Rant from a smog shop owner / fellow p car guy

[Galun]

Look at my avatar - I joined over 10 years ago. Legit P car euthuastist. Not just some run of the mill drive by comment poster.

I own a chain of smog shops in Northern California. Recently I had a 957 turbo come in with a P0420 code. The car would likely fail smog. Instead of failing him and put the failure on record with the state, I instructed my tech to refuse the test so he does not have a smog failure on his record. This helps him out since he has no record of smog failure.  

How did this guy “repay” my help? Left me a one star review on yelp, saying I was shady for refusing the test, despite me explaining to him how this helped hin out. That was stupid of me to try to help out a fellow p car guy. Guarantee it will not happen again.

Look, I get it. We can afford a Porsche, we know more than most, we can afford our awesome cars, we are mechanically inclined, etc etc. But sometimes, really, people are trying to help. Well, not anymore.

Rant over.

[quip11]

Hi Galun, I’m sorry some people don’t know help when it’s offered. I’d like to take this opportunity to ask for your help if you’re still inclined to do so. I also have a ‘08 957 GTS and been chasing these codes since I got it, 0421 and 0431 at 124K miles. Is it your experience that it’s likely the cat that need to be replaced? I recently had the thermostat and housing plus the coolant tube replaced since it had a code for an open thermostat, and I was told by a local P indy that the cat is not warming fully because of that. Unfortunately, 0421 and 0431 still showing after thermostat replacement. Appreciate any inputs you may have. Thanks!

[Galun]

PM me your name and phone number.  I will have my lead tech call you.  

[hahnmgh63]

Sad there are people like that. They don't know cars. I had a 996 Turbo a few years ago that came up with a P0420 code, thankfully I don't do emissions but just run a scan occasionally. In my case it was time for plugs so I swapped in new ones, cleared the codes and it never came back. Of course many things can drive that code, plugs, rear O2's, etc...