understanding of how they work. But I can't get my head around the fact that they are only sampling a portion of the exhaust, so it shouldn't matter whether they are directly in the stream or off a side tube (basically)? Anyone have more details?

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BruisedViolets23@reddit

My ULPT.

30 years ago the car I had at that time was failing the inspection. I was pretty upset because I had just bought the car. The guy doing the test told me to go to a different inspection place when they opened the next morning. I get there, and guess who’s working? Same guy. My car magically passed. I jumped up and down and hugged him. Got all my paperwork, then he ask me out. I declined. Left there happy.

Women are at a disadvantage in so many ways in life. Pink tax. Always worrying about our safety. Lower wages when doing the exact same job as a man. Fuck that. I will use whatever is within my powers to give myself an advantage.

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jollytoes@reddit (OP)

I completely understand that. My wife prefers for me to take her car in whenever something like this needs to be done. She knows the salespeople are going to tell her all kinds of things wrong with the car and while she's brilliant in a lot of areas, vehicles parts isn't one of them.

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BruisedViolets23@reddit

OMG, right? The amount of bullshit women get for any type of repairs. Car, home, whatever. Men get it too, but not to the degree women do.

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RegionRatHoosier@reddit

Back whe. I had a heavily modded S10 I had a high flow cat on it. Because more exhaust Gasses were flowing past in the same amount of time it threw a check engine light. I had to add one of these. They're sometimes called a spark plug non-fouler

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MattR59@reddit

Tried that on my Kia recently, the engine controller recognized the sensor was placed wrong within 15 minutes of driving. Gave me a weird error my cheap reader did not recognize. Removed the space and got some catalytic cleaner. They have it on Amazon. After driving a while with the cleaner in the tank the engine light turned off on its own.

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0sc24@reddit

Unfortunately spacers are illegal in California, they count as emissions tampering.

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_forgotmyname@reddit

I put 100k miles on my car like this never even got the new catalytic converter

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vonhoother@reddit

Maybe not the flex you think it is.

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_forgotmyname@reddit

Why?

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vonhoother@reddit

I wouldn't brag about fouling the air. YMMV.

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jollytoes@reddit (OP)

This is r/ULPT, not r/dontpollute

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gunsforevery1@reddit

You’re talking to the wrong guy in the wrong country. Go to China or Mexico if you’re concerned about “fouling the air”

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HereOnRedditAgain@reddit

Don't even need to look that far, look to our politicians, sports, billionaire, and stars. Anyone flying in a private jet.

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_forgotmyname@reddit

Why because they have lower emissions standards than USA ?

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Ifawumi@reddit

it depends. I live in Georgia which has decent standards but different standards than California. my car was made in California

so it's catalytic converter is not passing the California computer system. however when you clear it, it passes Georgia's requirements. of course clearing the codes only works briefly because the car's California computer chip checks routinely and it goes away You're not meeting California standard so you must be bad. it's not bad it's just not being California standards. it means Georgia standards just fine.

so even though I am getting a warning light because my California computer chip says my California catalytic converter isn't working up to California standards, it's absolutely fine for Georgia standards and I am not polluting the environment

so you got to look at what standards. California's are extremely rigorous. and I actually have no problem with that. what I do have a problem with is that a California catalytic converter that will fit on my car cost $3,500. my car blue books at $1700.

if any reasonable person wants my car to meet California standards here in Georgia then they got to make it legal for me to update my system with a Georgia catalytic converter. but they won't

till then I have a mechanic who just clears the codes and then he runs the test and it passes for me every year 🤷🏼

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_forgotmyname@reddit

You must be mistaken that’s the billionaires you are talking about. I’m poor

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Sure_Comfort_7031@reddit

Codes come back within 50 miles and the scanners used to connect to OBD2 ports for inspection can detect this and flag it.

Worth a shot but don't bet the house on it.

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jollytoes@reddit (OP)

It will not come back because the ecu believes the problem no longer exists.

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ryanpn@reddit

When they do emissions testing they put their own O2 sensors on the back of the exhaust pipe and you will still fail.

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Stainless_Heart@reddit

Most states no longer do that and simply plug into the OBD2 port.

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SerDuckOfPNW@reddit

My car doesn’t have an OBD2 port

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daggersrule@reddit

Just go buy an OBD-II port

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Only-Lab6910@reddit

Then it won’t work. Duh.

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jollytoes@reddit (OP)

Not that I’ve seen in my state. I’m sure inspections may vary state to state.

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BikingEngineer@reddit

Not commonly done for OBD2 vehicles (so most anything post 1997). They’ll generally just plug in an OBD scanner and it’ll report back with a pass/fail. If they catch you being sketchy they’ll refer it to the state test location which will check everything with a fine-toothed comb, but that’s very rare.

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jollytoes@reddit (OP)

Was done on 2012 and 2017 vehicles that I know of recently. This method makes the OBDII scanner show no faults.

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