Emissions Test Rejected - No Connection to OBD

So - the emmisions testing bastards began hooking up cars last year to their OBD scan tool to look for............I don't have a clue really........

I needed new insurance and required an emmisions test.

They couldn't get a connection to my 01 TDI Golf.
No response at all.

I know the car would pass clean, but they won't even test me because of it.
I was so angry.

What the hell can I do?
I don't any much money to fix this, so taking it to a mechanic is out.
I need this car for work to support my family and I don't know what to look for or what to fix.

A friend is coming over saterday morning with his scan tool to see if he can get anything.

Anybody have a similar problem?

That sounds strange, your 01 is OBDII compliant, and uses the same protocol as an older Chrysler or Honda...

-Jason

Aftermarket radio?

MOGolf hit it right on the nose. Aftermarket radio??? It absoulutely will cause this problem.

737tdi

Pandamonkey said:

So - the emmisions testing bastards began hooking up cars last year to their OBD scan tool to look for............I don't have a clue really........

I needed new insurance and required an emmisions test.

They couldn't get a connection to my 01 TDI Golf.
No response at all.

I know the car would pass clean, but they won't even test me because of it.
I was so angry.

What the hell can I do?
I don't any much money to fix this, so taking it to a mechanic is out.
I need this car for work to support my family and I don't know what to look for or what to fix.

A friend is coming over saterday morning with his scan tool to see if he can get anything.

Anybody have a similar problem?

Click to expand...

Mr. Panda, we had a recall in the USA to address communication problems at the OBD port. It was a recall.

Yup, aftermarket radio was the problem.
Disconnected it and scanned - no problem.
Pain in the arse, I'll have to do this everytime I get tested now.
Oh well - at least it works.

Thank MOGolf!

You should fix your radio harness... it could damage a scan tool.

See here.

-Jason

Back in the day, that would have damaged a 1551 and many dealers only had one...

I personally believe in the I/M ( Inspection and Maintenance ) process, the equipment is very repeatable even when doing tailpipe testing and any most programs are very well run. I rather dislike the connotation that you gave towards I/M testing being some form of big brother or whatever...

Sorry if that comes off rude, but get real; and BTW they're looking for vehicles that have a MIL commanded and/or unset readiness monitors greater than the allowable limits for given model years, they also may decide to test your gas cap for pressure decay.

Rather than pull the radio every time why not just disconnect the K-Line connection at the radio?

Gas cap.. haa haa haa!

jollyGreenGiant said:

Back in the day, that would have damaged a 1551 and many dealers only had one...

I personally believe in the I/M ( Inspection and Maintenance ) process, the equipment is very repeatable even when doing tailpipe testing and any most programs are very well run. I rather dislike the connotation that you gave towards I/M testing being some form of big brother or whatever...

Sorry if that comes off rude, but get real; and BTW they're looking for vehicles that have a MIL commanded and/or unset readiness monitors greater than the allowable limits for given model years, they also may decide to test your gas cap for pressure decay.

Click to expand...

If they decide to test for pressure decay, I hope that they get a clue when they find zero pressure.. this is a TDI not a Gasser. when you screw the cap on it presses the button to release the pressure in the tank..
This is what people are doing when they "Vent" or do a Ventectomy...

HTH..

Pressure decay tests are most commonly done on the gas cap only off the car. Thus the ventectomy is a non-issue, even when the cap is on the car, the vent is a non-issue as it merely allows air at the top of the tank to vent to the filler, there is no vent to atmosphere created when a ventectomy is performed, that would be bad if we were opening our fuel systems to ambient for many reasons.

Some programs will pressurize the evap system with nitrogen through the test port in the engine compartment, since TDI's have no carbon canister, purge valve or test port this is a non issue again.

jollyGreenGiant said:

I rather dislike the connotation that you gave towards I/M testing being some form of big brother or whatever...

Sorry if that comes off rude, but get real; and BTW they're looking for vehicles that have a MIL commanded and/or unset readiness monitors greater than the allowable limits for given model years

Click to expand...

You get real Greenie!

It's been a well known fact that emmisons testing in our province has been nothing but a hard and fast cash grab.
Mutiple private studies have concluded that it has done nothing to improve the air around here. Any increase in the air quality is simply attributed to better technology in newer vehicles.
Today only half of one percent of vehicles going through actually fail. Thats 0.5%.
Totally [SIZE=-1]unnecessary to have the service.

All they did with my vehicle is hook up the OBD connector and confirm that it is making connection - then I have to pay my $45 and leave.

Nowhere did I say anything about "big brother" watching us.
It's just the government not scrapping a useless program because they would lose out on the revenue it generates.

[/SIZE]

Today only half of one percent of vehicles going through actually fail. Thats 0.5%.

Click to expand...

What category is that? Overall Failure Rate, OBD, ASM, Snap Opacity, Diesel Lug Down, Transient ( 31, 147, 240 ), Safety, DOT, etc?

I don't know how it is exactly in British Columbia, but I'm sure glad they do annual full inspections on all vehicles in MA, USA. Salty roads do a number on vehicles here, I can say that our failure rate is significantly higher for each and every category compared to whatever percentage you had provided above. From my perspective and based on the programs I've been personally involved in; the process works amazingly well overall and quite efficiently from an expenses standpoint.

Are you seriously complaing about a $45 annual expense and the loss of a half hour of your time? Especially when said program is in the name of safety and environmental protection...

lots of cars fail in IL! Every old cadillac ive owned failed and then barely passed with a new cat, etc.

