Gasser to TDI swap in NY, inspection nightmare. Any NY inspectors out there?

[turbocharged798]

So I am posting this to see if anybody else has ran into this problem. I did a gasser to ALH TDI swap on a 1999.5 Jetta shell. Was originally 2.slo manual. Didn't really think about the emission side of things until I went to try and get it inspected and do the OBD emission check. Here's the rundown of what I have done so far.

1. Brought car to shop with it saying Gas on both title and registration. Shop plugs in car and says it fails because "information in the ECU was not as expected."

2. Went back to DMV and had them change the reg from gas to diesel.

3. Went back to inspection station and fails again. Inspector noticed it still says gas in the system.

4. Called NY DMV and they said the it was still gas in the NY VIP2 system. They fixed it and told me to run it though again.

5. I run it through again and even though it now says diesel 1.9L, it still gives the error of information not as expected.

So now I am at a loss on to do. I plan on calling DMV back monday. I am thinking the problem is that they still have the gasser emission profile stored in the system even though it now says diesel as fuel type. Also, the inspection station I am dealing with is run by an older guy who has very little computer knowledge. I was trying to convince him to just fail it but he doesn't want to do that. All moniters are OK and there are no codes stored in the ECU.

Am I the only one who has run into this nightmare? Feel like I now have a very expensive paperweight for a car.

 

[Andyinchville1]

HI,

Maybe the easiest way is to keep your car from becoming a paperweight is to get it titled in Vermont ( Per some You Tube videos Ive seen you can take older cars from out of state (even with no titles) and get a clean "title" in VT) the if you want (after getting a good "title" in VT) run it through as a "new" to NY car (with all the good (diesel) VT info etc...

OR

Don't know much about NY testing but in VA there are some shops that can just pass things through inspection wise .... may have to get plugged in with people who know people .... not the easiest way buy you never know who knows who that can help but it soulnds like your prolem is not necessarily passing a test BUT rather the info in the computer so the above paragraph may be the way you want to go.

Good luck

Andrew

 

[Lug_Nut]

Both of my conversions were on out-of-state gassers that didn't exist in the MA database, partly to avoid that pre-existing state record that you seem to have run into. I didn't register either until after the swap(s) were done so, as far as MA was concerned, they were always diesel.
That doesn't help you, I know, but the thought of registering in another state may not maintain fuel status if you bring it back to a state where it was listed under the prior fuel.

 

[Mongler98]

i had a similar issue with MD with a Dodge ram that had a cumming swap from junkyard salvage title. i ended up doing basically the same run down you did. I ran into i think was the "same" issue basically but the inspection place i would go to in Hagerstown said that they cant pass it until i take it to emissions station. i had temp tags still valid so at the emissions station even though it is exempt from emissions in MD, they had to posses the engine swap info there. The inspection place (STOUFFER'S TAG AND TITLE on Broadfording Rd) took care of the entire thing Emissions did the paperwork to the stouffer's, so im not sure what paperwork they did.
not sure how much that helps with NY but maybe this is the issue?
I hope this is helpful!

 

[gforce1108]

Did the shop select diesel? I'm not sure if it still works that way, but I ran into similar with my 04 years back after NY started testing light duty diesels. The inspection place was so used to just hitting yes yes yes without looking that he selected it was gas. My understanding is that there are ways to manually enter something when a VIN doesn't match, etc. I haven't had any issues recently.

 

[turbocharged798]

There was no option in the computer to select anything but gas. You have to tell DMV that its now diesel and they need to change it in the system.

Long story short I called back DMV and they told me that the shop need to follow the computer and it will attempt 3 times to get the gasser data. After the 3rd attempt it will fail and flag the car in the system and still give you a sticker. He told me that they already know that its a converted gasser so not to worry about the flagging.

Problem is that I have a shop is afraid of putting their license on the line and just doesn't want to deal with this at all. I have another appointment Friday and hopefully this time we can pass it.

 

[Zak99b5]

On the plus side, you have only like a year or two before the 99 is exempt from emissions testing.

You could try this in the meantime

E70245D1-B54D-4A4A-A3B6-B7CE59CD629F.jpeg

• Zak99b5
• Jul 13, 2022

 

[oilhammer]

I've had to deal with this here, but ours lets us choose the fuel type even though it auto-populates by VIN. Since there is no VIN resident in the ECU on that car (either for the original gas engine or the diesel you put in it), that won't matter.

