#Vin match ecu help update
#Vin match ecu help software

In 2006 emissions tests were not nearly as thorough as they are today so the VIN wasn't high on anyone's priority list.

#Vin match ecu help update

Generally, the blank VIN issue is caused by someone doing an update and not completing the VIN update step correctly. When I go to the track I routinely take along a T4E ECU and allow people to 'test a tune out'. In fact the ECU doesn't handle any of the anti-theft coding. There is nothing in the ECU to lock it to your vehicle.

The recall or VIN correction is required to pass most state emissions tests. Here is my saga:Ĭlick to expand.This is not true at all. I had the same issue as the OP on my stock 2006 Elise. So the rat rods had legit old VINs and the kit cars had SB100 and they were all good to go with no cats in CA. He said they've seen Superformance GT40 and Cobra replicas with brand-new Roush engines running cat-less (legal), rat rods with open-pipe zoomie headers (legal), and all manner of stuff you'd never think was going to pass smog in CA - but most of it can make it through the process and wind up with current CA tags if you've got a legit pre-1970 VIN or an SB100 certificate. They said they see all kinds of weird stuff and are authorized to make binding legal decisions on the street-legal-ness of just about anything on wheels. yeah, that was weird.ĬA DMV referee is a good thing to know about though, and I'm glad I have one very close to me.

I won't know for sure till I have to get it smogged again in a couple of years, but. We'll fix it for you no charge' and they reflashed my ECU with my correct VIN.

#Vin match ecu help software

'We'll smog it, but look at our screen running the latest smog check software - no VIN reported over ODB from your ECU - see?'Ībout two months later I got the recall notice for the oil line fix, and when I took it in for that I told them about the VIN and ECU issue and they said, 'Yeah, that's common. 'Whatever man, I saw it, and so did the smog guy, and he sent me here, so what do we do?'

I was like, 'Hey man, I dunno, but I saw the VIN on his screen with the correct prefix and all zeroes in the digits.' I went to the referee and they were empty so I got right in, and then they were like, 'What do you mean your ECU shows a blank VIN? The ODB port and smog machine don't query the VIN from the ECU. I think the smog guy thought I had reflashed the ECU and in the process wiped its VIN and he didn't want to be responsible for passing a non-stock ECU through smog. He told me to go to the 'referee' - I was like, 'WTF is that?' He explained that about a mile away at Pierce College's Auto Tech Program workshops they had a CA DMV referee, which is where you gotta go when you have kit cars with no VIN, engine swaps, and other sketchy stuff like an Elise with a blanked ECU. He didn't like this one bit, and wouldn't smog it. The prefix was correct, but the digits were all zero. The numbers came up on his screen with a block of zeros where the actual numbers should have been. When I took it to be CA smogged for the first time ever, the smog guy, who had previously passed my Dodge SRT8 Magnum with a non-CARB (and sketchy looking) intake, wouldn't smog the Elise due to the ECU showing a dummy, or blank, VIN. Click to expand.I had the same issue as the OP on my stock 2006 Elise.