Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2008 07:58:58 -0600
Reply-To: Larry Alofs <lalofs@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Larry Alofs <lalofs@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Calif 2008 emissions fuel tank pressure testing?
In-Reply-To: <6da579340803022241t10e46c20gae67734bef88f4e6@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Maybe I'm operating under the wrong misconception, but I don't understand
how a tank can be expected to hold pressure when it presumably vents thru
the charcoal canister to let the air out while being filled. Can someone
explain?
On a related note: I'm not surprised that they don't have adapters to fit
the vanagon filler tube. Here in Chicago they used to try to test the gas
cap on my '91 GL and never had the right adapter for my locking gas cap.
Sometimes they would give me a pass based on a "visual inspection"; other
years they would give me a lot of grief. I finally bought a non-locking cap
to install just for inspection time. Now the point is moot since they have
stopped testing anything older than OBDII. Inspection by computer only now.
Larry A.
On Mon, Mar 3, 2008 at 12:41 AM, John Bange <jbange@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > 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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