Are Arizona emissions tests bogus?, test history makes me wonder... Options

[914GT]

I was bored with work and I was curious how the emissions test results compared going back over the years on one of my cars. I kept almost all the inspection results for an Acura Legend that I bought new in 1987. My daughter has been drivng this car the past few years, and I still maintain it. I picked this car as I know its history and I always maintained it well. Basically the 2.5L engine has had little done to it over the years, plug changes a couple times. Replaced and/or cleaned the injectors a couple of times. The usual routine filters, etc. It's never failed emissions. I replaced an O2 sensor once because the engine service light came on.

I don't see any rhyme or reason to the numbers. We'll see how it does next month when it's due. There are some screwy variations over the years that I can't correlate to any particular repair or maintenance item. Makes me suspicious of the whole thing. I'd expect some variation due to the car and testers (all at the same location) but there are some years that are drastically different.

[lapuwali]

QUOTE (gklinger @ Jul 15 2005, 10:07 AM)

QUOTE Based on my experience there, I am convinced that if the numbers pass on their machines they would have no idea if the proper cats were installed, proper fuel system or anything. They would look at their charts and say, off you go! I say this because last time I went there they asked me to pop the front hood. I do so assuming they are checking the tank/gas cap...who knows. Then they guy says, "Oh yeah, I forgot the engine is in the back" Off he goes. I watch him for a second and finally pop the deck lid. "Thats cool. You have two trunks!" Idiot   The reason the emission stooges in AZ work there is cuz they couldn't pass muster to work at McDonald's. It's a good thing they don't do a visual inspection like in CA, they'd have to raise the bar for employment too high...

The way the visual inspection works in CA is there's a list printed for EACH make/model of car as part of the testing routine. It will list things like: EGR, air pump, fuel injection. The tech simply has to look to see if you have an EGR, an air pump, and FI. Whether the FI is stock or not is irrelevant. It's supposed to be illegal (w/o a CARB exemption number), but as long as you spent a bit of time to make it look reasonably stock, you're fine. They also don't test to see if the air pump WORKS, only that it's on the car.

In practice, as long as the car doesn't look wildly non-stock (lots of chrome and red and blue braided lines everywhere), most techs aren't going to give the engine a second glance, even if you substitute carbs for EFI (and are still under the tailpipe limit). This goes double if the car is "unusual", like a 914.