California legal catalytic converters

California requires catalytic converters to have special CA legal numbers on them. These numbers must be obvious and visible to the technician who performs the car’s bi-annual smog certification, without him having to search the catalytic converters to find them. My 85 XJS V12 is going to need smog certification in a few months, and even though it’s aftermarket converters will pass the smog emissions part of the test, the car will fail the test because it’s converters do not have the new CA legal numbers on them. That means this perfectly good car car will now become illegal to drive in CA. I have yet to find any source that sells correctly stamped, CA legal converters for this car. Does anyone know of a source?

Can the manufacturer of your cats provide any documentation?

Rob

Take a look at Summit Racing site- P/no MPE 37304.

Do you have a receipt for purchasing the cats, prior to when they started the cat law? As I remember they will grandfather in cats purchased prior to the law going into effect. You need proof of purchase though.

Dave Christensen
Tucson, AZ
65 Etype OTS
13 XJ

Well, a lot in play here. I was checking on the costs of cats for my daughter’s 2001 VW Passat. Rock Auto has been a good place to check and buy from. Lots of choices there at not too awful prices. But, “not legal in CA” on the list. One listing that indicated OK by CARB. A he… of a lot more $'s!!!

But, I have my “suspicions”. My lump has a pair of generic cats. Installed by a muffler shop along with the V8 to Jag muffler swap. A couple of hundred a piece as I recall.

Same with my Jeep, welded in a generic. Same look!!!

Each CARB OK’d. I decided not to ask…

And, when my cars do SMOG. So far so good. Dos the tech even look? In my case, the cars have never left the ground.
Did they crawl under? HA!!!

CARB lives in one world, the rest of us in another.

So, Wolesely, Go for it. All that can happen is a fail.

Carl

California requires catalytic converters to have special CA legal
numbers on them.
My 85 XJS V12 is going to need smog certification in a few months…
…the car will fail the test because it’s converters
do not have the new CA legal numbers on them.

You’re telling me that EVERY older car in Kalifornia will be rendered illegal to
drive until the owners pay to retrofit them all with these new cats? I don’t
believe you.

– Kirbert

I take my 4 Jaguars that need the CA smog checks to a small local independent smog station that doesn’t have a lift. They have never done a visual inspection of the underside of any of my Jaguars, although they usually perform a thorough inspection of the engine bay and the seals in the fuel caps. I recommend that you find a small local smog station that doesn’t have a lift and take your car there for a smog check before going through any expense of changing out what might be perfectly good cats. There is no need to ask why I know that this approach can work for several years. :wink:

Regards,

Paul M. Novak

1990 Series III V12 Vanden Plas
1990 XJ-S Classic Collection convertible
1987 XJ6 Vanden Plas
1984 XJ6 Vanden Plas
1969 E-Type FHC
1957 MK VIII Saloon
Ramona, CA USA

Not yet!!!

Original equipment cats are OK in CA. so long as they function.
The catch, if any, is that replacement cats must be CARB OK’d.

CA, kinda like EPA has tons of law that can’t and are not enforced???

Carl

No, I am not saying " EVERY older car in Kalifornia will be rendered illegal to
drive until the owners pay to retrofit them all with these new cats." I said my 1985 car will be illegal because it has aftermarket cats that do not have the CARB numbers on them. The only exceptions to this law are original cats that came with a car when it was manufactured, or aftermarket cats that were previously smog station passed before the new CARB laws, IF you still have the receipt from the smog station that passed them. I do not have that receipt. Also,1975 and older cars are exempt from smog checks.

I’ve been through this mess before with a Honda.

No, I have no receipts and don’t know where they were purchased from. The law states that you can grandfather them only if they previously passed the inspection and if you have the receipt from the smog station that passed them.

Many thanks for this info, Dave. It may be the solution. I will have to print out the manufacturer’s specs and their CA legal compliance claims, and then hand that to a smog station and see if they will accept those cats. It would have been a real shame to have to give up a rust free, 53,000 mile car whose leather still smells like new.

