
Originally Posted by
Eric
If state law requires the dealer to have passed the vehicle before it was sold, it sounds like you need to lean on them to get this handled. It should not be your hassle!
It's probably a lot more their problem than mine. CA is very strict about these things and they broke the law by selling it to me. The fact that it is a gross polluter makes it even a lot worse as it's illegal to do anything with a gross polluter except for THEM to have it fixed or for THEM to sell it to the state of CA.
BTW, we do NOT get a paper about smog then we buy a used vehicle, but it's probably a good idea to have such a law. During a CA smog test, they have to communicate the data with a machine to CA DMV. In fact, the smog tester does NOT even know if it will pass or not until they get a reply from DMV with all the data. They have this system set up in such a way that makes cheating on a CA smog test almost impossible.
BTW, it's probably not a catalytic converter problem as I previously thought by noticing one of them is old and the other new. I drove the RV back here to South San Francisco and at about 6,000 feet in elevation, I got a "Service Engine Soon" light. When I got home, I checked to see what the OBD2 code was. It was an 0171 (system too lean) that was current and had a 0304 (cylinder four misfire) in memory.
I was somewhat surprised by a "too lean" condition coming on at high elevation. The code 0304 must have been from before I owned this RV as I had no other MIL's (Malfunction Indicator Light) other than this 0171 since I owed it.
The RV runs very well. Could not run any better. Seems like it has a lot of guts even going up hill at 7,000 feet elevation.
I drove it here because I may have to drive it to the main office of the RV dealer in Livermore, CA this week, which is much closer to this home. They might even come to pick it up from here. They offered to do that before they discovered I was keeping it at my Reno home.
This Monday, I will talk to them and see how they wish to handle this. It's a bigger problem than they expected, as it failed the smog test and is still a "gross polluter". A Gross Polluter" stays as such until it totally passes the smog test and this limits who is allowed to repair and retest it.
I hope I didn't complicate things by the work I did on it, such as adding a cruise control, tachometer, backup camera, keyless entry and changing the radio to a stock radio with CD player (the after market one it came with was a very mickey-mouse install) and many other such things. It's obvious I have done work around the engine, especially with the after market cruise control install.
-Don- South San Francisco, CA