Question about a 98 Avalon in NJ in regards to CA emissions

[Joon525]

My mother in law has a 98 XLE which was bought in NJ.
From what I found, NJ adopted the CA emissions standard in 2004.

Is there a chance that her car is made to comply with the CA emissions even though it's a 98 model?

I don't have the car readily available to me since she's about an hour away and getting her to read the label under the hood would be difficult due to a language barrier.

[CupCate18]

How strict are the Cali laws? My 95 easily passes GA emissions with no worries. These cars really do have low emissions though. See if you can get the emissions from this year or last year for it and see if it would be inside cali laws.


Edit: Also, this year right before I had to do emissions, I had my car on a 1100 mile drive no less than a week before the emissions test. For whatever reason, all readings were lower than the previous year, although no major changes were done. This may lower yours if you are worried about high readings. Depends on how much it is driven.

[BMR]

If you're pondering moving to CA, you don't need to worry about passing CA's emissions. If you're a resident of another state and the vehicle is registered in that state, it is permitted to be brought to CA whether it was made to their standards or not.

[toyomoho]

The cars are tested based on the emissions standards they were certified to when built. For NJ, new cars sold would need to meet the CA standards once adopted.

[swiftjustice]

The vehicle will have either one of two emission certifcations: CA spec or Federal spec (aka "49 state"). Most manufactures now just make their cars to CA spec and slap a CA spec compliant label on it, since most states have a similar standard and its no longer cost effective to sell them two different ways.

A new vehicle sold in CA must be certified to meet CA emissions. If you buy a new Avalon in another state that is not CA compliant, you cannot register it until it "ages": that is it must be two years old.

Since your 98 is past the two year limit, you can bring it into CA and it must meet the Federal standard for that year if a 49 state car, or the CA standard for that year if a CA spec car.

CA has the most stringent emissions tests in the nation, and in some areas of the state (typically urban) the standard is even higher still. Its not only a tailpipe test, there is also an underhood verification/functinal test. Your tailpipe emissions might be fine, but if you messed with the smog system from the stock configuration, it will not pass.

You can get smog check questions answered here:
http://www.bar.ca.gov/01_ConsumerAct...gChecknew.html

[Joon525]

The reason why I was asking was because I have to replace the O2 sensor in Bank 1 (Sensor 1).
If the car was CA emissions the sensor is a lot more than if it wasn't.

I searched and found a thread it seemed like a guy just bought a 60 Denso O2 sensor and it worked, but then I had my brother in-law take a picture of the label under the hood and it indeed says CA emissions vehicle.

I've already bought the $60 Denso O2 sensor as opposed to the $170 air/fuel sensor and will try that out anyway and see what happens.

[Joon525]

Update: I guess the 98 model year in NJ IS CA emissions compliant.
The regular Denso O2 sensor's plug doesn't even match the one in the car, I had to buy the $170 version to get this situation fixed.