I had same problem when V12 was R&R’d in 2010 … a generic ( though CA legal cat ) was used which seemed to make an odd noise when you accelerated… It got under my skin so I hastily removed it and did a bit of searching round … on calling a fairly well known jag parts supplier in Ohio I managed to find a used one, complete with a short stub of exhaust … stub was removed and the used OEM convertor works fine … it has since been through three CA smog checks and passed each one first time …

There is currently a bill (AB550 ) before California assembly to eliminate smog checks for cars older than 1976 ( you pay a one time $200 fee and the car has to be thoroughly examined under certain conditions) … it passed and is still going through the amendment/ ratification process

Http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB550

I’m parting a 32,000 mile XJ-S V-12. Cats look nice. Still have Os sensors and pigtails attached. Contact me off list. Thanks, 316-776-00six five
Harry Price

When I got my wife’s 1990 XJ-S convertible CA smog checked yesterday (it easily passed) the car ahead of me was a 1990 Mazda Miata. There was quite a discussion between the owner of the smog station and the owner of the Miata over a recently installed catalytic converter on the Miata. The shop owner was going to fail the car, not for emissions numbers, but because he had no proof that the recently installed catalytic converter was CARB approved. The owner of the Miata called the shop that installed the catalytic converter for him and had the smog shop owner talk to him about this. After a lengthy discussion on the phone the smog shop owner eventually decided to give the Miata a pass, but he wasn’t happy about it. So this is happening.

The smog shop owner had no questions about the catalytic converters on my wife’s 1990 XJ-S convertible, and since that shop doesn’t have a lift there was no easy way for him to inspect them for the correct Jaguar part numbers. I suspect that the new catalytic converter on the Miata was easy for him to see and that was why he focused on it.

Regards,
Paul M. Novak
1990 Series III V12 Vanden Plas
1990 XJ-S Classic Collection convertible
1987 XJ6 Vanden Plas
1984 XJ6 Vanden Plas
1969 E-Type FHC
1957 MK VIII Saloon
Ramona, CA USA

Rudy, I think you meant to say “cars newer than 1976”

The problem, of course, is what repairs the smog shop says are needed, and how much those repairs cost.
Wolseley says CA requires certain numbers to be stamped on the catalytic converters.
I live in CA and the smog shops have never lifted my car to look at stamped numbers, they only checked to see that a catalytic converter was attached (but mine does have its original cats). Unless this is something new in the law, there should not be an issue if the car tests below the required smog emission levels.

Wolseley, if you have a shop where you regularly take your XJS for repairs, ask them to recommend a smog shop, they likely know which local shops can test an XJS fairly (for example, IIRC there is a vacuum hose that needs to be plugged for the test). If that fails, Harry may have the most straight-forward solution for you.

“Cars older Han 1976”

You are absolutely correct please excuse the Freudian slip

WayneC1, I never take my car to a repair shop. I perform all repairs and maintenance myself. Requiring the cats to have the correct CARB numbers easily visible to the smog test tech is a regulation that has been in force at least 2 years that I know of. I ran into this issue 2 years ago with a Honda. I didn’t believe the smog tech, so I did the research and verified the regulations.

The first thing the smog test place does is lift the car to check for the CARB numbers, or to see if it is the original cat. If you have an aftermarket non-CARB cat, and you can prove that it was installed by a shop previous to the roll out of the new regulations, then it is legal. Whether or not your cat passes the actual smog testing is irrelevant if it does not first satisfy one of those requirements.

I am going to find a smog test place that does not have a lift.

My memory is a little fuzzy on this topic. As I recall, all catalytic converters have a manufacturing date stamped on them. The California smog-nazis passed a law that after January 2009 all catalytic converters sold or installed henceforth in California smog-control districts had be certified as as compliant with the new CA standard. I got wind of this late in 2008. At that time, CARB couldn’t answer any questions and didn’t expect any new-standard catalytic converters for “unusual” cars to be available for several years. I took the hint and bought an exhaust system in 2008.

Ron

Many CARB cat-convertors have a plate with #s, etc. stamped and welded on, Paul is correct about many not having lifts don’t bother to check the cats for “proper” lineage. Just drive it hard and get it plenty heated up…".Italian Tune Up" before heading to the local SMOG Nazi. We have so many unlicensed/uninsured illegals running around this is a nothing burger compared top that issue. Best, JW

True, oh so true.

  1. Gee, our legislature decided to allow “illegals” to get Driver licences??? Registraion still requires valid insurance. But, just steal a plate or the year tab!!!

  2. Yes, getting the cat/cats good and hot before a test is a good thing.

  3. The shop I go to does have a lift. They do oil changes as well. I think my the replacement cats on each of my cars are CARB OK. But, so long as the cars get by SMOG, I ain’t going to look.

  4. I like to check Craigs list. A “thing” that dates way back to reading the “classified’s” in the day of the printed page.

A quite decent VW Jetta offered for any sum in excess of the
junk yard offer of $200. Needed cats!!! ugh, too much,. by a long way.

My daughter’s decent VW Passat was indicating a similar need. Sent it down the road as a trade in. A lot more than 200. It’s fate, probably similar.

A lot wrong here, eh wot !!!

Carl
rion still