Emission Sniffing Vans in NOVA
 

Just an FYI to all you folks out there running catless, I encountered an emission sniffing van on the I-95 North onramp from 123 on the way in to the office this morning.

'excuse me sir, did you have taco bell last night?'

gross. I hate those things.

What is an emission sniffing van and why should I be worried about it? What about people with HFC's, will they be an issue as well? I don't have one yet but will get one eventually.

Emission sniffing van? WTF :confused:

First time I hear of such a thing like that. The Republic of VA or MD must be getting worst by the minute. :shakes head:

Its a moble emissions testing center. Basically they set up at an acceleration point on a highway onramp and have some gas sensors and cameras. As your car passes through the setup it measures a sample of the gasses your car is releasing and if you are putting out too much bad stuff (I.e. test pipe cars) they snap a pic and then im not sure if they send you a ticket or require you to go to a testing center.

HFC cars should be ok, not 100% sure. Test pipe cars will fail. You can try to get around them by just coasting by at idle... preferably at a high enough speed that you don't give them a good sample.

I know Texas has them in areas, but they are pretty rare. This is the first one I have seen in VA.

How can you identify the vans? Do they have something written on them or do they just look like regular vans?

man next thing you know Pennsylvania will setup mobile window peeking vans to see if people masterbate.. cus thats actually illegal in PA...

everyone should move to Alaska. Sarah Palin said its a free State still.

wow this sucks... also i have test pipes installed :S.

Sarah Palin

:bowrofl: :roflpuke2: :bowrofl: :roflpuke2: :bowrofl: :roflpuke2:

From a Google search:

http://www.deq.state.va.us/regulatio...otesensing.pdf

VAtuners.com • View topic - VA emissions white vans detector

Tony, the only good thing is that ZdayZ is under 100 days!!! :tup:

:excited: Yes, that is very true! :tup:

You'll know. They are white VDOT vans with equipment set up on both sides of the ramp. Usually there are some of the orange safety signs as you approach.

Here's an example of what a mobile setup might look like:

http://www.environmentviews.com/wp-c...-Van-Lovel.jpg

BTW, I think most states that do emissions testing have these vans, they are just put to rather limited use. This is the first time I've encountered one in VA, and I've been driving here for almost 10 years.

never seen one in the People's Republic...

Bastards.

Hated that sight when running the s2k (very rich with TPs).

Ever get a ticket for it?

Yeah, I got a couple, but they didn't show up until after I had sold it, so I didn't have to pay.

Slow mail ftw!:tiphat:

How much were the tickets?

I think I was supposed to get the car inspected based on the first one, second one was for $2,300, with the opportunity to rise to $25,000 if they determined I had personally removed the cats.

Based on talking to one friend who got the ticket, they try to slap you with the bigger ticket if you don't narc the shop who installed them, and you can wind up screwed if you installed them yourself.

I just told them that I sold the car when I knew it was out of compliance, and since it went to Canada they didn't pursue it.

Holy crap. I remember when I got stopped a while back for an off-road X pipe I was warned that I could face a $10,000 fine but that was back in 2005. They are getting serious!

That's insane! :eek: I hope all goes well with my future HFC's.

:icon18: Let's not forget my little incident at the dealer that I purchased The Smurf from. HFC's = $10,000 fine......and they told me to never come back.....that was a fun experience. :icon14:

How does an after market CBE fare against the emission van? I think I will stay out of VA once I get all these performance mods. ;)

A cat-back does nothing to impact the emissions system. You only risk failing a sniffer test if you install HFCs (they will probably pass) or Test Pipes / Cat-Delete (definite fail).

Why do you think that I cannot wait to get the hell out this state? :mad:

I said it in another thread and I'll say it again here, thank god I don't live in Va anymore. Those fines are insane, just another way for the state to fleece you of your hard earned $$.

You guys need to make a rotating license plate thingy like James Bond had on his cars in the old movies where it can switch say up to 4 different plates at the touch of a button.

Well, I agree that VA is pretty harsh, but in all honesty I don't really find much to argue against the emissions stuff. I think HFCs should be legal but IMO no one really has any business running test pipes on a street driven car. That's just me, though.

The Texas ones really do not write tickets, especially since I have gone through a few with my LTH/exhaust (and one with the SC on) and down-shift floor it and have yet to receive anything.
Texas uses them to determine air quality with traffic and research. Main reason I know this is because they have all the equipment setup for air testing yet no cameras around or video recording equipment.

Ah nice. Thanks for the info. :tup:

More digging it seems Texas has a similar system in they will ticket you but no info online about anyone actually being given a ticket.
Also, our rule states: identified as a 'gross polluter' will receive a notice, which could mean anything to nothing. I run catless with a fairly open exhaust and nothing, I know many who run LTHs to short exhaust cut in front of the wheels off of V8s and nothing.

I guess we will just have to agree to disagree then. :tup:

I still floor it when I get next to a Prius so I'm not that much of a hippie. :icon17:

Good man. :tup:

The tickets actually are issued on a federal level, rather than a state level. Mine came from the EPA.

Yep. The officer said I could face up to a $10,000 Federal fine if I didn't put the stockers back on.