EMISSION TESTING REQUIREMENT

[Guest]

In the late 60's I was still a kid on my stingray bicycle riding around trying to avoid hitting all the hippies. I grew up in the SoCal beach community of Ocean Beach in San Diego. But I remember my dad getting pulled over for a ticket in his 57 chevy and the cop checking all his lights. But your right, those infra red machines were supposed to be setup on the on ramps to the freeways, so as to detect gross polluters as they accelerated to get on the freeway, then snapshot a picture of your license plate and issue a citation in the mail saying you have to get your vehicle emission tested. Harry

[keydl]

Another part of that plan was to set up on the supermarket to catch the ones that never got to the freeway. set mirrors up all over and park the van on the other side, unmarked so they would not know to coast past.keydl

[Mopar1973Man]

Wow! I was born and raised in California (20 years) and never had any problem with Smog checks or vehicles inspections... Now I'm Idaho I still don't have any problems. (18 years) :thumbsup

[Guest]

We moved up here to inland pacific northwest a little over 4yrs ago. We were done with the SoCal rat race, and purchased some acreage in the woods. Our home is about a mile or so from the Idaho border, so I get the advantage of close refueling for diesel in Post Falls ID, where the fuel taxes are much lower than WA, usually diesel ranges from 30-55 cents a gal less than WA. The FlyingJ truck stop is usually packed in Idaho, and all the WA side truck stops are empty, gee I wonder why. Hope I'm not getting too off topic, but I could never go back to the heavy traffic and long commutes. The countryside and wildlife up here is awesome, a true 4 season outdoor paradise, lots of lakes, trails and good country folks and activities, plus a much better place to raise our kids. Now back on topic. Heck, I forgot what I was gonna say. HarryOk, I'm back this evening to get myself back on topic. My feeling is, as time goes on, diesels will be tested as intensively as gassers. How intensive and for what model years? At present, states that are doing emission testing of diesel, are only doing a soot level test or as its called Opacity test for the tailpipe readings only. My fear is, if the EPA implements stricter standards for states emission testing and adopts the same levels of testing as gassers, some of us could be in trouble. Who is that "some of us"? People who have heavily modded there late model emission control equipped diesels. Now don't get me wrong, because this is only speculation on my part, but if testing becomes to the point of looking for "missing and modified" emission equipment, such as EGR/Catalytic Converters and Particulate Traps-DPF as its called/PCV systems/Power Adders or Tuners/Modified Exhaust systems/, some of us could be in a heap of trouble. California, in my view, would likely be the ones to first go this far, as CA has always been the leader in stricter emission standards. Likely the 2008 and newer light trucks and vehicles would see the strictest standards for passing or failing, as these vehicles have the most junk on them now. A point to remember is, if this happens, they can only inspect and test according to the emission equipment that came on that vehicle for that model year of car or truck. So if you truck came with a PCV system and a Catalytic Converter and EGR, then thats all they will be looking for, and likely your emission tailpipe standards will be less strict than say a newer truck that has DPF, but still stricter than a older truck that didn't have a Cat-Converter and EGR. I hope I'm wrong about all I've said so far, but I posted this for some food for thought, as I did emission inspection/testing and repair for many years, and it can easily become a true fact of life whenever the EPA gets involved. Best thing we can do as performance hungry diesel breathing fanatics, is keep as low a profile as possible, try not to blow too much black smoke on crowded freeways, as this will get the unwanted attention that may come to bite us later. Harry

[Guest]

I added a few lines to my last edited post. Ok, I'm back this evening to get myself back on topic. My feeling is, as time goes on, diesels will be tested as intensively as gassers. How intensive and for what model years? At present, states that are doing emission testing of diesel, are only doing a soot level test or as its called Opacity test for the tailpipe readings only. My fear is, if the EPA implements stricter standards for states emission testing and adopts the same levels of testing as gassers, some of us could be in trouble. Who is that "some of us"? People who have heavily modded there late model emission control equipped diesels. Now don't get me wrong, because this is only speculation on my part, but testing could become to the point of looking for "missing and modified" emission equipment, such as EGR/Catalytic Converters and Particulate Traps-DPF as its called/PCV systems/Power Adders or Tuners/Modified Exhaust systems/, which could put some of us in a heap of trouble with getting our trucks to comply. California, in my view, would likely be the ones to first go this far, as CA has always been the leader in stricter emission standards, worldwide. Likely the 2008 and newer DPF equipped light trucks and vehicles would see the strictest standards for passing or failing, as these vehicles have the most junk on them now. A point to remember is, if this happens, they can only inspect and test according to the emission equipment that came on that vehicle for that model year of car or truck. So if your truck came with a PCV system and a Catalytic Converter and EGR, then thats all they will be looking for, and likely your emission tailpipe standards will be less strict than say a newer truck that has DPF, but still stricter than a older truck that didn't have a Cat-Converter and EGR. I hope I'm wrong about all I've said so far, but I posted this for some food for thought, as I did emission inspection/testing and repair for many years in the republik of CA, and it can easily become a true fact of life whenever the EPA gets motivated to implement new standards. As for what year models will testing be required, for gassers in CA, it goes from present yr models, back to 25yrs old, if I remember right. Best thing one can do as a performance oriented truck owner, is keep as low a profile as possible, try not to blow too much black smoke on crowded freeways, as this will get the unwanted attention of the diesel haters, that may hasten the EPA to come and bite us sooner. Harry