Testing in BC occurs every 2 years for cars with OBD connections otherwise anual testing is required. The test looks for NOx, Carbon Monoxide and Particulate levels based on a standard derived from California.

They don't check gas caps any more and don't pop the hood to see if there are any mods that could have an affect on the emissions.

They will look under the vehicle to see if the cat is visible.

The test looks at idle emissions and driving emissions by means of a loaded set of rollers that simulate 40 KPH (25 MPH). They shove a probe up the tail pipe to measure this.

Here are the results of my car's previous tests, all prior to me owning it (sorry about the formatting which dropped when I posted this):

AirCare inspection results for registration MY NB TDI are shown below. According to the inspection records, this vehicle is a 1999 model year vehicle with a curb weight of 1276 kilograms and an engine displacement of 1.9 litres. Based on the results obtained, this vehicle is not currently eligible for re-licensing.

Inspection DateTime / Odometer Reading / Inspection Expiry Date / Driving HC / Driving CO / Driving NOx / Idle HC / Idle CO / OBD / Visual Insp. / Overall Result
2006-01-11 09:28:32 130,000 2008-01-07 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A P N/A P
2004-01-05 14:10:20 92,000 2005-12-31 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A P N/A P
2001-01-23 11:35:11 39,000 2003-01-19 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A P N/A P

Notes:

• <LI class=tablenote>The Odometer Readings are given to AirCare inspectors by the motorist and cannot be guaranteed for accuracy. <LI class=tablenote>The Inspection Expiry Date indicates the last date that the vehicle is eligible for re-licensing in the program area. After that date, the vehicle must pass another inspection prior to re-licensing. <LI class=tablenote>Driving emission measurements are made with the vehicle operating on a dynamometer to simulate normal driving conditions. <LI class=tablenote>Emission Readings: HC = hydrocarbons, CO = carbon monoxide, NOx = oxides of nitrogen. Depending on the test type, tailpipe emission measurements may be in percent (%), parts per million (ppm), or grams per kilometre (gm/km). <LI class=tablenote>Red text is used to highlight failing results based on the standards in effect at the time of the test. More info on standards. <LI class=tablenote>Besides tailpipe emission measurements, a vehicle may also fail a visual inspection for tampered emission control components, gas cap, or on-board computer fault codes, if applicable. In any of those cases, the last column on the right-hand side will have a red "F" indicating the overall result is fail.
• The Overall Result can be either P (pass), F (fail), C (cost waiver), or Q (qualified waiver). Both C and Q results are conditional passes which mean the necessary emission repairs are not yet complete. More info on conditional passes.

Home | Inspection Info | Repair Info | Air Pollution Info | News & Publications | About Us

PB_NB

It looks like no data was taken? N/A

Kind of dumb to stick the probe in and get all N/A.

Maybe the P=PASS is for the visual...

Here in Texas, there only a handful of counties that test emissions or OBDII - mostly around the major metro areas. Unfortunately I live in one. But they excempt all diesel vehicles from the OBDII and/or emissions portion of the test.

DFWDieselJet said:

Here in Texas, there only a handful of counties that test emissions or OBDII - mostly around the major metro areas. Unfortunately I live in one. But they excempt all diesel vehicles from the OBDII and/or emissions portion of the test.

Click to expand...

Same here in Virginia. I was loving life until last year. Northern Virginia, where I live, included diesel cars 1997 and newer as being required to pass an "OBD II" emissions test. It wouldn't be a problem, but somehow my EGR pipe got mysteriously plugged up, keeping my CEL on. I guess I will have to fix it before I get tested this fall (required every 2 years)

--Nate

oddly enuff MA is a carb state and when i go for yearly emission test i have to go to a special disel facility and even then no tail pipe sniff and no obd check i passed with a CEl no issues

You can go to any of the publicly licensed inspection stations in the Commonwealth of MA with a TDI... The only diesel specific stations are the ones who do snap opacity testing on the heavy duty vehicles which are over 10K #'s; between 8500 and 10K they have the option of volunteering for the opacity test or not and everything under 8500 gets nothing but the standard safety test. This is all pertinent till September of 2008 when the program will go through significant change.

Any station or inspector for that matter that says they can't perform an inspection on a LD diesel is misinformed.

Antsrcool said:

oddly enuff MA is a carb state and when i go for yearly emission test i have to go to a special disel facility and even then no tail pipe sniff and no obd check i passed with a CEl no issues

Click to expand...

Pandamonkey said:

What the hell can I do?
I don't any much money to fix this, so taking it to a mechanic is out.
I need this car for work to support my family and I don't know what to look for or what to fix.

Click to expand...

Glad you got it working, but there is one other thing you could do:

When you insure the vehicle you can tell them it is primarily being used in an area outside of the AirCare region. For example, Kelowna, or somewhere on Vancouver Island. You don't even have to change your address. The registered owner of the vehicle (you) can have an address in Vancouver, and as long as you claim that the vehicle will primarily be used in another town, then you don't need AirCare. Obviously this is illegal and you could get in trouble, but like you say, you need it to support your family so a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do (until you can make it legit later).

Anyway, a non issue now as you got through the test.

[SIZE=-1]

All they did with my vehicle is hook up the OBD connector and confirm that it is making connection - then I have to pay my $45 and leave.

Click to expand...

Most likely, they are checking your 'readiness' codes. Each car has a specific set of readiness codes that it keeps track of, like cyliner misfiring, oxygen sensors, etc. Which readiness codes your OBDII system keeps track of depends on the specific vehicle.

When they test your car, your car essentially tells the emissions system's computer, "Hey, here are the things I'm supposed to keep track of, and they are all doing just fine."
[/SIZE]