Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2008 22:41:39 -0800
Reply-To: John Bange <jbange@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: John Bange <jbange@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Calif 2008 emissions fuel tank pressure testing?
In-Reply-To: <47CB41E0.9020402@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> So, California Vanagon owners: anyone here on the list had any experience
> getting smogged in 2008? They pump your fuel tank up and did you pass or
> fail miserably (as I expect my '84 will)?
>
I had mine smogged last month, and yes indeed, that was officially part of
the test. Thing is, the whole scheme is ludicrous and generally a waste of
time, according to the guy who ran the test only station I was at. It's
simply pointless feel-good regulation burdening the test shop owners with
another mandatory equipment purchase and returning little in the way of
results. The trouble is that whoever made up the new regs was a suit-wearing
bureaucratic drone and not an automotive engineer. The intent was to extend
the integrated evap system test for OBD-II vehicles to non-OBD vehicles. The
"test" is easy on an OBD-II system as the ECU monitors the evap system
automatically and stores an error code if there's a problem. The test
station need only check for error codes and do a quick seal check on the gas
cap. Gas caps are largely standardized now, so fitting it to the pressure
tester is no trouble.
Enter the asinine evap test for pre-OBD2 vehicles. This consists of an
expensive system to pressurize (or maybe evacuate?) the fuel tank vent
system through the fuel filler hole, keep it at pressure(vacuum?) for 15
minutes or so, and rate it based on how much leakage there is. The problem?
Prior to OBD2, manufacturers made gas caps and filler pipe openings just any
old way they felt like. The expensive pressure system has a half dozen
adapters to fit some of the more common makes of cars, but according to the
guy at the test place, more than half of the pre-OBD cars he sees cannot be
hooked up to the system for lack of a suitable adapter, and the sheer
variety makes it unlikely that any such adapters will be made. The "rubber
stopper with locking lugs" cap on my 90 Vanagon is one of those.
Subsequently, the test guy just put "NA" in the box that asked for the test
results and sent me on my way, as per CARB instructions. Maybe the 84
filler/cap system is different and WILL fit the machine, but I very much
doubt it. Worst case scenario, you could replace your old filler neck with a
late model one, and never have to take the test. I'd be surprised if they
had an adapter that fit though.
--
John Bange
'90 Vanagon - "Geldsauger"
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