Friends,

I've been away from the Diesel Page for a long time, tied up in another project (hybrid vehicle training program development) but something new is on the horizon that I thought might be worth mentioning here.

California begins a light vehicle diesel inspection program on Jan 1st, 2010. All diesel powered vehicles 1998 and newer up to 14000 lbs will have to be inspected in three areas: Diesel smoke at 2-3k rpm (subjective eye-balls only test), visual inspection for non-approved aftermarket devices, and an OBD2 test.

Things are being hammered out right now by the CARB (California Air Resources Board) and there is still plenty of grey area. For example, while removal of the CAT is plainly a modification and will constitute a failure, what about a 4" exhaust, cat back? Or how about an aftermarket air filter and cold air inlet? Plug in programmers like Edge, Banks, Bully Dog, and Hypertech are specifically pointed out in the CARB material as being non-approved modifications that must be failed. Downloaders that allow for the removal of the program will obviously be impossible to detect.

Time will tell how this all works out. Some manufacturers, like Banks for example whose headquarters are in California, are working on getting EO numbers that will allow for installation without consequence. I don't know what the rest are doing, but I expect there will be serious consequences for the sale of performance diesel products in California.

I thought a heads-up here wouldn't hurt. I own a smog station and also sell performance diesel, so I'm going to have a problem figuring out how to correct this issue.