I tagged my truck as antique. no more inspections, ever. just had to pass once
I guess it is the law of unintended consequences that emissions testing has a side effect of creating a lot of old cars on the road, the very cars that emit more pollution. I guess the folks in charge believe the benefits outweigh this, and only a few people will keep older cars going to avoid emissions testing. But it’s an interesting question. My Ford truck is old enough to be exempt from Calif emissions testing, and to me that’s a good thing and a reason to keep the old truck on the road.
I have to feel that the boyfriend’s car needs to be in the hands of someone who knows a bit more about it. Tearing a dashboard apart to determine why a CEL does not illuminate is not the right way to go about diagnosing anything.
The CEL grounds through the ECU so if a good bulb is not working then it’s likely a problem with the ground in the ECU. That could have been determined by simply running a ground jumper to the CEL lead at the computer as a means of testing the bulb circuit.
“I guess it is the law of unintended consequences that emissions testing has a side effect of creating a lot of old cars on the road, the very cars that emit more pollution. I guess the folks in charge believe the benefits outweigh this, and only a few people will keep older cars going to avoid emissions testing.“
I honestly think that the folks in charge are operating within the “bureaucratic mindset,” and are more concerned if people are complying, or failing to comply, with all of the edicts they issue…and whatever benefits accrue to society are secondary. I’m not saying they’re evil-minded: I’m sure, in a general way, they feel that the world is a better, cleaner place as a result of their efforts…I just don’t think weighing the end effects makes much difference in their day-to-day operations.
Kind of like when I took my tools onboard an airliner and had to surrender a 7 1/8” Torx-head screwdriver (that would have been perfectly OK at 7” even). I don’t really think the TSA guy cared, even a little bit, about the scale of the risks vs reward involved in allowing that tool on board…I just think he was “on autopilot” and doing his job in an automaton-like fashion. (If anything, I think he was a bit peeved that I had the unmitigated gall to take my toolbox aboard, and was looking for an opportunity to make me regret doing it!)
@meanjoe75fan
Something similar happened to me at a courthouse one day
I went there during my lunch break, so I had a bunch of tools in my pockets. They were not okay with that, so I threw them in the trash. I mad sure they all the way at the bottom, under some disgusting stuff. I figured it’s unlikely somebody would rifle through that c . . .p
Anyways, when I was done, I retrieved my tools from the bottom of the trash can. Hey, I was in a work uniform, which is going to get dirty anyways. A few people stared at me, while I was digging through the trash, but nobody said anything
When I lived in NJ in the 80’s I had a 74 Ford pick-up with the 360 truck motor. It would always fail the state inspection stations for CO. I adjusted the carb as lean as possible and still would fail. I bowled with a guy who’s dad had an authorized state inspection center.
I spoke to him and he told me to bring my truck into his service station. His dad hooked up the tail pipe tester and the CO was high. He could not get it down so told me to go sit in the waiting room while he worked on it… About 20 minutes later he said my truck was ready with a current inspection sticker…It passed ! His son finally admitted a few weeks later that what his dad did was stick the emissions tester into his own cars exhaust and used that reading to pass it. I took it to this station for many years as I only used the truck in snowy weather as my Mustang GT was useless in the snow.
There are ways to beat the system if you take it to an independent inspection garage and know the guy. He only charged me 30.00 for the sticker ! When ever I needed some work done I always took it to him and always bought gas from him. There were ways then to beat the system.
Never decide that there’s a conspiracy going on when you can explain everything with incompetence.
You have a problem wentwest ? “incompetence”
@Howie32703, there were a couple of guys that were doing that here in Atlanta. They were charging as much as $125 a car to pass emissions that way. They got busted and convicted. 2 years in jail and 8 years probation for one, and 1 year of jail for the other.
did they take dash apart to see if someone had taped over cel light? or put a piece of black paper over it?
Perhaps I’m going against the grain here . . .
But I don’t think you can compare a car with that passes the tailpipe test, but the check engine light doesn’t work . . . versus a car that doesn’t even pass the tailpipe test
In my opinion, that’s comparing apples and oranges
You could perhaps argue that the car with the busted check engine light light deserves some leniency, if it passes the tailpipe test
But the other car is just plain dirty
If you’ve got a dirty car, and you just can’t get it to pass no matter what, I believe that’s literally a case for the referee. At least in my state
^Agree with you entirely.
Whatever your opinion on smog testing–and I’ve made no effort to hide mine–failing THIS car, for THIS reason, is asinine…if what you care about is clean air! (It’s the “7 1/8 inch screwdriver” of the eco set.)
Concerning airline security, I found it interesting that the guy would have such a problem with my tire pressure tester and run it though the x-ray machine, but I have never been questioned at all about my freshly sharpened pencil in my pocket. You can do as much damage with a pencil as with a screwdriver as long as you are careful not to break it in the process.
Speaking of airline security . . .
Perhaps I’ve brought this up before, but I’ll do so again
Anyways, several years ago . . . pre-9/11, actually . . . the security dog at the airport smelled something on me that he didn’t like
It was an automotive fuse. I explained to the screener that I was a mechanic. And that I’d simply forgotten it was in my pocket
He decided he didn’t like me, and he didn’t like my answer, either. He even told me as much . . . !
I was not allowed to board until answering more humiliating and degrading questions and surrendering the fuse
I’ve noticed that the screeners who are the harshest are usually the really young ones . . . under 25 . . . perhaps they feel they need to “make their mark” somehow
They’re probably waiting for their moment of fame . . . “Hey boss, I got one!”
Did they even know what a fuse was? We flew from Minneapolis to LA and back a few years ago. My wife bought one of those slipper looking cake dealies (got a magnetic removable heel on a metal stamped spatula. She bought it at the Minneapolis airport but on our return trip, a young lady got all upset when she saw it in LA and made us either throw it away or check it and get in the back of the hour long line. Like a cake spatula is a dangerous weapon, sold at airports.
Then I remember when our Army Reserve company went through the Wilkes-Barre terminal. We dang near had to go through the detectors naked because of all the brass. Um folks, the Army is here to protect you from terrorists. Guess they missed that class.
The Israel airport is among the most severe but I left a half a bottle of Coke strapped on top of my carry on by mistake. Sailed right on through with no problem.
Anyway, its a joke world wide.
LOL…I went through security post 9/11 with my book-bag style backpack as my carry-on. Went through the “puffer” machine (the one that tests for explosives), get singled out, they empty my pack, tear everything as far apart as possible…then let me on my way.
It wasn’t until I got to my destination that I realized the reason: I had previously used that bag as a carry-all for all my black powder shooting supplies! Damn thing probably reeks of Pyrodex…
The car owner cannot know if he has a poor running motor if the cel light does not work. He may continue to drive it and cause excessive pollution. I think that is the reason Cali uses for failing a car with a non functioning cel. Or 1 of them. I think the car could be hooked up to a scanner and be proven to run ok with no issues and possibly have a nonfunctional cel but that would be an extreme rare case. Cuz none disables cel lights, right?