atb

Time for new tabs, and this year I get to go through the joy of emissions testing once again. I've had strange things happen at the test station, and this year didn't disappoint.

Pull up to the station, attendant takes my money and paperwork, asks me to kill the motor. Goes around, pulls the gas cap, and just seems to be dumfounded. I've seen this happen a couple times before, and don't really know what its about. I've heard the seals on our gas caps aren't typical, so maybe its something to do with this, but still, there is a a strange silence while the tech looks at the underside of the cap, lifts the splash flap and stares at the filler neck, and then looks again at the underside of the cap, then looks back at the filler neck. This goes on for about 30 seconds.

I pull up to the dyno, they put probes in both pipes, and hand me a plug to put in my cigarette lighter. I'm told to put the car in "D" and hold at 25 mph. No problem, but the car is barely off idle.

Then, and here's where the fun really starts, I'm told to put the car in park and they do a test at idle. I'm looking at my tach, rock solid at 675'ish. Look up at the computer screen, and it shows my idle bouncing from 1090 to 1240. WTF?

The tech asks if I've got my A/C on, to make sure all my accessories are off (which they all are), and then has me goose it a couple times, and shut the car down and fire it back up. I appreciate his efforts, but the car does the same thing everytime, rock steady idle at 675, computer shows bouncing idle 1090 to 1240. I ask the tech to look at my tach, and then relate to him that he listens to cars all day, does my car sound like its turning 1200 rpms? He just kinds of laughs. I then idle it up to 1200rpms according to my tach, and say "now that's what 1200rpms sounds like doesn't it?". He said he'd get his manager and see if he'd sign a waiver. Manager comes along, and I explain to him that my car is idling fine, and even if it was idling fast, there's nothing I can do about it, the car thinks its idling at 675 (show him the tach), and I'm not going to be able to convince the cars two brains that its doing anything different, its not like I can just turn down an idle screw here.
The manager asks me to remove the plug from the lighter socket, takes it, disappears, and hands it back and tells me to plug it in. Car's been idling the same this whole time. Look up at the screen. 670-690 rpms.

Thank G-d I only have to do this every few years.

SeanR

The last time I had ours done, the tech hooked up his leads to a coil wire, got all sorts of bad readings while I snickered to myself.

I then told him it had two coils.

aggravation

You know there is a definite advantage living in a state who's collective bureaucratic body can't even spell EPA....
No cats, no smog pump, no inspections, no problems.... "Just drive the damn thing on the right side of the road and don't kill anyone!" that's our motto

Rich9928p

My '87 S4 gas cap leaves the gasket on the gas tank side of the filler neck. The DMV failed me during my first inspection, because the gasket wasn't on the cap. I showed the manager and he said "the rules are the rules" - so I drove home, put the gas cap from my GTS (that retains the gasket on the cap) on the S4 and passed the second time. Since then I've alway just switched gas caps and always passed.

No brains involved, just reading the rules. How many other 928 owners have failed - not having a 2nd 928 gas cap to substitue?

fraggle

buhahaha!@

I like it when they want to rev it to 2500rpm in neutral for the test back in Idaho.

I'm always thinking, "damn, with the 2.2 rear end that's like 90+mph."

Tony

I got my seal from home depot. Just an O ring i stretch around the the cap. Never a question

My other classic is when i told the tech to put the sniffer in the "other" tail pipe of the RMB...."see if it passes now"

It did and i was on my way!

(i was dumping my oil breather air into one side)

Charley B

You passed smog with a super charger?

Tony

Las Vegas Baaaaby!
It blows clean out the sniffer they dont seem to care whats on the engine! Imagine that, something that makes sense!

heinrich

Land of the free .... ... that is the America we all love.

KraigG

What goes in the cigarette lighter socket? I've smogged in two different states, and never had to put anything inside the car!

So, what if your car doesn't have an outlet? Or it doesn't work? You fail for lack of a lighter?? Wow....

AO

Riot!

dprantl

I just passed emissions a few weeks ago with my supercharged GT. Way low numbers too

Dan
'91 928GT S/C

dr bob

The latest machines are supposedly able to read engine RPM's from noise in the cigarette lighter circuit. Works OK most of the time. It's a band-aid solution to the problem of having smog techs messing with plug wires. Old wires, disturbed by a fumble-tech, now the car misses and fails on HC. Who's problem is that? It ran fine when I brought it in.

The gas cap issue is important. The guy who does my smog has his own brain and can see how the seal works. In the meanwhile, the state is soon adopting a standard that includes a pressure test of the fuel tank and vapor recovery plumbing, with an eye towards managing fugitive emissions from leaky hoses, Y-connectors and charcoal cannisters. They still won't find a way to test the cap with no seal on it. I do like the o-ring idea though. The average tech will see that it's there, but still won't gave a fixture in which to test it. For my now-gone Explorer, I used to lubricate the cap seal with a little Vaseline before going for smog. Prior to doing that, it would 'need a new cap, I have one right here' at every inspection. There's not a lot of rocket science involved in sealed gas caps these days.

Imo000

I thought the base idle WAS adjustable on the 32V engines. I know it is on the 85-86, isn't it on the S4-up? I understand this wasn't the real prblem but interested to know if it is or isn't adjutable on the later 928s.

dprantl

Idle speed is only adjustable on '85 - '86 US models. '87 and up are not adjustable, unless you sharktune them.

Dan
'91 928GT S/C