[WizzaVTX]

Need legit experienced owners who can offer real suggestions.

2015 Charger Hellcat
Tons of modifications including SW lt headers and their high flow cats, oem O2 sensors replaced with recent recall.

This car based on where we live HAS TO PASS smog testing. Had challenges last year but it was resolved with a tune update from speed shop. AIR, EGR and Heated Cat were the three faults that still allowed testing to proceed successfully last June.

Current situation is this:
No cel, two codes visible from center evic P2096 and P2098. Downstream oxygen sensors are affixed and have defoulers installed.

Two additional codes are visible from obdii tester checking other styles.
P0139 and P0159. O2 sensors circuit slow response bank 1 and 2, sensor 2.

The agreement with the speed shop was the car HAS to be prepared for emissions testing in June.

Currently the car when run thru the emissions monitor readiness test shows lots of items not ready for smog analysis.

As shown on the image, there is a new one showing with O2 sensor not operating correctly. Additionally I have to connect the dots the 2 DTC are the ones at the top and the 4 are aggregate of all codes in the system.

What recommendations can be made to resolve this setup? I am inspecting the whole system tomorrow and checking the wiring for the O2 sensors to see if anything obvious is found before I go through replacing them at a cost.

Genuinely DO NOT want to have to revert those back to stock headers and cats unless it is a risk of not being able to pass smog and renew tags. Need some helpful suggestions, already beating myself up over this mess.

I have until the end of June to resolve this one way or another.

 

[VancityCat]

How about running E85? Doesn’t it run cleaner ?
Excuse me if this a stupid or ignorant suggestion- I’ve always wondered if e85 burned cleaner

 

[ScLeCo]

How about running E85? Doesn’t it run cleaner ?
Excuse me if this a stupid or ignorant suggestion- I’ve always wondered if e85 burned cleaner

It's not a matter of passing the emissions the new tests include the emissions equipment as well. He needs all of the monitors to report that they are working and that they are seeing the correct conditions.

There is not really much you can do. I hate to say it but your best bet is to go back to stock for testing.
At least you don't live in California where they are now looking for any modifications to your ECU.

California smog check will now look for modified ECU software - Autoblog

Vehicles with an unapproved ECU tune will run the risk of failing California's biennial smog check.

www.autoblog.com

 

[SickToo]

Aftermarket ‘software’ ? I don’t think my smog guy is smart enough to be able to look inside my pcm and see if my rear 02 have been turned off or not. Too many different vehicles come thru that shop every day for him to be able to do that to each. You having the codes there is a different story tho. Which are the wide band on a HC? The fronts? Why can’t yer guy turn off the rears?

 

[ScLeCo]

Aftermarket ‘software’ ? I don’t think my smog guy is smart enough to be able to look inside my pcm and see if my rear 02 have been turned off or not. Too many different vehicles come thru that shop every day for him to be able to do that to each. You having the codes there is a different story tho. Which are the wide band on a HC? The fronts? Why can’t yer guy turn off the rears?

This article dives in deeper.
It looks like if you have a good tuner who's willing to work with you, it's not going to be a insurmountable problem.

California Will Start Checking for ECU Tuning In Smog Checks This Month

For those of us who retain factory emissions hardware and cat converters, increased emissions from a tune are negligible. But we'll have to comply to stay street legal.

www.carbibles.com

 

[SickToo]

California smog certs - it ain’t whatcha know… it’s WHO

 

[shademaker]

So, without a tune, good luck. I had the same set up in the beginning. P0139 and P0159 is going to be due to the O2 being located further back on the collector. I think that can be turned but not sure. I hear most tuners disable the dct most times. You will fail smog if they do that.

You might get it to go through egr check list a few times if you clear it. However, it will always come back.

 

[shademaker]

With out a tune that compensates for the longer distance and for lack of enough difference from the upstream and downstream sensors, you will never pass.

You could just install oem, do testing and pass, put long tube set up back on. It's a solid weekend. But really, from experience, long tube gives nothing but sound without tune. It's been brought up alot. Search forum and you'll see.

 

[WizzaVTX]

Why I have the parts I do is of no question or concern.

Goal is not to get over on testing it is to actually set it up as positive as possible to legitimately run without a swap.

I am not paying again to do the install of stock parts just to swap them out every year.

Car has custom tune last modified in March of this year, not sure why that is hard to grasp.

 

[shademaker]

Sure thing. I had the same set up. Good luck with your efforts .

