Emissions test part II

[Harry P.]

So I tried again today. Wow! What a difference! No line at all, I pulled right in to the test bay. I was in and out in 5 minutes. I guess it really does depend on the time of the month you go in. Lesson learned!

[Patrick2005]

I'm glad I live in a part of PA that has no emissions test.

[Harry P.]

  On 4/10/2013 at 1:15 AM, Patrick2005 said:

I'm glad I live in a part of PA that has no emissions test.

It's such a joke. Certain parts of the state get tested, others don't.

[Kit Basher]

The guy at my inspection station said to avoid the last week of the month, and the first week of the month. The last week is when all the people that wait to the last minute come in. The first week is when the people who wait until it's already too late come in.

[Erik Smith]

Once I took my dog with me. They wouldn't let me test even though they don't have to get in the vehicle. I know there are idiots who would show up in a car they DID have to enter with dogs, but my car isn't one of them.

I would be interested to know how effective the emissions programs really are. They are a pain and hassle, but, as stated in the earlier post, I can clearly remember the smell of sitting in traffic back in "the good old days", not to mention the smell from my own low buck rides. I have noticed a considerable smell in other countries too - mainly due to the prevalence of diesel - but think we here have extremely clean running cars.

Now, is it federal standards or local emission testing?

[Patrick2005]

It goes by the federal standards that all cars must meet for the year they were made. It's the states that decide how and where to enforce what types of testing is required. I personally think it's all a joke!

[Skydime]

Cool cars, the most well known car custom shop in Kentucky, is located in Louisville, Jefferson County. Just so happened someone decided they should be the only county to have emissions tests as well. Coincidence? At least it ain't Bowling Green!

Edited April 10, 2013 by Skydime

[slusher]

Do you think in time the goverment will add more states and cities to be tested??

[1972coronet]

I live in the smog check capital of the U.S. : California .

White Glove test for every and any 1976 & newer vehicle ; visual and dyno (tail pipe) tests .

Back in 1998 , testing for vehicles which were then-25 years old and older was dropped ; 1973 & earlier vehicles were now exempt !

This was supposed to be a rolling 25 year exemption (today , a 1988 vehicle would be exempt) ; however , our former Governor , "Ahh-nohld" , kissed butt to the wench at the C.A.R.B. (Calif Air Resources Board) , and suddenly , the cutoff is now 1975 .

While I like clean air , I also realise what a joke these visual tests are ! Who cares what's under the hood so long as it's clean out the pipe ?!?!?

I have seen vehicles fail the visual , but run clean out the pipe ; and I've seen cars pass everything else (visual) but fail the pipe test .

It's been proven twice that modified vehicles run cleaner than if all of that archaic equipment was in place ! Once those EGR valves become obsolete , the charcoal cannister is no longer serviced , and the distributors with stiff-as-a-carcass advance springs all fail , the car will run dirty !

I'm just glad that my 1972 Coronet is exempt from Calif's smog check scam / money grab !

[David G.]

  On 4/10/2013 at 1:30 AM, Erik Smith said:

Once I took my dog with me. They wouldn't let me test even though they don't have to get in the vehicle. I know there are idiots who would show up in a car they DID have to enter with dogs, but my car isn't one of them.

You should have told them it was your seeing eye dog!

David G.

[JM485]

  On 4/10/2013 at 5:18 AM, slusher said:

Do you think in time the goverment will add more states and cities to be tested??

Definitely, I'm sure they will. Smog testing pretty much killed the hotrod option in California unless your car is older than 1975. If you drive an 86 like me, you better be happy with the slug of a stock motor. My friend recently wanted to sell his car, and had to get it smogged in order to do so. It wouldn't pass because he had some duck tape covering a crack in his intake tube. Apparently this counts as a "modification", which is now illegal. Makes me want to cry!

[Harry P.]

  On 4/10/2013 at 5:18 AM, slusher said:

Do you think in time the goverment will add more states and cities to be tested??

I'm sure they would if they could, but budgets are a problem. A lot of states are almost broke, so adding any new government "services" (and I use that term loosely!) is going to be tough.

[Ace-Garageguy]

  On 4/10/2013 at 1:13 AM, Harry P. said:

.... I guess it really does depend on the time of the month....

If I recall correctly from the dim recesses of the past, that could be said of other things as well.

[Harry P.]

  On 4/10/2013 at 4:56 PM, Ace-Garageguy said:

If I recall correctly from the dim recesses of the past, that could be said of other things as well.

Oh yeah!

[Joe Handley]

  On 4/10/2013 at 11:24 AM, 1972coronet said:

I live in the smog check capital of the U.S. : California .

White Glove test for every and any 1976 & newer vehicle ; visual and dyno (tail pipe) tests .

Back in 1998 , testing for vehicles which were then-25 years old and older was dropped ; 1973 & earlier vehicles were now exempt !

This was supposed to be a rolling 25 year exemption (today , a 1988 vehicle would be exempt) ; however , our former Governor , "Ahh-nohld" , kissed butt to the wench at the C.A.R.B. (Calif Air Resources Board) , and suddenly , the cutoff is now 1975 .

While I like clean air , I also realise what a joke these visual tests are ! Who cares what's under the hood so long as it's clean out the pipe ?!?!?

I have seen vehicles fail the visual , but run clean out the pipe ; and I've seen cars pass everything else (visual) but fail the pipe test .

It's been proven twice that modified vehicles run cleaner than if all of that archaic equipment was in place ! Once those EGR valves become obsolete , the charcoal cannister is no longer serviced , and the distributors with stiff-as-a-carcass advance springs all fail , the car will run dirty !

I'm just glad that my 1972 Coronet is exempt from Calif's smog check scam / money grab !

