inspection

[75coug]

I decided to roll the dice and take my McLaren in for an inspection, hoping that it would pass the emissions test. No dice. I wonder how much I'll have to spend on this thing to get it to pass the test.

This kind of thing is such a bummer. It runs great, no problems, yet I have dump a load of cash just to get it to pass some stupid test. It's silly to require 20 year old cars that are driven 1000 miles a year to pass it in the first place.

[Sandy]

Do what I do !
Don't go!

The people who set the laws for this have totally convinced me that they are idiots. I applied and recieved from the state "Collector Vehicle" status. For this, I was happy. I had to go to Motor Vehicle and kill several hours awaiting processing of forms, that I was required to fill out. The questions asked as well as the questions NOT asked told me that someone with zero knowledge of cars, the car hobby, special cars (i.e. Antique, Historic, Collectior or Special Interest) made up the form. So, okay, I fillled it out, submitted it and waited like 90 minutes to be called. When called, I had to pay $25.00 fee for processing. Finally, I was given the needed paperwork. I was told that I had to go to the motor vehicle station and have the car tested completely, and I would then (if it passed) be given a Collector Vehicle window sticker, that would make me exempt from future such tests.
So, then I go off to Motor Vehicle testing station. I wait my turn. (1 hour). I get in. They test my horn, my lights, my turn signals, my wipers, and my brakes, and stick the rod up my tailpipe for my emissions.
I pass everything. Inspector comes to car and wants to take a ride !
WHY? Wants to see if my odometer is connected! OOOookay, after bringing in a hunk of wet leaves (it had rained the day before, & he steped in them) we had to go 1 mile so he could see the odometer flip over. Ride over, Odo flipped we head back. I now have an unexpected 20 minute wait because this idiot cannot find the Collector Vehicle sticker for my windshield ! Finally, he finds it & puts it on. He THEN proceeds to tell me that, in the future, I have to return every year in October, but I don't have to wait in line at the front, nor do I have to have my wipers, horn, brakes, signals and lights tested... ONLY MY EMISSIONS - - - It was my Emissions that I wanted to avoid, Stupid!
For this "convenience" I invested 2 hours at the Motor Vehicle Registration Office, $25.00, and an hour at the Motor Vehicle Inspection Station, to pass a car that is driven (on average) 136 miles per year!
F-Them!
Cops got tons more to do here with crime than pull over & check cars for expired inspection stickers I have found out. If you get stopped, they give you a warning .... THEN you can go.
They made it illeagle to drive & talk on the Cell Phone, yet I see countless drivers doing just that, daily. One day I counted & in 7 miles I saw 22 drivers driving & yakking away. They are not stopping them, so they don't even look at inspection stickers.

My fear is that my car will not pass as its 15 years old, and then what? Nobody's finger-poking my computer or underhood stuff & altering anything so it can pass, for its 136 miles a year. When I go to a car show, I take note that 70% of the cars do not have valid window stickers, and mine is the ONLY one with the special bright yellow Collector Vehicle Status Sticker, so If stopped I'd just tell the officer that "Due to the Collector Vehicle status of the car, I am exempt. They don't know.

[75coug]

I do not bother getting my older cars inspected, as the fine for not having done so would be a lot less than the cost of getting them to pass the emissions test. However . . .

. . . a car must pass inspection and the emissions test in order to be licensed. Since I have not yet bothered to license the McLaren, what very little driving that I have done in it has been performed in the absence of license plates. Not a good thing.

Thus, I will need to bite the bullet this one time and get it to pass inspection. Then, never again. It's still frustrating though.

[rlyons13]

Sandy,

That is NOT the way the collectible car inspection is supposed to go. In fact, they should not have processed your original application at the DMV. The process is supposed to be handled by mail. For your initial $25 application ($10 renewal every two years), you get a voucher in the mail. You then go to the inspection station office, show them your insurance policy limiting you to 3K miles a year, they tell YOU to drive around the block until the odometer flips over, then they give you a TWO YEAR sticker! They do not, nor are they supposed to, check ANYTHING!!!

I have this on my 93 CObra due to watching a rather large inspection worker climb over my cage (damaging padding and scraping paint in the process) and threaten to impound my car because it has an aftermarket H-pipe (CARB EO certified). When I trotted out the CARB EO for the H-pipe and the rules about its use, he grumbled, then failed me for emissions anyway, saying that my car would never pass with just two cats when the Mustang is supposed to have four. After telling him the two front ones are actually "warmers" and not true cats, I reached in, turned my spark advance from 14 BTDC down to 6 BTDC and told him to test again. The car ran like crap, but passed. I was threatened again, and decided right there that the collector car sticker was for me.

It sounds like you got a bunch of idiots that did not know how the system works. Call DMV, have them send you the rules, and take it back to your inspection station. It ain't worth the hassle of driving around uninspected. However, aren't these cars closing in on "QQ" (historic) status? Once you get QQ plates in NJ, you don't even need an inspection sticker of any kind.

Now, as for the question of getting the car through emissions, try turning the timing back to 4 or 6 degrees BTDC before getting into it too deep. There is a reason Ford sent Mustangs out of the factory timed below the stock spec of 10 degrees, and it ain't because their calibration machine is off (which is the reason I received when I posted the question to their engineers in a meeting in early 1994).

