Emissions Testing

[John Boothby]

Nevada, no rollers. Just a pass/fail slip, no data, at least where I get mine tested.

[HAWAIIZR-1]

Braddah Scott,

As we say in Hawaii in pidgin English, "Hawaii no mo emissions testing, la dat!"

Translated in English, "We don't have any emissions testing in Hawaii!"

Not a state, but here in Japan your car is brought into a laboratory and on rollers for about an hour of 12 modes of testing if imported. Basically, they don't want any imported vehicles on their roads. The test costs about $2500 US.

[scottfab]

Originally Posted by Kevin

i voted no. I was just adding to the discussion

But two people have raised that issue and it's valid of course.
I think just getting a base line on states and where our cars are now
is valuable for comparison down the road.
The question it could help answer is .....
"is it getting harder for the now vintage ZR-1s to get licensed?"
Certainly with some states getting tighter and some looser it would seem a push at the moment.

[ghlkal]

In WI, a 20+ year old car can apply for "collector" plates. The car is inspected once to get the plates, but no inspection after that. There is no annual renewal fee for collector plates either. Both of our Corvettes have collector plates. For non-OBDII cars, the test is on rollers.

Originally Posted by scottfab

PS I decided to go with "Neighborhood Watch" for my new router name.
That should get some attention.

Good one!

[Hib Halverson]

California has three levels of its "smog check"

In areas the CARB has determined have air quality problems, primarily urban areas such as the greater Los Angeles area, the greater San Francisco area, the greater Los Angeles/San Diego areas and a large part of the Central Valley, the "enhanced smog check" is required. The enhanced smog check is run on a low-load, low-speed chassis dyno and the test is run at 15 mph and 25 mph. All cars registered in those areas must test once every two years and at change of ownership.

In areas other than those which the CARB has determined have air quality problems but just not as bad as those listed above, the test (called the "basic smog check") is run at idle and at 2500 rpm with no load on the vehicle. Vehicles registered in those areas must test every two years and at change of ownership.

The remaining areas of the state not covered by the first two (primarily rural areas without air quality problems, such as northern California other than the Central Valley, east-central CA and southeast CA) are tested at idle and at 2500 rpm. Cars registered in those areas must test only at change of ownership.

Want to know what areas of CA have to do which test?
See: http://www.bar.ca.gov/80_BARResource...rogram_Map.pdf

"Scottfab" makes the point that it's getting tough in some states with "enhanced" emissions tests to pass a ZR1. Usually, that happens in liberal states which intend to force old cars off the road. One way California does that is by periodically, reducing the maximum allowable emissions for a given type/model year of vehicle. With respect to 93-95 LT5s, the State of CA has changed the maximum limit for NOx emissions three different times that I know of and that has forced some owners of those cars to either modify the engines such that they will pass or forced them to sell the vehicles out of state. One problem with the 93-95s is the calibration for their engines' digital EGR has EGR enabled at 17-mph which doesn't work very well in an emissions test run at 15-mph. I had a problem back in the early-00s with my car flunking NOx no matter what I did, short of major engine work so, I had my calibration vendor at the time, do a new "chip" for the engine that turned on EGR at 14-mph rather than 17. Problem solved.

With the 90-92 cars, it's not so easy because they do not have EGR. The solution for them is not easy and would take up to much bandwidth here.

[mike100]

Originally Posted by Hib Halverson

...

Want to know what areas of CA have to do which test?
See: http://www.bar.ca.gov/80_BARResource...rogram_Map.pdf

Thanks for the link. As you can see 1/2 of SDCo is not under the biannual check and I often think to buy a cabin in Ranchita or Pine Valley.

[Hib Halverson]

In theory that's a great idea and many people try it, however, be advised that the folks at CARB, BAR and DMV are hip to most of the strategies people use to avoid the smog check.

What gets attention is when the driver license and the registration address don't match.

Not to say that idea doesn't work but you have to be careful you don't get caught.

If you have a 93-95 it's probably less expensive to have someone like Marc Haibeck or one of the other aftermarket cal guys who really know their stuff to do you a new cal which turns on EGR at 14-mph.

if you have a problematic 90-92 which flunks NOx, you've got a tough challenge to which I do not have a useful answer, or at least...the answer would be way way long. It's probably been the subject of other threads.

[mike100]

Originally Posted by Hib Halverson

In theory that's a great idea and many people try it, however, be advised that the folks at CARB, BAR and DMV are hip to most of the strategies people use to avoid the smog check.

What gets attention is when the driver license and the registration address don't match.

Not to say that idea doesn't work but you have to be careful you don't get caught.

If you have a 93-95 it's probably less expensive to have someone like Marc Haibeck or one of the other aftermarket cal guys who really know their stuff to do you a new cal which turns on EGR at 14-mph.

if you have a problematic 90-92 which flunks NOx, you've got a tough challenge to which I do not have a useful answer, or at least...the answer would be way way long. It's probably been the subject of other threads.

my 91 is making NOx pretty clean still, but ideas I have had include the lower thermostat with a degree less ign timing at low loads, along with raising the gear ratio numerically to reduce the load on the engine/raise the rpm during the 15mph portion. The last smog sheet I saw from somebody with an older car did at least seem to have the same limits as a few months back. I'm hoping they aren't going to lower them any further as a very high percentage of cars will be in trouble.

[mike100]

Not sure I wouldn't mind changing my d/l address- it's only 30-40 miles away. It might be cheaper to buy a Viper and leave it stock. Easier to pass with the newer cars with the new test protocol.

[93RubyZ]

AZ does not require emissions testing if you have collector car insurance!