It might help us all if Porsche polishers took a smog class at their local community college too.

edited to remove content, he just isn't worth it.

Loren, you know nothing about Sam and his abilities so your personal comments were, as usual, out of line.

"Loren, you know nothing about Sam and his abilities so your personal comments were, as usual, out of line." - 450knotOffice -

His posts say it all! Just do a search & read em.

"BTW, when i was 5 my dad explained to me how a light bulb worked.
I decided to make my own out of a coat hanger. I realized the design deficiency immediately when i stuck the two ends in the wall socket." - sammyg2 -

From another thread - says it all!

This isn't a sentiment that I would expect from this board.

Brilliant Loren, using an anecdote describing something i did when I was 5 years old as a measurement of my current mechanical abilities.
If nothing else you are predictable.

This board is not an appropriate forum for what is turning into a personal feud and I won't participate in it here any further.
You are on my ignore list, if you wish to continue we will have to do it in person.

Sammy - Let it go, Loren already has a repuatation in this board as it is. Even he said it himself once that he says the things he says just for his own amusement when we react.

I'm guessing that the sarcasm genome is also missing.....

Remember, that you can go to any test only station (Ca.) and have your car pretested to see if it's going to pass. So if you think yours is a "maybe" then do this. It will cost you, but it's worth it some.

This thread started out with SammyG telling about his car and the failing of a smog check. How and why did it become an attack on SammyG by Loren?

Loren, I respect your knowledge base and have read your posts learning a great deal in the process. However, why do you frequently belittle others to show how "smart" you are? This is a technical forum with personality mixed in. We already believe that you have a pretty good understanding in the realm of the electronics.

SammyG is a solid contributor to this board and has even come to my home to help me with a problem on my P-car.

I know this is not my battle.....David

Is there a way to test the O2 sensor on an SC? I ask because I'm wondering if mine is failing. I noticed that on a certain tank of gas my car started pinging. I've been running it on regular for two years with no problems and then all of sudden halfway through a tank of gas the car would consistently ping at WOT. I topped off the tank with super and the ping went away. I've seen refilled with regular and I get no pinging.

Maybe I just got some bad fuel? But shouldn't the O2 sensor have retarded the timing and prevented the pinging anyway?

Final question. Can we use the $18 Bosch Universal O2 sensor on our cars or is the $80 part mandatory?

My Carrera manual tells me that I need 91 octane or better. Does your SC manual allow you to use Regular? You might want to check.

The smog shops that do repairs can test it...."I" would call them and ask....not sure about now but it WAS cheaper to pull the O2 sensor and take it down there.

They usually have a replacement on hand if it turns up no good.

What I've read....an 02 sensor is good for 4-5 years....little longer than a battery.

Make sure you use a GOOD penetrant WITHOUT silicone like PB Blaster prior to cranking on the sensor....WD 40 is NOT an example of a good penetrant.

As to cheap Bosch 02 sensors.....depends on how many wires yours has......they may only last a 1/4 of the time the more expensive ones last.

No experience on them. Last time I needed one they were all 50-75 bucks.

I'm pretty sure the manual calls for regular in the SC. I know that my butt dyno can't tell a difference between premium and regular (except for that one tank of pinging gas).

I'm also headed to the "test only" station next month. I believe the O2 sensor is original and understand that they do degrade over their lifetime. Maybe it's a good time to replace it anyway?

Yow!!! Guys! I would say "Gents" but some of those flames kill the open forum vibe.

Not hijack but.... You can use a generic O2 sensor. One wire non heated ones are an easy splice and play. 4 wire heated ones are a bit more complex but I used a generic on my 3.2 car. It runs great and passed the smogger with no issues.

O2 sensors only last about 30 to 50k miles if they don't get abused by over rich mixtures, oil contamination, etc.. Going to a smog test w/o a new one is like taking a joint to a police station.

Now on to the meat of the matter. Us tree huggers here in Cali have reduced the smog issue in our cities by 200% since the dirty 70's. I live in LA and I can tell the difference. On the other hand it's a shame the tests are not "closed hood" so our EFI converted cars could get through just on the dyno sniff test. There is a way though. If one takes the car to a smog referee they may agree that your mods made it cleaner and let you pass. As with everything in this world if one wants to be special it takes more time.

Burn endless...

-Alex

Mine's only 25 years old with 85K miles on it. Maybe it's ready for the retirement home. :-)