[keydl]

Federal standards came in 67, the first step was 72 when they retarded the cam, (easy fix - last years timing set ) that cost quite a bit of fuel mileage. &@ was the year that CO came in and posted a sheet on the bulletin board that promised to fine any mechanic $2500 for making a car run right above 3500 ft elevation. That is not the actual words, just the translation. I moved one of my tool boxes that day and the other 20 days later and built jigs for a diesel school.The smog got very rapidly worse and a lot of the blame can be laid at the door of the state employees, they did collect some money from some of the best mechanics and most of them moved on. Dad just dropped tuneup - sold the scope and posted a copy on the front door. And looked for heavy mechanics. He also found a side line that made more money - renting little jap motorcycles -= 65 cc 2strokers. Had a couple of hundred, kept 2 on service trucks, mostly because people could not mix fuel. We drug them back from Salt Lake, Great Bend, Lincoln, Gallop and most of the places in between. Got to the point where a seized jug and piston took less than an hour. But these things trailed a little smoke that offended some folk. And the mayors son borrowed a drivers license that was close, and then went out and broke his leg. So in less than a month it would be unlawful to rent a motorcycle for use on Denver's streets. One of them came around to gloat and save dad a pile of money, in a couple of weeks he would have bought new bikes for next year, as it was he closed out 2 weeks before thanksgiving and paid most of the crew through New Years. He slod tools and stock through summer and when there was a low enough volume we moved it to the garage at the house and he pulled the building down and loaded it and the parking lot out to Jefferson County, beat the tax deadline by 3 days, going down to the courthouse to certify that the lot was planted in grass, fenced and mowed. Had pictures of the mayors son in the Post the same day for some other stupid thing.So for more than 10 years the local government employees thought that greasemonkeys were not needed for Denver, that non of the people that they ran out with their fines and hassle were needed, until the fed EPA branded the place 'worse than L.A., and the manufactures developed (under protest ) altitude compensation.Hopefully they will do as CA did and the pre emissions cars had a need of positive crankcase ventilation and not much else, so pre emission light diesel trucks in good to excellent condition will be worth more for not having the emissions hassle.The way I see it is that the road draft tube needs an oil seperator and to be fed to the intake and NA diesel need more air and altitude compensation. I had the Isuzu to Denver, it smoked from around Amarillo at better than 20%. It does not need 100 HP but if it had air and 60 HP it would work well in hill country so it needs a supercharger or a turbo with just a little turn up on the fuel. Same with the 6.2 and the 6.9 - a good oil seperator on the crankcase vent and an increase in the air to stop the smoke. Same with the MB 240D, the patterns are out there for the turbo equipped engine that came later.Changing the value system to make bringing an old light truck up to spec a fair deal for the owner won't be easy. I liked the no tax deal on propane in the mid 70's for converted equipment. Then $800 with careful shopping would convert a gas to propane and the engine would make 300k or more to the second valve job, the first was to convert it. Good deal in the state but the laws out of the state are a mishmash, FL wants a $128 sticker for the first gallon.keydl

[Guest]

Just to let you know, I really enjoy talking to someone with your knowledge and experience Keydl. As I understand it, at present, California is now banning any big rig diesel tractor trailer trucks older than 5yrs old from operating/registering in that state. Is putting countless small companies out of business. I would have to research all the facts on this, but I believe it is the new law there. Harry

[keydl]

One of the posts put it as ' not allowing diesel without particulate filters ' and to include reefer unites and APUs.There are no widely avail filters yet, and more drivers are doing the same that they did for NY - most want $50 extra to cross the bridge. A lot of small outfits just don't take freight to CA. The fellow told me to 'cheer up, things could be worse ', so I cheered up and , sure enough they got worse.keydl

[Guest]

Update on recent changes coming to my state (WA) for diesel emissions testing. Earlier this week the local head emissions guy for the state of WA called our dealership where I work. Says he's now in the process of setting up an information database for a new test program for diesels. The word is, they are changing vendors for the emission test program and changing testing procedures. So they want to start testing for OBD2 emissions on all diesels from 1996 to present. What this means is, they will be plugging into the 16 pole OBD2 port on all 1996 and newer diesel powered cars and trucks to check for readiness codes and check engine light fault codes, just like they do for gassers already. This is very bad news for the guy's out there that have deleted their EGR coolers and systems on the 6.0 powerstrokes. I will take major work to reverse course for these kinds of mods. The computer must see a pass grade for the vehicles self test rediness codes for EGR and all other sensors that can set a code. The guys with the latest trucks with DPF systems, that have taken all that stuff off are also in for alot of work in order to register there trucks. Makes me want only an older truck more and more. I had a feeling this was coming. Next they will probably want all the older truck guys to retrofit emission control items, wouldn't surprise me. Harry