Environmental
Emissions Check
For those fortunate enough to live in areas where
E-Checks are not required, here is a quick rundown of what it's about
here in Ohio.
Every other year, depending on the model year of
your vehicle, you must have an E-Check in order to get new license tags.
The testing is carried out by privately contracted facilities.
- The procedure is this -
You drive to the testing facility and pull into
the shortest line to wait your turn. It works just like the supermarket.
Whichever line you get into is the one where someone ahead of you
develops a time-consuming problem. When it's your turn, you pull into
the lane, where a person wheels out a mirror and slides it under your
car, looking for a catalytic converter. If you don't have one, you're
out of the game. No cat, no test, no tags.
Then you are invited to leave your car and wait
inside a glass-enclosed blockhouse while a person you've never seen
before gets behind the wheel of your pride and joy. The drive wheels are
pulled up onto a dynamometer roller, the other wheels are chocked, a
large electric fan is wheeled in front of the radiator, and a hose is
hooked onto the exhaust pipe.
If your car is less than two years old they give
you what is called a "quick pass" and you are on your way.
According to the "State of Ohio Vehicle Inspection Report", a
pre-1981 vehicle is tested for hydrocarbon (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO)
levels at two speeds, idle and approximately 30 mph. 1981 and newer
vehicles are tested for HC, CO, and oxides of nitogen (NOX) while being
run at various speeds on a dynamometer. They run the car for about five
minutes on the dyno, at various speeds up to 55 mph, to simulate
real-world driving conditions. Then the car is pulled on up to where
they check the gas cap for pressure seal.
If nothing goes wrong they give you a paper which
enables you to purchase new tags. If you fail, they give you a list of
approved repair facilities to which you are expected to take you car for
repairs. If you come back and fail again, you can get a one-time-only
waiver good for one year.
| Just for the curious, here are the test
results for my 1985 4.2 liter Jeep. There was no 1985 CJ-7 in
their computer, so the guy entered it as a 1985 Wrangler.
No kidding! | | Item | Reading | Units | Limit | | HC | 0.3892 | Grams/Mile | 3.2000 | | CO | 3.5955 | Grams/Mile | 80.0000 | | NOX | 5.7938 | Grams/Mile | 14.0000 |
|
The limits are not the same for
different years/engines. The NOX limit for my '90 minivan was 7.000, or
half that of my '85 Jeep.
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