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Orcadrvr's avatar
Orcadrvr
Explorer
Nov 19, 2018

New Ram California DMV issues

Just took delivery of a brand new 2018 Ram 3500 Laramie Diesel, which I really like. I bought it from Dave Smith in Idaho, and could not have had a better buying experience!
However, California DMV is being their usual obnoxious self: I have to get a smog check before I can register it, bcause I bought it out of state! It has about 51 miles on it!
So I took it to the smog check place, waited a while, and the tech showed me the printout which said that it "wasn't ready" for the smog test. I need to drive it some more before it is "ready" for the test.
Anybody have any ideas about how much to drive it before the retest?
Tow Vehicles

56 Replies

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  • Lynnmor's avatar
    Lynnmor
    Explorer
    Nov 19, 2018
    How long can you drive an unregistered vehicle? Since you have little control over the miles and time required to make the truck ready, how is it possible to make this work?
  • cmeade's avatar
    cmeade
    Explorer
    Nov 19, 2018
    And do not forget a certified weight slip and Vin verification from chp.
  • turbojimmy's avatar
    turbojimmy
    Explorer
    Nov 19, 2018
    It depends. Invest in a cheap OBDII scanner and it will tell you when the monitors are ready. Or drive it 100 miles or so and try again. In NJ you can pass with 2 monitors not ready (except for O2 and catalyst I think), but I'd suspect that Kalifornia wants them all to be ready. EVAP is usually toughest to show ready - takes a long time as it's a combination of cold starts, highway driving, stop and go driving, etc. I never drive on the highway and my EVAP monitor on my truck didn't show as ready even after about 75 miles of around-town driving last year. I passed inspection because the other 6 monitors were ready.
  • Lwiddis's avatar
    Lwiddis
    Explorer II
    Nov 19, 2018
    "However, California DMV is being their usual obnoxious self"

    Checking vehicles for emissions is not being obnoxious because it causes you to have your out of state purchased vehicle inspected. If you didn't want to be inspected then you should have purchased in state. It was your choice. The rules are clear and they have been in effect for a long time.
  • ItsyRV's avatar
    ItsyRV
    Explorer
    Nov 19, 2018
    Just call the any dealer's service dept and ask what is the "Drive Cycle" to ready the OBD. They will give you the specific (such as X miles at 30 low speed, Y miles at high speed, Z minutes of idle) or they will say drive it so many miles in mixed traffic. I'm surprised the selling dealer didn't do this for you or at least told you what to do.

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