For those who are running a tune and have emissions inspection.

[jtlctr]

As long as I can revert before smog, it's all good. But if they're going to be able to look at flash counters or checksum that isn't straightforward to verify before going in for a test, that's a headache. At this point others have said as long as you flash back to stock tune and drive long enough through drive cycles to reset obd flags, it's ok. We should know how this goes by now based on other cars, FK8 is hitting 8 years.

I plan on keeping the car, I know others say they sell their cars before it's up for smog. Of course, CA is always a moving target...

I doubt they're looking at flash counters, but they may be looking at the CVN which is the checksum. Both the calibration ID and CVN are available to look at in mode 9 on a scan tool. So, you'd need to know what those numbers are before reflashing to compare later. However, when you flash back to stock with the Hondata, you will get the latest factory software from Honda, not your original version. So, if Honda releases an update, that's the version you will get and it will no longer match what you recorded originally. In any case, returning to stock programming with Hondata should work fine. It did for me.

Another possible option would be to clone your ECU and leave the original alone for inspection. As far as I know, this would work, but I'm not 100% sure about that.

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[nvtive_b]

This would be one of the times I'm glad I'm in California. We do not have to have emissions testing on brand new cars for 8 years.

True that! haha car will probably be out of my garage before i even have to smog it some states like Montana dont even require smog.

 

[Mrjustin81]

True that! haha car will probably be out of my garage before i even have to smog it some states like Montana dont even require smog.

Where I live in Ohio, I don’t have to do any type of inspection, smog or otherwise. Some of the vehicles I’ve seen. Yikes!

 

[blueroadster]

Good reason to eliminate the TCU so you control the data shared from your vehicle to the mothership that will turn around and sell your information in a heartbeat. With the TCU connected, all vehicle data and recorded driving behaviors get constantly sent to the mothership regardless of whether or not you use HondaLink. Eventually, that bulk data about your vehicle and how you use it will be sold for pennies to interested buyers. Honda can also use the information to detect if the car was modified simply by comparing values reported based on original design specifications/limitations.

Don't buy the BS from the auto industry where they claim that the data is anonymized. It 100% is not as the VIN is included in the communications and courts have previously ruled that a VIN is considered Personally Identifiable Information (PII). Manufacturers get around that issue by providing Privacy Statements to owners that are an utter joke. Eventually, the bulk data collected from your vehicle and how you use it will be used against you in one form or another in the future. Eventually, states would likely be interested in this data for compliance hidden under the guise of "emissions testing" where the "emissions" from the vehicle are simply not even considered.

The above is a key reason to disconnect/remove the TCU so your car is no longer "connected." Being "disconnected" requires checking for updates using another device and an external USB drive where only a 1 KB JSON file is sent to Honda to check for updates. Here is an example of the JSON file from my car sent to Honda to check for a software update (red question marks added to replace portions of the "deviceID", "timestamp", "inventorySig", "serialNumber" and "managementUnit" sections):

{"deviceData":{"deviceID": "JHMFL5G42RX0?????","manufacturer": "Honda","model": "20 Panasonic DA","locale": "en_US","inventory": {"timestamp": "??????????","inventorySig": "????????????????????????","swInventory": [{"id": "RB_AUTO;;8A500T20 A5;;8A050T20 A5","ver": "77CA-0068-121","name": "8A050T20 A5"},{"id": "RB_AUTO;;8A500T20 A5;;8A070T20 A5","ver": "77CA-0068-121","name": "8A070T20 A5"}],"hwInventory": [{"id": "8A500T20 A5","nodeAddress": "8A500T20 A5","partNumber": "8A500T20 A5","serialNumber": "????????","managementUnit": "????????"}]}}}

Limited information and no live or stored driving behavior reported to the mothership.

I also cloned my factory ECU to revert back to the original programming if ever needed. When that happens, I have heard that reinstalling the factory ECU would result in odd lights being triggered until the car has been driven for some time to clear.

 

[jtlctr]

I’m sure you’re right about the info being used eventually for inspection purposes. I love tapping that little red “1” on the screen and seeing the message “TCU not connected”

 

[ThunderPigeon]

Took my TCU out a few weeks ago. It also fixed the rattle that I would sometimes get there.

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