Adk46

My air pump is in a box. In New York, that does not pose an inspection problem since "Any vehicle 26 model years old or more does not require an emissions check of any sort." I was curious about the day I list my car for sale - who can buy it without having to re-install the air pump?

I'm looking at Wikipedia's page ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle..._United_States ) on vehicle inspections. It looks like these states pose a problem:

California
Colorado, urban areas
Connecticut
DC
Idaho (two counties)
Illinois (Chicago and near St. Louis)
Indiana (near Chicago)
Louisiana (Baton Rouge area)
Maryland (most areas)
New Mexico (one county)
N Carolina (the most populous 48 counties)
Ohio (Cleveland area)
Oregon (Portland and Medford)
Pennsylvania (25 counties)
Rhode Island
Tennessee (six counties)
Texas (rogerboxes are exempt except in Hondo)
Utah (four most populous counties)
Virginia (Northern)
Washington (urban counties)
Wisconsin (urban counties)

I've had to do some interpretation of the entries. I suspect old car exemptions are not completely described. Such exemptions are often around 25 years, but sometimes given as a year (e.g., 1976). The visual check when required may be just for catalytic convertors, or the air pump also. The important distinction between friendly and unfriendly inspections is not given - nudge, nudge, wink, wink. So, this list certainly has errors and important missing info. If you have some personal experience or other knowledge to provide, we can make this more accurate.

The wisdom of removing the air pump is another matter. Let's resist the urge to discuss that here.

19psi

I'm in one of the few counties in Indiana which require an emissions test. It started back in the early 80s and the process has changed throughout the years.
'75 and older cars are exempt...this never changes.
The only component they check for is a catalytic converter by rolling a mirror under the car. Most times I think they're just going through the process and don't even look. In the 80s they used to pop the hood and use an induction clamp to check RPM but never said a word about all my missing emissions components. Back then there were few sites and you could wait in line for hours.

Within the last 15 years they built high tech test sites all over.
OBDII, they check for a cat, test the gas cap, plug you in and you roll out in 5 minutes.

Older than OBII is a pain in the *** as they now run your car on a dyno. They don't bother to pop the hood at all and don't care what kind of exhaust you have as long as the cat is there. Gas cap test on the 928 is always exempt as they don't have the proper adapter to test it.

Now my last visit in October was interesting as I found the site manager has the power to do exemptions. When I pulled up in the 928, they were quite impressed and got the manager. When the worker got in my car to pull it on the dyno, she told him "don't even breath in there." As I'm watching in the glass waiting room they had a meeting (while a long line of cars was forming outside). The manager had the car driven past the dyno and then called me back into the shop and had me sit in the car.
She exempted the dyno test and did a simple idle test. Said they couldn't take the liability risk if something went wrong on the dyno.
Two years prior, they put it on the dyno and I had to sign a waiver in that they weren't responsible for any damage to the vehicle.

Personally, I wish they would do away with the useless emissions tests and bring back safety inspections. Unbelievable amount of unsafe garbage on the road in these parts.

Captain_Slow

Virginia: It depends. Potential problems are currently limited to northern VA (Loudoun, Fairfax, Arlington, Prince William counties), but it depends on how old the car is and how you register/tag it.

1. No car over 25 yr old in NoVa is required to get annual eTests, but I think a visual check is made to confirm emissions equipment is in place. And this is also highly variable, depending on the shop you go to. With no electronic data being transferred from the car's computer to Va DMV I think these cars often just get waved through if not obvious gross polluters.

2. Vehicles over 25 yr old and registered as an Antique Vehicle are not required to get annual eTests or safety inspections. There's a one-time $50 registration fee, cool-looking white on black antique plate, and not required to have a plate on the front IF the vehicle "never had provision for a front mounted plate". Luckily, my S4 never had a front plate bracket during its life. There are no screw holes in the bumper cover. I printed the regulation and carry the paper in my glove box just in case I need to tactfully educate a police officer.

The catch to #2 is that cars registered as antique vehicles cannot be driven to work or to run errands, and are not allowed to be driven farther than 250 miles from home, unless to participate in a car show. Based on what I've read, state and local police in VA generally pay little attention to cars with antique plates. There used to be a 5000 miles/yr restriction, but that's been gone for several years. The 250 miles restriction is good for NoVa to Roanoke and back (I've never driven it that far). Within the radius of 250 miles one can drive infinite miles. If one wanted to travel to a 928 event beyond 250 miles, just have your event paperwork with you if feeling nervous.

In summary -- I just drive it.

Jetdriver69

In Texas, if your car is over 25 years old there is no emissions check.

I removed the air pump, the Cat, all the emissions pumping. I've had two safety inspections with no problems at all.

SteveG

OK, I won't -- for now. BUT since your question at its origin must include every state or locality where the car might conceivably have a buyer (all) and the percentage where the rules present a possible problem, it would seem clear as your survey shows.

As to the issue you would rather not include, I ask why? Because we know the answer there. People don't like to legislate morality, but clearly sometimes you just have to: on the personal liberty side, I don't wear a seat belt to protect me from me, I wear it to protect me from the other guy.

So I won't go into that "other" reason. The jury here is prejudiced anyway so I don't really need to go there either.

Mongo

We require it in CA and if you all are willing to ship me your air pump with shipping at my expense, let me know

ajricker

No emissions test for vehicles over 25 years in Wa.

Alan

Arizona requires an emissions sniffer test but does not evaluate installed equipment - only the sniffer result and gas cap integrity.

Alan

sstrickstein

Hmmm I didn't know they did t look at the pump. Then since I'm from Arizona I'm gonna remove the smog stuff!!

hwyengr

You can take Chicago and the surrounding counties in Illinois off the list, too. They've eliminated tailpipe testing from the test stations, so only OBDII cars get tested now.

dr bob

Riding around in the area I've been in for the last week or so, it's a refresher course in why there are emissions controls on cars. So many cars that just plain stink! So unless there's some overwhelming reason to take stuff off, consider leaving the pieces in place and in service.

And... the air pump costs virtually nothing in performance, keeps the cat happy. Be a Good Neighbor!

the flyin' scotsman

don't the new more free flowing cats perform substantially better than OEM with air pump?

this I do know for sure; my S4 with X pipe and no cats stinks (no air pump), my GTS with X pipe and new cats doesn't stink (no air pump)

with the above conclusion I would support doc Bobs comment as well recommend moving to the new cats when the OEMs plug up and become a restriction on performance and a fire hazard.

btw, no tests required here........theres more wild animals giving off natural gas!

Ducman82

Being in LA, makes me feel guilty for not having a cat.... :-( so I will add a nice free flow one

hacker-pschorr

Nothing older than 96 is tested and the testing only takes place in the south eastern portion of the state.

The test consists of plugging into the ODBII port and checking for codes.

Mongo

The air pump is not really that bad to have on the car. It does eliminate the stinkiness too. Mine seems to have a deep howl to it when load is applied to the engine. Not sure if that means it's going out or not.


Like I said, if anyone wants to lose their air pump let me know.