Passing PA inspection with mufflerectomy

jahfakin

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 24, 2002
Location
Philly
TDI
99.5 VW NB TDi (techno blue)
Well, it's the end of the month. It's time for the annual inspection. Sometime last year i had the muffler hacked off. Now it's time to see if the inspection station will pass of fail me. I have an appointment on Thurs. at 7:30. They will probably fail me, just so they can charge me to put the OEM back on and make a buck. I hate PA inspection, the shops are all crooks. my brother got charges $200 just to have the 3rd(high mount) brake light bulb installed on his Maxima
.

i always wonder, how do those rice boys pass inspection with with those huge, awful sounding mufflers
. They are so loud they set off car alarms as they drive down my road. Some of them seem to be louder than the F-14 Tomcats taking off from the naval base 2 miles away.

[ February 26, 2003, 07:15: Message edited by: jahfakin ]
 

Dorado

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2001
Location
Pittsburgh, PA
TDI
New Beetle TDI, 2002, Cool White
There's no emission test for diesels in PA. There should be a small note of that on your PA owner's card. Something like: "Emissions: diesel exempt."

The state inspection should run you just $22 or so. No emission test. I've had a good experience with the two shops I've tried. In both cases, I was asked about the TDI, what's the mpg, etc., etc.
 

VWYankee

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2000
Location
Durham, NC, USA
TDI
Sportwagen for her and lil' red wagon for me
On a similar note, I recently discovered that diesels are exempt from emissions tests here in NC too, although I've paid for it the last two years! I'm wondering if they didn't think it applied to diesel cars, since they hardly ever see one.

Ironically enough the state inspection fee has increased this year (without emissions testing), so the cost won't be much different that what I have been paying.
 

davidbru

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2001
Location
Mcdonough, GA
TDI
2000 Jetta
I now live in Atlanta, but I grew up in PA. The little town of Liverpool. The state inspection for exhaust reads that it just has to be a "sealed system". I think as long as the exhaust is sealed from engine to beyond passenger compartment then it will pass. I have a friend of mine who is inspection certified that runs a straight pipe from the converter back on his pickup.
 

jahfakin

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 24, 2002
Location
Philly
TDI
99.5 VW NB TDi (techno blue)
I passed, so i'm good and happy
.

The reason i was worried about passing inspection was that you "must have a muffler" on your car, or so I thought. mainly for noise pollution. But some shops are so anal that if you don't have one, they may fail you regardless if it is loud or not. They do this so they can charge you money to install one and then pass you. I like my car without a muffler and I didn't want to put one back on.
 
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