autostaretx
Erratic Member
My 2005 2500 with 25k miles has finally become old enough to require an emissions test here in Seattle.
Vehicles below 8501 GVW would receive the "normal" dyno test,
vehicles over 8500 GVW (such as my 8550 GVW) would get a SNAP test.
It was a dark and stormy day... (temp about 40F, 10 to 15mph wind, 90% relative humidity or higher)...
So i drove around for 15 minutes doing a few errands (and turned on the Boost heater to help) to warm up the Sprinter.
Things got behind, and i ended up arriving at the North Seattle emissions test station at 12:15pm, which i feared would put me in a long lunch-time waiting line, idling. Much to my surprise, there were 5 operating test lanes, and only one other car in the entire facility... so it was "drive right in, no waiting".
A sign at the driveway told "oversize vehicles" to take Lane 5, so i did.
The first stop captured my VIN, license plate number, and the $15 fee.
The tester recognized it as a Sprinter. He knew they were built by Mercedes (i'm Freightliner badged).
The database didn't have the data, so he asked me if i knew my number of cylinders (5) and displacement (2.7L).
He said that most folks didn't know their displacements. I told him all of the older US Sprinters had 2.7L.
Automatic? Yup. Diesel? Yup. One tail pipe? Yup.
Then i drove forward to the test station.
They had me stop shy of the dyno, and passed me a cigar-lighter plug to attach to my 12v socket.
They said it was to get the RPM.
(you probably -can- see ignition pulses impressed on the 12v lines on a gas engine.. but diesels don't have sparkplugs)
Oh, well... who am i to argue with Officialdom? (dumb?)
Then they asked me to watch the screen, and stomp on the accelerator pedal when the cartoon sneaker did.
It did, so i did. I watch my RPM gauge, and the screen.... i hit about 4000 rpm, but the screen didn't see it.
So i asked if there was an OBD plug we could use.
They had one, so i unplugged my ScanGauge and plugged in their cable.
Retry... and this time the screen was getting my RPM (680 idle).
Now the test protocol (with me pushing the pedal):
Three short vaROOM(1 sec)/idle (for at least 10 seconds) cycles, to clear soot from the pipes.
Then they put the opacity probe into the tail pipe, and three more vaROOM/idle cycles.
(the display showed 2750, 3700 and 4100 RPM for the three tests)
I passed (the score is 0 to 100% opacity, "40" is passing, i tested "2").
I handed back their OBD cable, took the results sheet and started to drive out.
They stopped me just before i left the building, and raised the roll-up door a foot
(i'm pretty sure it was well above me, but they were being careful). Exeunt stage left.
Since i didn't have my ScanGauge attached during the test, i can't say for sure what my MAP peaked at
(i was slightly fearful of popping my Turbo Resonator), but an after-the-fact vaROOM showed only 18 PSIA.
--dick
p.s. Washington State accepts Emission tests performed within the previous 12 months... so if you feel you're falling off the opacity wagon, you could test in January for registration renewal in the following December.
Vehicles below 8501 GVW would receive the "normal" dyno test,
vehicles over 8500 GVW (such as my 8550 GVW) would get a SNAP test.
It was a dark and stormy day... (temp about 40F, 10 to 15mph wind, 90% relative humidity or higher)...
So i drove around for 15 minutes doing a few errands (and turned on the Boost heater to help) to warm up the Sprinter.
Things got behind, and i ended up arriving at the North Seattle emissions test station at 12:15pm, which i feared would put me in a long lunch-time waiting line, idling. Much to my surprise, there were 5 operating test lanes, and only one other car in the entire facility... so it was "drive right in, no waiting".
A sign at the driveway told "oversize vehicles" to take Lane 5, so i did.
The first stop captured my VIN, license plate number, and the $15 fee.
The tester recognized it as a Sprinter. He knew they were built by Mercedes (i'm Freightliner badged).
The database didn't have the data, so he asked me if i knew my number of cylinders (5) and displacement (2.7L).
He said that most folks didn't know their displacements. I told him all of the older US Sprinters had 2.7L.
Automatic? Yup. Diesel? Yup. One tail pipe? Yup.
Then i drove forward to the test station.
They had me stop shy of the dyno, and passed me a cigar-lighter plug to attach to my 12v socket.
They said it was to get the RPM.
(you probably -can- see ignition pulses impressed on the 12v lines on a gas engine.. but diesels don't have sparkplugs)
Oh, well... who am i to argue with Officialdom? (dumb?)
Then they asked me to watch the screen, and stomp on the accelerator pedal when the cartoon sneaker did.
It did, so i did. I watch my RPM gauge, and the screen.... i hit about 4000 rpm, but the screen didn't see it.
So i asked if there was an OBD plug we could use.
They had one, so i unplugged my ScanGauge and plugged in their cable.
Retry... and this time the screen was getting my RPM (680 idle).
Now the test protocol (with me pushing the pedal):
Three short vaROOM(1 sec)/idle (for at least 10 seconds) cycles, to clear soot from the pipes.
Then they put the opacity probe into the tail pipe, and three more vaROOM/idle cycles.
(the display showed 2750, 3700 and 4100 RPM for the three tests)
I passed (the score is 0 to 100% opacity, "40" is passing, i tested "2").
I handed back their OBD cable, took the results sheet and started to drive out.
They stopped me just before i left the building, and raised the roll-up door a foot
(i'm pretty sure it was well above me, but they were being careful). Exeunt stage left.
Since i didn't have my ScanGauge attached during the test, i can't say for sure what my MAP peaked at
(i was slightly fearful of popping my Turbo Resonator), but an after-the-fact vaROOM showed only 18 PSIA.
--dick
p.s. Washington State accepts Emission tests performed within the previous 12 months... so if you feel you're falling off the opacity wagon, you could test in January for registration renewal in the following December.