We've also had to do specific VIN-exemptions for some cars for various issues, usually communication or readiness.

Sounds like maybe you should just try a different shop.

 

[Randomhomelesstdibeetlegu]

South carolina will title anything including grey market cars. Pro tip in case you want a four motion or syncro.

 

[turbocharged798]

So the car passed inspection and now has a sticker. I had to lay out exactly what the shop needed to do and pay a hour of labor for them to follow the DMVs instructions. At the end it OK'ed a sticker and the car is now fully legal.

Really happy I don't have an expensive paperweight.

So if anybody else in NY runs into this in the future you need to do the following:
1. Register car as diesel. Obvious i know but they will register it as gas if you don't make a statement about how it has been modified. They may ask for receipts and proof. That goodness they didn't ask me because I threw all my receipts out.
2.You may need to call the DMV vehicle modification dept at 518-474-5282 and have them switch the NYVIP system to gas.
3.The system will act weird because the diesel data in the ECU is different from gas. You just have to keep following the directions and eventually it will spit out a sticker. It will also likely flag the VIN but since DMV now knows its been modified its not really an issue.

 

[quartersaw]

So I am posting this to see if anybody else has ran into this problem. I did a gasser to ALH TDI swap on a 1999.5 Jetta shell. Was originally 2.slo manual. Didn't really think about the emission side of things until I went to try and get it inspected and do the OBD emission check. Here's the rundown of what I have done so far.

1. Brought car to shop with it saying Gas on both title and registration. Shop plugs in car and says it fails because "information in the ECU was not as expected."

2. Went back to DMV and had them change the reg from gas to diesel.

3. Went back to inspection station and fails again. Inspector noticed it still says gas in the system.

4. Called NY DMV and they said the it was still gas in the NY VIP2 system. They fixed it and told me to run it though again.

5. I run it through again and even though it now says diesel 1.9L, it still gives the error of information not as expected.

So now I am at a loss on to do. I plan on calling DMV back monday. I am thinking the problem is that they still have the gasser emission profile stored in the system even though it now says diesel as fuel type. Also, the inspection station I am dealing with is run by an older guy who has very little computer knowledge. I was trying to convince him to just fail it but he doesn't want to do that. All moniters are OK and there are no codes stored in the ECU.

Am I the only one who has run into this nightmare? Feel like I now have a very expensive paperweight for a car.

Interestingly, my '96 B4V comes up as a 'gas' vehicle, but it is a factory diesel. I live upstate, where there is only a safety inspection, to get an inspection sticker. It probably helps, that the car is 26 years old.

 

[Zak99b5]

It’s more the 26 years old than the upstate thing.

 

[gforce1108]

On the plus side, you have only like a year or two before the 99 is exempt from emissions testing.

Is NY going to do the rolling 25 years? Since gassers have always been 96+ I assumed that diesels would stay 98+ and not slide along. I still can't find good info in the NYS DMV site on what is actually checked. I know my latest car has multiple readiness monitors not ready and it passes. I know the gas requirements and that they vary by year. Nothing on diesels.

 

[turbocharged798]

I think so, 1996 MY is now exempt, next year should be 1997.

 

[Zak99b5]

Gassers before 2000 (pretty sure) can have two monitors not ready and still pass. Later model years can only have one not ready. Apparently because it can take quite a while for Evap to pass.

 

[gforce1108]

Gassers before 2000 (pretty sure) can have two monitors not ready and still pass. Later model years can only have one not ready. Apparently because it can take quite a while for Evap to pass.

Correct - I have multiple monitors not ready on my 14 TDI and it passes. I've used the gasser requirements to my advantage getting cars to pass that have some "issues". They guy that did my inspection had no idea how it passed either (I was completely expecting it to fail) but was pleasantly surprised that it passed. My 04 has the EGR deleted and the monitor was removed in the coding. It shows N/A instead of not ready. I had always assumed that was why it passed OK

 

[drucifer]

Gforce1108. How did you get the monitor removed in the coding? Please say rocketchip.

 

[gforce1108]

Gforce1108. How did you get the monitor removed in the coding? Please say rocketchip.

On the BEW it was rocketchip. Make sure you find the right rocketchip (he's hard to find). There's a fake rocketchip out there selling crap.

 

[drucifer]

On the BEW it was rocketchip. Make sure you find the right rocketchip (he's hard to find). There's a fake rocketchip out there selling crap.

That's what I wanted to hear as Jeff did the tune.