Are there problems w/ Calif OBD I emissions testing?

General Discussion
21

@George_San_Jose1

I just read that short Hot Rod article and in my opinion it’s almost worthless

They didn’t bother to show the VIR of any of the times the truck failed the smog inspection, so we only know that the truck failed, but we don’t know which of the 5 gas measurements was out of spec

I suspect the article was merely meant to be sensationalistic, therefore facts would only get in the way of a good story

For the record, at my job, there have been several instances over the years where we installed really cheap pretty much no-name CARB-compliant catalytic converters to replace ones which were stolen

And in all cases, they’ve been installed for several years and haven’t yet thrown a P0420, P0420 or caused any other problems

So I’m really inclined to think the Hot Rod truck itself is the problem, not the aftermarket catalytic converter

And you can look up the standards which the Hot Rod truck needs to meet in order to pass. It’s not top-secret information. I believe the Mitchell emissions control application guide lists the standards by state, model year, vehicle type, etc.

And you should see that the truck in question does NOT have to meet some ridiculous standard that it can’t achieve

Considering I still see several 2nd generation Camrys on the road here in California pretty much proves the problem is the Hot Rod truck, not the standards

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22

Can confirm. I live in southern AZ, and the 1987-1991 Camry remains a common sight on the road today. And the styling has really aged well. What a great car!

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23

Or people just can’t afford to trade, or nothing exciting with the new models. An old mechanic told me once you can fix mechanicals indefinitely but not rust.

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24

Presumably they’ll provide the measured emissions test data in future articles. Being owned by classic car guys, this truck has undergone various modifications over the years. Presumably they are all Calif emissions approved, but maybe there’s some unexpected interaction. More info about this truck in the link below.

https://www.motortrend.com/how-to/chevy-obs-pickups-performance-parts/

There’s aren’t very many 93’s still on the road. Maybe the common sense thing to do is to exempt or partially exempt vehicles over a certain age.

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25

Agree 100 %.

26

Why would they do that?

They haven’t provided the information so far, just complained that it won’t pass AGAIN

I wouldn’t be so quick to assume that . . .

There are many things you can do that the inspector can’t visually see . . . at least not easily and quickly

And then there are things that ARE visible, but maybe they’re gambling on the inspector being inexperienced and/or lazy and “passing” things that shouldn’t have been

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27

There are dozens of old Chevrolets for sale in the San Francisco area, these aren’t collector vehicles, these are trucks still in use.

Vehicle less than 8 years old are exempt from inspection, that is reasonable but to exempt the greatest polluting vehicles does not make sense.

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28

I have one sitting in the driveway with 188K miles on it and 4 brand new Destination LE3’s on it… lol

EDIT: and it passed Marta (emissions test) last time before Marta went away in our state…

29

@George_San_Jose1

Let’s be realistic . . .

The main reason you want an exemption for old vehicles is self-interest . . . because you drive a 1992 Corolla :thinking:

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