Our county gets pulled into Houston's emissions testing this year. Fortunately, the old Buick is exempt. I just don't see how it makes a huge difference. Newer cars are headed toward greener anyway.
it raises money. that's about all i can see. newer cars pass, the bigger polluters like our old iron, big trucks, ect are exempt. anything inbetween that fails will probably just cheat to pass...no one's going to scrap their car just becuase it failed a $10 test.
emmissions test in IL I was called in for an emissions test in Illinois on my buick what are they going to test, that it dosen't run on water? seriously its a 70 buick there are no emissions criteria for it. I'm wondering if there going to set a baseline for it... so should I make it run really crappy and spew out all the NOx it can? any one have an idea why they test a 70 car in IL? Nate DOH added later... IL tests cars newer than 1968 son of a bit@@
Unfortunately for me, St. Louis metro area does something called the "Gateway Clean Air Program." I get sucked in as the first year they start emissions tests on. Well, guess what....it never passes and I have to pay some mechanic to give me a $200 receipt that says he did work on the car to make it come close to passing. Then I get a waiver telling me that I passed the test. I hate this. I think I'm going to register my car in Boone County where there are NO emissions tests:laugh:
:grin: I knew there had to be SOME good reason to live in ND...no emissions testing, whatsoever! I think MN dropped theirs too. :TU:
Houston got flagged as a "non-attainment" area some years ago and the main county has had emissions testing for a while. But now the surrounding areas have to do it, too. Fortunately, Texas states that they assume most of the cars older than 25 years are for collector purposes and aren't driven significantly enough to contribute material amounts of pollution. The test actually adds $30 to an inspection, but it will put a lot of stations that do inspecitons out of the business due to the cost of the equipment. Sorry to hear some of you are included in testing. That's stupid. If they test older cars, they should only measure compliance with the laws in effect at the time the car was made - within some reasonable band. Now, do they really have records of what emissions should have been for a 1968 Skylark?
What cracks me up about all of this, is that I have seen guys fogging insects on the highway, passing speedtraps without being pulled over. If that's any indication of the "official " view about emissions, the whole thing is a joke. I think Texas is right about the older cars. I haven't seen anything earlier than about 1977 on the road that wasn't in nice shape, and well cared for. I asked one of the emissions stations to put my Stage on the dyno, just for fun. I've got it tuned as good as it's ever been, with Pertronix, and wanted to see just how "dirty" the old cars are. He said that the torque would ruin the dyno. I wondered how they could test the bigger v8's or Vettes if that's true. I think they are selling us a big lie. Look at LA. They are in a natural inversion zone, and have had smog log before motor vehicles, due to the industries that are still burning without real restriction. Government once again craps on the little guy and ignores the big campaign contributors.
The Twin Cities metro area had emissions testing for cars 1976 and newer for about 10 years. The state added an $8.00 charge to the cost of license plate tabs. After some studies were done and after years of the public complaining the program was dropped. There was no benefit to air quality because of the testing, it was determined the air quality had improved because of newer cars running cleaner. I had several cars pass the test that should'nt have. An '83 Toronado that originally had a 307 in it. I put a 403 in it (an engine not available that year) and only left the pcv valve and catalytic converter on it for emmission equipment. no computer. Passed. An '87 Ford Escort beater I had that would have made a good mosquito fogger because of the amont of oil it burned. Passed. An '81 Pontiwreck wagon that had no emissions and an empty catylitic converter. Passed. My friends '76 Regal failed when we went through, pulled out of the bay into the parking lot and I leaned the idle mixture as far as I could go and still have it run. Drove right back through and it passed, pulled out, re-set the carb and away we went. It's all B.S. Just a way to get more money out of you. :moonu: Of course the Federal Govenment plays their extortion game with the states and says 'If you don't implement this we won't give you highway funds"
When i first got the Skylark, about 5 years ago, NYS had all cars blow an emmisions test. '69 350 2 barrel low comp motor with 46K on it.....I thought i was in big trouble. After the test the mechanic said it blew cleaner #'s than a brand new car would and asked if i had installed aftermarket Cat Converters on it !!! Of course i tuned it before the test to the best of my abilities, i.e. new plugs, wires, cap, rotor and points and adjusting the 2-barrel. ,.....and I ain't no SuperTuner !!!
I was told in Alaska by an inspector that the CAT has no effect on their tests. Thats why they just tap on them to make sure the guts arent loose inside. if it doesnt rattle its ok by them. ed
What I found most amusing about the Twin City testing when it existed was this: I had an 89 Calais Quad 4 I drove for quite a number of years, and when it was test time I would pick a station, and if it failed (sometimes it did) I would drive to another station, and it would pass. Goofy. Mark
Yeah, we are lucky in Alabama because we have no emmision inspection. The flip side of that is we have NO inspection, so it's common to see people without tread on their tires, broken out tail lights, no turn signals, etc. I lived in Atlanta for a year which had a strict emmision policy, but I didn't own the '64 LeSabre at that time, so I had no worries. Oh yeah: Alabama didn't use Titles until '75 so if your car was made before then it can be sold in Alabama with just a bill of sale. Hmm... wonder why all the "clean your title" brokers for classic cars are located in Bama?
No emissions testing in Arkansas either :TU: We don't even have to have the blinkers, wipers, lights, etc. checked here!! Just have to prove you own it to register it, even if it has holes in the floor and no lights. I love it here :Brow: -Chris
crazy. Before the big gateway clean air program I would pass my car by spraying 4968 gallons of carb cleaner into my carb and then running it for 20 minutes at 80 mph down hwy 70. That got it nice and hot so it would burn as much crap in the fuel as possible. It usually passed. That doesnt work for me anymore. The requirements are too stringent. So I have to act like I put repairs into it and show them a bunch of receipts for parts and they let me through. Stupid stupid stupid.
Blame Canada Hello guys, This is one time you can blame Canada. (lol) Many states are following Ontario's program which was instituted by a car dealer to sell new cars. Virtually 80 percent of all cars pass but everyone has to pay the $40 Bucks, they're making millions. Garages forked out 60,000 - 70,000 for the dyno, and aren't making anything now. Our bone yards are struggling to stay in business, people were dumping their older carss in fear of the emission testing. Included below is a link to the clean air foundation. This foundation targets older vehicles, gets the owners to donate vehicles then gives a charitable receipt. They in turn part the car out, a complete sham to sell new cars. I hope you guys fight against it because it's a nuisance, a waste of time and money. http://www.cleanairfoundation.org/programs.htm Clean air Link Dexter
illinois emissions my home in illinois they don't charge you for an emissions test. just wastes your time it seems. and now with OBDII they dont even run the car they just make sure you have OBDII on it. the inspection period is also a lot less frequent. (normally 2 years for a standard car)
