A decade ago, I put a Magnaflow catalyst on my 2004 BMW 325i. It was a California compliant catalyst, but it turns out that it was certified for LEVs, LEV 1s, and ULEVs. My my LEV 2 ULEV engine family (4BMXX03.0UL2) is not listed anywhere on the CARB aftermarket catalyst executive orders. Today was the first time that the SMOG technicians noticed that I had an aftermarket cat and they looked up my engine family. BAM! FAIL!
I will try a BAR referee next week, but I suspect that he will tell me to go pound sand. The fact that the car is running perfectly with two perfectly good catalysts is unlikely to carry much weight.
This is a beautiful white manual transmission wagon, but I am not buying a new $3500 BMW catalyst for it, I may have to sell it out of state.
Any suggestions? Do I have a leg to stand on with the referee?
Is it possible to take the car to a different emission testing station and see if the technician is less nitpicky there? If not, then I guess you will have to plead your case to the referee, and if they refuse to help you, then sell the car out of state. Here in Arizona, you can replace a defective cat with any aftermarket cat that keeps emissions below the test limits (1995 and older) or keeps the check engine light off (1996 and newer).
This may be true but the failed test will be in the database. That might be a problem. I suspect that going up the chain in the emissions test organization might prove more fruitful, explaining the circumstances surrounding the choice of catalyst. We have a regular poster that tests for emissions compliance as part of his job. Maybe he has useful suggestions.
It turns out that California LEV 2 engines first began to be phased in for the 2004 model year.
So far as I can tell, even the current generation of Magnaflow catalysts have never been approved for LEV 2 engines.
It is illegal to sell a used catalyst for installation on a California car.
I could buy a catalyst out of state and smuggle it in, but since the database says I had an aftermarket catalyst, if the catalyst they see is not sparkling new, they are going to know that a used catalyst was installed. Also, with the chronic oil-burning problems common on old e46 BMWs, any used one I buy now is likely to be full of ash.
The Walker website says that you can put any catalyst you want on a California car that is past its original 150k mile emission warranty, but I think they are mistaken.
Out-of-state sale is looking more and more like my best option, and that seems like a real PITA.
Sorry you are having Calif emissions testing difficulties. Covid brought me a piece of that same pie. My solution has been a work-a-round. I’m not of much help in your case unfortunately, don’t even know the difference between Lev 1 and Lev 2 or why the cat design would be different between them. Hopefully you could explain if only for my edification.
As far as what your options are, no harm to lobby your position with the air quality officials. If they insist you replace the cat, ask them if there is any financial assistance available. Calif emissions rules generally say once you’ve spent a certain number of dollars in repairs you pass automatically. Maybe something like that applies in your case.
If the only option is to install a $3500 manuf cat, me, I’d be inclined to take that option before I’d sell the car out of state. You seem to really like this car, and if you sell it, big job and big expense to secure another, and you may find you don’t even like the next one. Why take on that risk? This presumes you’ve corrected the problem that caused the original cat to fail. What was that problem btw?
Back in the 1980s, I was a SMOG technician in California. In those days, everything was on paper so fraud was rampant. I never participated in any hanky panky, but the guy who owned the shop was writing out smog certificates by the dozen for cars he had never seen. The current computer-intensive system has really tightened things up.
Unfortunately, BMW put that same part # on every six cyl engine from 1999 to 2006, so they will have them available for a long time. The fact that they used the same cat should support the argument that whatever difference there was between LEV I and LEV II, it was not the cat. However, that argument fell on deaf ears at CARB, so I don’t expect I will do better with the BAR Referee.
I do really like this car, and it is a beauty. I looked a long time to find a white e46 wagon with sport package and manual transmission. I bought it with 100k miles and drove it 175k miles in the past 10 years. However, my wife bought a Tesla model 3 this week and I like that too. Something has to go.
The original cats failed because the car was burning oil like crazy when I bought it due to oil scraper rings that were stuck in the piston grooves. Stupid low tension piston rings!! The original cats plugged up tight and all attempts to clear them failed.
It turns out that the California NOx emission standard for LEV II is lower than for LEV I. I have not been able to figure out what is different about the engines. I suspect that it is all in the software.
IIRC NOX air pollution is caused by high combustion temperatures. The EGR system helps to reduce NOX by controlling the combustion temperatures, especially during high speed and high acceleration. Some newer cars do not use an EGR system, controlling combustion temperatures another way. So maybe Lev 2 vs Lev 1 depends on whether the car is equipped w/EGR system or not; i.e. CARB is saying to car designers you don’t have to use the tried and true EGR system, but if you don’t, then you have to pass stricter NOX limits.
I compared E.O. A-008-0167 (LEV 1 ULEV) to E.O A-008-0166-1 (LEV II ULEV) that approved these engines for California… I won’t claim to understand everything on those E.O.s, but it was clear that the LEV II NOx standards are more stringent, and the LEV II engine tested cleaner than the LEV I.
A pretty thorough review of the BMW parts book did not turn up any mechanical parts that had different part numbers for the LEV I vs LEV II. That leaves only engine control firmware that may be different. My ECU firmware has been updated twice to resolve drivability problems so who knows if the code still has the LEV II characteristics.
Thanks for the update. Just curious, does you BMW use a turbocharged or supercharged engine? Direct injection? Does it use unusually high compression ratios? It’s a gasoline engine, right?
