OBDII being used for emissions instead of exaust sensor

[MGardiner]

I was at the dealer and picked up a pamplet stating that OBDII was going to be used to measure emissions instead of the sensor the the exaust in the County where I live.



It states the following:



"Emissions tests on 1995 and older vehicles consist of sampling the exaust to measure the percentage of emissions emitted by the vehicle. OBD II equipt vehicles constantly test themselves. During an OBD II emissions inspection certified test equipment receives test results from the vehicles OBDII computer. "



"The OBD II system must run a series of self tests. The readiness flags indicate whether the self tests have or have not run successfully. The emissions test cannot continue until all EPA required self tests have successfully run. Readiness flags will reset to not ready if: (1) a trouble code has been erased; (2) the battery goes dead; or (3) the battery has been disconnected. " :--)



Is this going on in other states as well?

 

[Diesel Freak]

Just got my renewal notice, and since I have a Heavy Duty diesel powered vehicle with a GVWR over 8500# I am exempt from all testing.

 

[wtrenholm]

MGardiner



Yes, that testing is going on all over the place, it depends on county. I live in northerm MN and we have never had emissions testing to buy plates. In the Mpls/St Paul area you had to go to a testing station and get verification that your car passed emission testing to purchase plates. They scrapped the program last year due to excessive cost of the whole deal. Now there is a bunch of newer buildings that are empty.



I suppose being OBDII is able to verify that things like the cat conv, EGR and evap systems are present and working, the states are figuring that it's cheaper to not manually test.



Also, yes, when you hook up the scan tool you can check if the monitors have run/passed. So you couldn't clear the controller and reset everything on a non compliant vehicle to try sneak by.



Hope this answers your questions,

Wayne

 

[MGardiner]

Seems like using OBDII could create more problems than it's worth. For example, currently I've set a P0500 which is indicative of spinning the rear tires a bit (not sure how that happened ;-) ) but according to law I wouldn't pass.



I know of dealers who just ignore p0500 when taking the truck in.



The good thing is that I don't have to take my truck in for emissions until next year.

 

[JR2]

So that is how I got my P0500 code... I thought it was from using my high-idler for 20 minutes.

 

[BV]

Emissions test

I was reading through the pamphlet that our local DEQ inspection center sent us and there was mention of using OBDII for testing but it didn't say when or where it would be used. Currently Oregon has an exemption for emissions testing on diesels over 8xxxx# gvwr (can't remember the number but it's lower than the 8501 that my 92 was rated at.