In article >,
(Michael) wrote:

> I took my 98 740 in for a California smog check yesterday and it
> failed. It is running excessively lean, according to the smog check
> shop. They looked into it and said they found several factory recalls
> which they thought would fix the problem, but when they called the
> local BMW dealer they were told the recall does not apply to my car.
> In any event, the smog shop recommended taking it to the dealer
> because they will need to reprogram the chip.
>
> Like many of you, I have not had good dealer experiences, and I want
> to avoid a dealer if possible. Does anyone know where I can find a
> recall list? Has anyone else had this problem? Are there aftermarket
> chips I should consider, or is there someone out there who can
> reprogram the chip by mail? (I"m content with the stock performance,
> so I'm not looking for a "super-chip", just something to solve the
> problem and perhaps a slight increase in performance but nothing
> radical.)
>
> I'm in Petaluma, CA, 40 miles north of San Francisco. I'm new to the
> area, so I don't have any BMW mechanic or dealer relationship here and
> would also appreciate recommendations.

I went through this in January with my '97 740 and discussed it in this
forum. If you search for the thread in Google groups (look for "CA Smog
Certification"), you'll find it.

I'm in the Bay Area too, and my solution was given to me by Dinan
Engineering in Mountain View that recommended a guy who takes care of
these problems. Petaluma's a bit of a drive from Mountain View, but...

Good luck,

Brian