Waiting in Line for Emissions Test

"Future Heap Owner" (aperiodic) 10/30/2018 at 14:33 • Filed to: Gosh-dang hippies with their environmental regulations

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The Portland area requires emissions tests for any vehicle that’s model year 1975 or newer, so here I am waiting in line in my 27-year-old truck. *Update*: it passed!

Hope everything checks out! AMA I guess.

My truck passed! Here are the numbers:

HC Target: 220 ppm, Test: 97 ppm

CO Target: 1%, Test: 0.2596%

CO+CO2 Target: 6%, Test: 14%

I’m a little confused about the last one. I guess it’s a lower bound? If it were too low then that would mean too much O2 is getting through unburnt? Or through the cat?

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > Future Heap Owner 10/30/2018 at 13:34

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I never got why this seemed like a good idea to have a fixed emissions testing date. Did the politicians not think that maybe a rolling date would be best? I mean are we really going to be testing half century   old cars for emissions compliance in 2025?

ttyymmnn > Future Heap Owner 10/30/2018 at 13:41

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Shoulda bought a diesel VW.

DipodomysDeserti > Future Heap Owner 10/30/2018 at 13:46

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My county is ‘68 or newer. You get a sox year break on new cars. Just took my wife’s BMW in this morning.

facw > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s 10/30/2018 at 13:47

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Why should any car be exempt?

Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s 10/30/2018 at 13:47

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California had a rolling date and a 1975 cutoff. They abolished the rolling date when it reached 1973.

dogisbadob > Future Heap Owner 10/30/2018 at 13:49

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I thought only California did the fixed 1975 thing .

A few states set the cutoff at 1996, when OBD-II was introduced, so that they don’t have to do the tailpipe testing on the old cars. In that case, only 1996 and newer are tested, while 1995 and older cars are not.

jasmits > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s 10/30/2018 at 13:50

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They just need to be compliant with the standard of their day, not modern standards. It is a good idea IMO because in Oregon(and California, same 1975 rule) they don’t salt the roads so cars last FOREVER. A 25-year-rule still leaves a lot of potentially non-compliant cars on the road.

Also it’s not a big deal unless something’s wrong with your vehicle you should fix anyway or you decatted it entirely. I tested(sniffer) my 1991 4Runner with its cats on the way out and it was miles below the threshold.

Under_Score > Future Heap Owner 10/30/2018 at 13:52

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What is a Prius c with a Georgia temporary tag doing there?

jimz > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s 10/30/2018 at 13:57

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when Michigan still did it, all you had to do is have it tested within a couple of weeks of renewing your registration. 

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > jasmits 10/30/2018 at 14:02

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I just feel like testing this huge range of vehicles is probably more hassle than it’s worth especially if 90% of vehicles on the road are under say 25 years old or something. 

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > facw 10/30/2018 at 14:04

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I just imagine it’s a hassle for the test facilities and it’s probably going to get harder and harder to keep old vehicles in compliance as they age. 

facw > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s 10/30/2018 at 14:18

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probably going to get harder and harder to keep old vehicles in compliance as they age 

That’s a feature, not a bug. We want cars that pollute too much to get fixed or get off the road, not to just be exempted because they pollute too much. 90% of car-related pollution comes from 25% of cars, and it is mostly older cars that make up that 25% cohort, so it is important that we keep their emissions in tip-top shape if they are going to stay on the road.

For collector cars that don’t travel much, maybe it would be ok to have an additional mileage tax to account for their emissions instead of making hit tailpipe goals.

Future Heap Owner > Under_Score 10/30/2018 at 14:21

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Taking advantage of price differences and/or making an excuse for a cross-country road trip?

They’re at the DMV now too

bhtooefr > facw 10/30/2018 at 14:25

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And compare to Europe, where many cities are banning diesels over ~10 years old (everything before Euro 5) . Or, California requiring that semis delivering to or from the state meet current standards.