 

[Hell-Tach]

I'm not sure who your tuner is, but you might want to talk to other tuners and explain the problem and ask them if they can tune it properly but keep the parameters in check. Ask them this before you make any appointments or hand over any cash. If they can do it then you should be ok.

If you can't find anyone who seems capable enough to do it, then you just might have to visit a few shops that do DMV testing and talk to them and see if they can get your car to pass.

If that fails then you might have to either spend some time learning how to self tune...or take it in, have the stock parts put back on, pass inspection, and then have the aftermarket parts reinstalled. If you have a garage or a good amount of space then you can probably get a mobile mechanic to come to you and do it cheaper than a shop will do it.

Unfortunately those are the only options. Well...lastly...you could just ride around with no sticker. LOL!! One of my cars has no sticker and I DD it including driving by cops all the time. I have been lucky enough to not get pulled over. Just don't do any crazy driving and you should be fine. And most of the time, if cops even pull someone over for anything at all, you would have to be doing something very bad. And they're looking for soo much stuff that the sticker is the last thing they care about. If you do get a ticket for one it's like 40 bucks or something.

 

[Xylander]

Technically, per the current EPA guidance, aftermarket performance cats of any kind are illegal. State laws vary, but the Feds have been really cracking down on tampering with the stock cats. In Florida, that has no emissions laws other than "don't roll coal" and "don't mess with the cats," simply running hi flow cats is a $6,000 fine if you get caught. I've always wondered how smog tests get around that Federal law and pass cars with hi flows.

 

[WizzaVTX]

not looking like a positive outcome here, but will make time this weekend to investigate more

Speed shop is top notch, hard part is not knowing about the customer's various state requirements and all the testing parameters is a hard item to get thru to shops who are being asked "make it powerful, make it fast".....not necessarily "make it legal to X standard"

Last year the issue was easily resolved and cleared....unless something very obvious comes of the onceover this weekend, like messed up wires or screwed up sensors, I will likely plan to revert to stock components then at least I know it will work

Again not wanting to get by or get over, just get smarter honestly....it is a Diablo tune so unless I want to start over with HP, I have no choice of making self-taught pid changes.....not really interested in that element either to be honest.

 

[Hell-Tach]

If it is a Diablo tune then you might be able to get a good tuner to dyno your car with HPT and have everything in compliance. Before you go taking parts off, I'd call around to other tuners and get their input. A good dyno tune is only around $400-$800 depending on the shop and what all is required. And it can be done in a day or two. ANd the good thing about that is you can always go back to the Diablo tune after you pass...if you want.

 

[shademaker]

I want to say this again just to help you out @WizzaVTX . With tune or with out, if you are using long tube headers you will end up with codes. If you do have it tuned the tuner will just turn off the alert so it does not show up on your dash more than likely.

 

[SickToo]

What if the rears were turned off before those mods were installed???

 

[WizzaVTX]

Positive results. Additional research into the codes and contents of the tune file from the speed shop has produced encouraging news so far.

Shop did some coordination with another top notch shop to source some info and was able to provide revision to tune file that addressed two of the four codes I was seeing.

P2096 and P2098 are clear.

The other two only seen on the obdii tester were P0139 and P0159.

Will run the onboard emissions readiness test later today and see if it clears out the Unsupported or Not Ready drive cycle monitors and gets to a point where it is "ready to test"

Reference information to follow. Drive Cycles for my 2015 Hellcat are:
Highways speed less than 50 mph
RPMs between 1200-3000
Coolant temp 158 for no less than 92 seconds
MAP 7.5 - 15in
Speed after between 20-70 until tested

Virginia emissions readiness permit three but not more than three items to show as "Unsupported" or "Not Ready".

Will report back with update as soon as I can. Hoping this resolves the issue the way I truly wanted.

 

[shademaker]

If a shop pulls a motor, rebuilds it as a new motor, then says you have to pay for new cats, and turns all checks off in their tune, that shop is the one responsible. Nobody made them do it.

EPA is also more interested in the tuners and shop when it comes to policing actions.

It's 25k per infraction as well. I only know because I just had to talk to the EPA.

 

[baabootoo]

What about a different type of plate?

 

[WizzaVTX]

So it appears there is progress. No codes in stored or permanent obdii checks. The four I was dealing with are clear and I simply have to continue to run the drive cycles to ensure the oxygen sensor is working right.

May actually go thru the trouble of pulling and inspecting them to get an idea of any possible buildup of carbon.