When Illinois was still doing the tailpipe testing, they didn't care about the mods, so long as it blew clean and and looked like it had functioning cat(s) on it. I seem to remember a few if the Turbo Dodge guys around here talking about getting their modded 2.2/2.5l turbo cars to pass smog with gutted amd straight piped cats.

On a side note, I was joking with one of our R/C customers yesterday that now that my 200 is running on E-85 I wouldn't have to worry about it passing emissions tests..........just have to be careful with roadside sobriety checks though, pretty sure a cold start on the stuff would peg a breathalizer machine

[Kaleb]

Ok this whole mess is something I don't understand, like income taxes. But seems to me they have bigger fish to fry with larger companies "buying credits" to pollute the air. While the little man has to work and literally stay mobile. They would shut one car down, and let all the other millions of cars fogging the planet. The second part of that is, like mentioned is why only part of the states, and or cities? Arkansas used to have it, it is no longer in effect. Now with the rolling date for cars to be exempt? Why are not all ars checked? Just because they are "antique", older cars would be a higher risk of polluting the air, than the newer cars. While that is confusing ill sum it up with this,

It's just another way the government to get into our pocket.

[Rob Hall]

  On 4/10/2013 at 7:11 PM, Kaleb said:

Ok this whole mess is something I don't understand, like income taxes. But seems to me they have bigger fish to fry with larger companies "buying credits" to pollute the air. While the little man has to work and literally stay mobile. They would shut one car down, and let all the other millions of cars fogging the planet. The second part of that is, like mentioned is why only part of the states, and or cities? Arkansas used to have it, it is no longer in effect. Now with the rolling date for cars to be exempt? Why are not all ars checked? Just because they are "antique", older cars would be a higher risk of polluting the air, than the newer cars. While that is confusing ill sum it up with this,

It's just another way the government to get into our pocket.

As far as old cars, it's less of an issue because there are a lot fewer of them on the road and most are driven very little--weekend toys as opposed to modern daily drivers that rack up the miles.

As far as cities and metro areas, pollution is a bigger problem in them than out in the sticks because of the higher population, population density, traffic volume, # of cars on the roads, etc.

Edited April 10, 2013 by Rob Hall

[2002p51]

Rob has it exactly right. As somebody who loves and owns several old cars and is very active in the old car hobby, I can tell you that not only are they a statistically miniscule part of the overall picture but also, as Rob said, driven very few miles per year. In addition, because they are "hobby cars", they are generally kept in absolute peak running condition at all times. I've seen tests that show a well maintained collector can many times run cleaner than your typical late model daily driver that seldom gets any maintenance at all.

As for the programs that target some counties and not others it depends on conditions. I live in the mountains of east Tennessee and we simply don't have a smog problem. Like most of the rest of the country, the vast majority of cars on the road around here are less than ten years old and are very clean to begin with. Certainly much cleaner than the cars of the '70s and '80s. The counties of Tennessee that contain the major cities, Knoxville, Nashville, and Memphis are much more heavily populated, have more cars and more traffic, and so they do have smog inspections.

But it's still a scam!

[TheRX7Project]

  On 4/10/2013 at 9:56 PM, 2002p51 said:

In addition, because they are "hobby cars", they are generally kept in absolute peak running condition at all times.

I must admit I laughed pretty hard at this one... Thankfully here, nothing before 1995 gets tested. It used to be 1967 and earlier- so all my stuff was registered out of the county!

Edited April 10, 2013 by TheRX7Project

[Joe Handley]

  On 4/10/2013 at 10:15 PM, TheRX7Project said:

I must admit I laughed pretty hard at this one... Thankfully here, nothing before 1995 gets tested. It used to be 1967 and earlier- so all my stuff was registered out of the county!

Kinda got a point, most "hobby cars" are probably going to be well kept, some will be heavily modified and probably not as clean a steam locomotive burning the more sulfur heavy coal, there's ones that are likely more like barely maintained beaters that happen to be old enough fall within the "hobby car" rules.

[crazyrichard]

one time i got a fractured hand and had a cast and needed surgery again .. so could not drive my car , then i needed to get a mot and emissions test .. it failed sooo hard ..the test station was like a 3 minute drive from my house and the car was sitting still for like 2 months

luckely the guy is a old neighbour and we went to take a drive , when warm he really gave it some and back at the test station he tested the emissions and they where perfect

i was happy because failing emissions can be a big problem

[dustym]

  On 4/10/2013 at 12:35 PM, David G. said:

You should have told them it was your seeing eye dog!

David G.

I lol'd that one.

[dustym]

My 83 El Camino has been modified and now since it is over 30 years I will get a collecters plate and will never have to worry about it again. (famous last words)

[Nick Winter]

Ontario Recently changed their emissions testing policies (once again it's a regional thing, only certain area's require testing), Now all vehicles with OBD II are merely scanned and no longer ran on the Dyno, so as long as your check engine light is not on you Pass, if your vehicle is OBD I it is still dyno-ed like my truck, of course 25 or older are exempt, like new vehicles for the first 7 years, it's something that has never made sense here and is making less sense.

Nick

[my80malibu]

  On 4/10/2013 at 1:17 AM, Harry P. said:

It's such a joke. Certain parts of the state get tested, others don't.

Harry it's based on population density and regional factors. I live in the Valley of the sun, keyword Valley. Its a great place to be from,I have seen pollution steadily rise thoughout my 48 years of being here, we used to have beautiful skies, open land, Now we have a brown cloud over us, and lots of cars,and construction.The only times We see a true blue sky is when you go out of town, or when it rains. If it happens to rain, you end up fighting your Allergies. Which is kind of Ironic, since this used to be the place where people would come to for Asthma relief. I don't think Emission testing is a Joke. Especially when my wife has an asthma attack.