Making cars comply with the standards they were originally built to is really quite generous.

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > Under_Score 10/30/2018 at 14:35

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Probably need to have it tested to re-register after moving. I wouldn't want to live in Georgia either if I was the sort of person who drove a Prius. 

jasmits > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s 10/30/2018 at 14:52

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It’s no hassle at all for the facilities , they have to deal with two test cases, OBDII and tailpipe sniffers, they get the result from either test and then the computer does a simple compare between the result and the appropriate standard for the year/vehicle type based on VIN lookup. The hard part from a database maintainability standpoint is the VIN lookup but we need to keep that around anyway for titling/registration purposes. 

Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks > dogisbadob 10/30/2018 at 14:55

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Nope. Ohio also does it, but it’s a cutoff non-cutoff. (Plus our ‘by county’ bullshit.)

25 year rolling emissions exemption except visual inspection , excluding vehicles with Historic or Antique plates . So I have to pull in just so they can stick a mirror under my Daytona to verify there’s still a catalytic converter present and that’s it.

But if I move exactly 0.5 miles west? I’m completely exempt because it’s a different county.

Ram_Riot_6 > Future Heap Owner 10/30/2018 at 14:58

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My truck is exempt from emissions and only requires a safety inspection in Texas as it is over 25 yrs old. I  imagine it would pass fine if it did have to be tested, but glad it is one less thing to worry about.

Under_Score > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee 10/30/2018 at 15:02

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Have you seen how powerful the Stacey Abrams campaign is? Yeah, there’s a lot of Prius people staying here.

Under_Score > Future Heap Owner 10/30/2018 at 15:03

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Now that I’m on my phone, I see they bought it in McDonough down in Henry County. I don’t know why the Toyota dealer is using a generic tag for a temporary tag instead of a name-brand tag.

Another edit: Sienna has Colorado plates, Rogue has a West Virginia plate. WOW.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Future Heap Owner 10/30/2018 at 15:18

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we need to save the environment with emissions testing .

So lets make people wait in line in their car which they will probably leave running. 

RPM esq. > Under_Score 10/30/2018 at 15:24

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People be movin’

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > Under_Score 10/30/2018 at 16:10

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Oregon’s a popular place. 

Future Heap Owner > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s 10/30/2018 at 16:17

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The test facilities are all state-owned, so I imagine this largely means more revenue for the government.

Future Heap Owner > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 10/30/2018 at 16:19

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Most people in line had their cars off. People in Portland are generally pretty conscious of excessive idling.

Future Heap Owner > ttyymmnn 10/30/2018 at 16:20

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VWs offend my engineering sensibilities. Too many needlessly complicated systems.

ttyymmnn > Future Heap Owner 10/30/2018 at 16:22

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As somebody who drove VWs for more than 30 years, I can say that you are not wrong. But my comment was more towards Dieselgate.

Future Heap Owner > ttyymmnn 10/30/2018 at 16:24

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Yeah I know,  I just can’t miss an opportunity to take a dig at VW

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > facw 10/30/2018 at 16:28

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Hadn’t thought of it that way.

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > jasmits 10/30/2018 at 16:30

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If it’s a straight sniffer test I don’t think it’s much of an issue, but I know California forbids any tampering of emission devices as well (which if it passes a sniffer why does it matter?) meaning every tech is supposed to know what emissions devices should be on every car since the cut off.

jasmits > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s 10/30/2018 at 17:03

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Not sure about California but I think it’s the same rule in Oregon and I’ve studied the rules there a lot. Basically, on the emissions webpage it says they do sniffer or OBD tests and no visual inspection. It even says they used to have a visual inspection but the rate of vehicles that were picked up by visual inspection but not by the software was so low they stopped bothering with visual inspections and if it passes the sniffer or OBD test it passes. 

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Future Heap Owner 10/30/2018 at 17:22

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That’s nice.