[negusm]

75coug, what did you fail on?

Is it the original catalytic converter?...it seems a new cat will pass just about any car.....I'm hoping that the new cat on my car will get it through.

By January, NC won't require emissions testing on my car....it may be that long before I get a chance to get it inspected too

-Mike

[ASCMCLRN]

My car passed in 2003 and then last year with the stricter standards it had failed. Same car, no additional modifications, just a new standard. Anyone familiar with what NY's collectible automobile laws are? I know my insurance State Farm wants under 1,000 miles a year to qualify. I've yet to get this over with. All the mileage I put on my car was for the inspection last year as it sits in the garage all the time.

-Nick

[svt1996cobra]

75coug,

When I lived in Tennesssee, I had a SVO that I drove daily, it had 150000 miles on it. When I first got the car it would not pass emissions, talking with the good old boys there, they suggested this: leave about 1 gallon of gas in your tank, add a bottle of rubbing alcohol (16 oz) drive to the test center, do not shut your car off, keep the converters hot. Let them test the car. Hope you have enough gas to make it to the gas station. My car passed 2 years in a row doing this.

David

[svo413]

I forgot the fun times at NJ inspection and DMV. PA was pretty easy as the DMV is ran by private notaries. The PA emissions is exemt due to low miliage as the emissions computer phones in to the state and they compare the miliage to the previous year. I think they give you 2-3000 miles for emission exempt.

My 85 passes CA emissions. They have 2 types of testing here and no one seems to know how it all works. Some are done on a dyno and some not. The previous owner has the egr valve disconnected and only connected it to pass emissions.

Try water injection. Run as small engine vacuum line to a reservior with a fish tank type needle valve. I used to set mine up to use a quart every tank of gas. It is hidden.

[Euro#13]

Sandy,

Don't you need to show proof of your vehicle passing an annual inspection before you can get your yearly registration renewed?

Forgive my ignorance here, but this comes from living in an area of a state that has never had any vehicle inspection requirements.

Brent

[negusm]

Actually its usually the other way around. You need a registration to pass inspection.

Here in NC I think the emissions computers are now hooked up to Raleigh, so if your car doesn't pass inspection....they know about it next time around (so technically, you are probably right).

With Sandy's collector tag...I bet that won't happen since I bet he SHOULD have been emission exempt.

In NY...we used to get lick-it and stick-it inspection stickers (local shop knew we kept our cars in shape). I bet NY didn't even know when a car passed inspection or not when it came up for registration renewal.

-Mike

[Euro#13]

Actually its usually the other way around. You need a registration to pass inspection.

Here in NC I think the emissions computers are now hooked up to Raleigh, so if your car doesn't pass inspection....they know about it next time around.

With Sandy's collector tag...I bet that won't happen since I bet he SHOULD have been emission exempt.

-Mike

Ok, that makes sense to me, I guess in order to drive the car to the inspection place you would need to have it legally licensed.

Thanks.

Brent

[75coug]

Actually its usually the other way around. You need a registration to pass inspection.

Here in NC I think the emissions computers are now hooked up to Raleigh, so if your car doesn't pass inspection....they know about it next time around.

With Sandy's collector tag...I bet that won't happen since I bet he SHOULD have been emission exempt.

-Mike

Ok, that makes sense to me, I guess in order to drive the car to the inspection place you would need to have it legally licensed.

Thanks.

Brent

Your observation makes sense, but of course Texas won't do it that way. The purchaser of any car from out of state has no choice but to drive it unlicensed to be inspected, and assuming that the car passes, only then can it be licensed. The whole thing gives me a headache.

[tfs2121]

i love michigan... that sucks you guys have to go through such a hassle to pass that stuff... its a good thing i dont have to go i have no air pump no cats no charcol canister no EGR you know now that i think about it i have NO emissions at all...

[75coug]

When I lived in Tennesssee, I had a SVO that I drove daily, it had 150000 miles on it. When I first got the car it would not pass emissions, talking with the good old boys there, they suggested this: leave about 1 gallon of gas in your tank, add a bottle of rubbing alcohol (16 oz) drive to the test center, do not shut your car off, keep the converters hot. Let them test the car. Hope you have enough gas to make it to the gas station. My car passed 2 years in a row doing this.

David

Thanks for the advice. I'll give it a shot.

[mustang marty]

In Washington State we only have emissions testing in the higher population counties. Cars 5 to 25 years old are tested every two years or when sold between private parties. I was lucky enough to live in one of these counties when I bought the McLaren so I had to pass emissions to change the title. It failed the first time, but I took it in to an emission certified shop then I passed the second time around.

My car sat unlicensed for 8 years before I bought it. To drive it legally to the emission station I had to buy a 3-day license for $20. I had to buy a second one after it was repaired since there was no way get it back to the testing station within 3 days. I also got dinged for new plates for $29 when I transferred the title because the state requires the replacement of plates 9yo or older to "ensure reflectivity". When all was said and done, I paid an addtional $300, with all the fees and emission repairs, just to transfer the car into my name.