The Mechanic was like, "WTF?"
 

So, I went in for my State Inspection today for the 'Teg, which I guess involves a look under the hood and toot of the horn. Anyways, I can see from the waiting room the mechanic is really looking at the WAI.

He gets back, and says, "Is there anything screwy with the car you'd like to disclose?" I said, "you must mean that tube running from the exhaust manifold {mech. says, yeah that's what I was getting at}". I explained the fuel economy and leaning out the mixture and he just looked at me like I was some weirdo or something. He should have seen it with the cylinder deactivation wiring. I bet he wondered about the PCV catch device (which is half-full of gunk right now) -- didn't get into that.

Anyways, it passed (no emissions test here, or they would've found the leaky B-pipe). But has anyone taken their car to a professional mechanic with your "experiments" in place? If so, what was the response? If I took it to the Acura dealer, I'm sure everyone would come running over laughing their asses off. So be it!

To borrow from the Jeep poets, "It's a gas thing. You wouldn't understand."

RH77

I took off all my stuff for
 

I took off all my stuff for smog and it didn't pass. My timing was at 13 degrees instead of the stock 20. The techs in cali are very anal.

Re: I took off all my stuff for
 

Yeah, Kansas City doesn't have SMOG checks, but St. Louis does. I moved over from the Kansas side and they don't even have vehicle inspections.

RH77

Massachusetts inspections
 

Here in the People's Republic of Massachusetts, we have tailpipe emissions emissions inspections INCLUDING A TEST DRIVE SIMULATION ON A DYNAMOMETER every two years.

This makes tinkering with the primary family vehicle's engine very risky. Any gas savings modification must be reversible, or else you may not be able to get a sticker.

Re: Massachusetts inspections
 

With as many cars as we have in this town, I'm surprised we don't have it as we have Ozone Alert days in the summer. But it's a double-edged sword. You get fewer emissions, but it really hits the poor folks hard. If you have an old beater that can't pass, you probably can't afford to get it up to spec without dumping money you don't have into it, then what. Expired tags, and a bad cycle starts.

I've been doing a lot of thinking on this subject and that scenario. How does it play out in Cali, Mass, or anywhere that requires it?

RH77

Re: Massachusetts inspections
 

Every year in Allegheny county PA, but surrounding counties only require a safety inspection. My del Sol passed the emissions no problem, but they would not pass the safety chack because I had a bungee cord instead of a battery strap. The previous owner put an oversized battery in so the strap wouldn't fit. The Procare place offered to sell me a new battery and a new hold down kit and install it for the utterly fantastic price $175. I just drove to Pep Boys, picked up a new $55 battery, picked up my car and installed the battery with the old battery strap at the Mcdonalds across the street. When I came back 10 mins later they were surprised to see me. But they gave me my sticker. Luckily the battery I took out fit into the Outback, which still had it's original 9 YO battery. I was gonna get a new one anyway so I guess everything worked out for the best.

Re: Massachusetts inspections
 

Some places sound more strict than others. Honestly, I've had a stricter inspection before an autocross than for licensure. In some parts of the country that allow local shops to inspect vehicles, I've heard of corruption where they demand a $200 fix for a "problem" or $150 bribe. Luckily I found a good local shop here.

RH77

Most of the time you can
 

Most of the time you can find someone running an EPA emissions machine that's willing to make a few extra $$ around here and pass for about $125, regardless of how poor your emissions are. I personally try to keep my daily driver up to standard, but when I was running turbo, the only way I could renew my tag was by getting the "ghetto emissions" every year.

I was in St. Louis last
 

I was in St. Louis last year. My uncle's car barely passed the emissions. It got all kinds of light on and shakes violently on the freeway. It's a Nissan, I wouldn't expect less.

Nissan's logo shouldn't be "Shift_"

It should be "If it doesn't rattle it's not a nissan."

Matt will agree with me on that.

emissions
 

What's wild is that my Geo emissions were better the last time than the time before getting really low and that was before I know of all these additives - was only adding some marvel oil and STP gas treatment to the gas. Course that was with a new AutoZone cat and entire exhost system installed. Gotta love RI for checking though when the trucks go down teh street spooing out tons of carbon and oil - friend with the F150 has the front of his house covered with exhost soot and oils on his fresh paint job.

Let's put it this way. The
 

Let's put it this way. The government is there to improve our ozone and stuff their pockets full of money. Our economy depends a lot what's in those trucks.

Our economy depends on foreign oil, the more we use the more our government gets rich and so do the oil companies. I wouldn't be surprised if Ford came out with XXL Excursion.

we have bi-annual testing in
 

we have bi-annual testing in ontario. $35 for the test.

to address the potential socio-economic impact, if the car fails, there's an upper limit on the repair costs - if the vehicle repairs would exceed that, the owner can get a "conditional pass" good for 2 years until the next test (and presumably enough time to either fix the problem or get another car).

of course i was nervous when i brought in my old accord with 340,000+ kms on the clock. but it passed with flying colours, barely registering the emissions that were being tested (of course I kept it tuned within an inch of its life).

i watched from the waiting area as the mechanics in the shop passed around the print-out of my car's results. they were amazed that it did so well. (and it did just as well 2 years later with 370,000+ kms).

the only mod on the honda that i changed "back" for the test was the timing. i put it back to spec for the test, then advanced it again afterwards. i don't think it would have failed me, but didn't want to take a chance.

Why did you retire the car,
 

Why did you retire the car, was it too expensive to keep it working?

Quote:was it too expensive
 

With the money you said you put into your car you could put a new engine in that accord every week and be paying less than you do now. :)

yeah, i was spending roughly
 

yeah, i was spending roughly $800/yr on repairs & maintenance. plus annual rust touch-ups.

figured i could do better with the metro - and nobody was as surprised as me: firefly #1 and #2 have been the most trouble-free cars i've owned.

I have nevr had much problem
 

I have nevr had much problem with PA emmisions/ inspection. Sometimes i need tires or brakes.

I put on my passenger side mirror for inspection. I didn't want any trouble.