Post your emissions testing results here!

I just had the annual emissions testing done on my 1980 W116 300SD. The opacity reading was 1.9% (20% is the maximum permissible level in Arizona). This is on an engine with almost 343,000 miles and the ALDA system removed.

The employees didn't believe me at first when I told them that the odometer says 342,900 NOT 34,290 miles. They said that the engine still looks brand new and the exhaust is as clean as a brand new engine. I told them that these engines last a very long time when you take care of them.

They told me that they get a lot of old Mercedes diesels in, but they said that most of them are extremely dirty and oily and smoke a lot, and they didn't understand why my car's engine was in such good condition. That's the benefit of good maintenance procedures and not being a cheapskate.

Attached Thumbnails

     

__________________
Stop paying for animal enslavement, cruelty, and slaughter. Save your health and the planet. Go vegan! I did 18 years ago. https://challenge22.com/

DON'T MESS WITH MY MERCEDES!


1967 W110 Universal Wagon, Euro, Turbo Diesel, Tail Fins, 4 Speed Manual Column Shift, A/C
1980 W116 300SD Turbo Diesel, DB479 Walnut Brown, Sunroof, Highly Optioned, 350,000+ Miles

Emissions testing on an old diesel? LOL you need to move to a free state like California before they regulate you to death.

__________________
CENSORED due to not family friendly words

This is one of the funniest things I've heard in a long time.

__________________
Stop paying for animal enslavement, cruelty, and slaughter. Save your health and the planet. Go vegan! I did 18 years ago. https://challenge22.com/

DON'T MESS WITH MY MERCEDES!


1967 W110 Universal Wagon, Euro, Turbo Diesel, Tail Fins, 4 Speed Manual Column Shift, A/C
1980 W116 300SD Turbo Diesel, DB479 Walnut Brown, Sunroof, Highly Optioned, 350,000+ Miles

It's great to see that your catalytic converter got a passing grade. At least we know that those AZ inspectors don't let anything get past them.

__________________
When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.

Haha. On the previous year's report they put N/A in that field.

__________________
Stop paying for animal enslavement, cruelty, and slaughter. Save your health and the planet. Go vegan! I did 18 years ago. https://challenge22.com/

DON'T MESS WITH MY MERCEDES!


1967 W110 Universal Wagon, Euro, Turbo Diesel, Tail Fins, 4 Speed Manual Column Shift, A/C
1980 W116 300SD Turbo Diesel, DB479 Walnut Brown, Sunroof, Highly Optioned, 350,000+ Miles

OK You're on. Here are my last five.

Opacity testing is a joke IMHO. If you accelerate up past the test speed then gently back off very gradually throughout the testing the opacity will be very low. If you are accelerating to stay within the test speed the opacity will be high. I have had the same vehicle (International 6.9) fail on opacity then drove it right back through without doing anything except the above and pass.

On the last 5 for the Benz 603 nothing was different, even the same fuel filter was in there for 5 years. The only thing different was where the fuel came from and how I was accelerating/decelerating.

What do you make of the last one at 0.00%? And a 12% year followed by a .3% year? See what I mean?

The re-test one was when I pulled the line off the egr and put a screw in it, I had to drive out, plug it back in and go to the end of the line. (Somehow a BB got stuck in there after that and I can't get it out)

And as far as I know we are allowed 30% in Pima County, unless it changed this year.

Attached Thumbnails

         

__________________
Brian
87 300Dturbo 180K #14 head still running R-12 SOLD 12/2017
02 F350 Powerstroke 180K
05 Chevy Express 1 ton w/Royal Utility box 120K
08 Infiniti FX-35 40K
15 Golf Sportwagen TDI 35K
10 Sprinter 3500 chassis with a Class A Winnebago on it. 56K

We don't have them in Ohio but I'd almost certainly fail given the plainly visible white cloud constantly behind my car.

At all the emissions stations to which I've been, the employee always does the accelerating in the car and drivers aren't allowed to be in the driver's seat. What I've observed them doing is slowly accelerating up to full throttle and then holding it there at max RPM while the machine takes a reading.

For fun, I asked them if the machine shows horsepower, and they said no.

It seems from dieselmania's post that there may not be much consistency at some (or possibly all) locations.

Getting an emissions test in the company's tanker truck (carrying propane) was interesting. It can't be parked inside a building unless the cargo tank is under 5% full. So, they do the emissions test just outside of the bay door. They had me pull the cab up in the bay door while leaving the tank outside and the dragged out the ducting, hooked it up to the exhaust, and then had me hold the throttle down about halfway until they got their reading. It may not have passed if it was floored.

__________________
Stop paying for animal enslavement, cruelty, and slaughter. Save your health and the planet. Go vegan! I did 18 years ago. https://challenge22.com/

DON'T MESS WITH MY MERCEDES!


1967 W110 Universal Wagon, Euro, Turbo Diesel, Tail Fins, 4 Speed Manual Column Shift, A/C
1980 W116 300SD Turbo Diesel, DB479 Walnut Brown, Sunroof, Highly Optioned, 350,000+ Miles

We always stay in the vehicle unless we don't want to in which case they will jump in and do it. The ladies usually let the attendants do it but the guys usually don't.

I like to call the diesel emissions testing "Smoke and Mirrors" (Hopefully most here will "get" that)

__________________
Brian
87 300Dturbo 180K #14 head still running R-12 SOLD 12/2017
02 F350 Powerstroke 180K
05 Chevy Express 1 ton w/Royal Utility box 120K
08 Infiniti FX-35 40K
15 Golf Sportwagen TDI 35K
10 Sprinter 3500 chassis with a Class A Winnebago on it. 56K

Opacity testing is iffy at best. Not sure of the current regs but for many years the Federal standards required an opacity test in addition to particulate matter (PM) measurements - an actual scientific test. It used to drive us nuts to run a legal emissions test and then have to tear the exhaust system apart and re-plumb so we could get the opacity meter across the exhaust stream.

A few states use opacity in an effort to catch gross polluters. It's Big Deal to instrument for and run PM testing and it's fairly simple to run opacity so that's what they do. If you ever want to drive them nuts ask them to demonstrate that the meter is calibrated. They should have a NIST-traceable glass filter on-site with a %opacity value assugned to it. There's a high probability that they don't HAVE that filter of if they do that the calibration date is past. They'll try to show you an electronic cal of the readout but that is NOT a proper system calibration (I know - I've done this many times).


Bottom line - the correlation between opacity and PM is tenuous at best but the states don't know what else to do. It's a dumb test!

Dan

Many states exempt diesels. Here in Virginia, pre 1997 diesels are emissions exempt. For 1997+ diesels like my w210, they only check OBD2 readiness. There are relatively few pre-OBD diesels on the road today, so I guess they don't think it's worth the equipment cost to test such a small number of vehicles.

__________________
1998 E300 turbodiesel

America's Rights and Freedoms Are Not The Enemy!

Zalky! Here in the NC counties requiring testing (ours is one of them) it's a computer download - the early Diesels (I forget the year) are exempt. Mutt is off-road only so it doesn't matter for me while Truck gets a yearly once-over which is basically nothing as long as everything is attached. The hooked-up Edge tuner passes with no problems.

Dan

LOL @ free state like California. I must admit it is where I am located and I'm glad I drive a diesel that is old enough to not deal with smog at all!

__________________
1995 E300 With:
OM606 Turbo
Merc 6 Speed Box
https://bit.ly/2sisie9

Mine is due every December and on one occasion it failed but the guy said to wait a minute. He got some Q Tips and cleaned the fog off the mirrors on the opacity tester and ran it again and I passed. He said sometimes the first car of the day on a cold, damp morning will do that. Pretty scientific huh?

__________________
Brian
87 300Dturbo 180K #14 head still running R-12 SOLD 12/2017
02 F350 Powerstroke 180K
05 Chevy Express 1 ton w/Royal Utility box 120K
08 Infiniti FX-35 40K
15 Golf Sportwagen TDI 35K
10 Sprinter 3500 chassis with a Class A Winnebago on it. 56K

Yep!

Dan