Bret
Yoda
Offline
Expecting the worst, because I’ve always had bad luck when taking my B in for emissions tests, usually failing the first go-round. Anyway I gritted my teeth and took my B down to the local State regulated “Smog Test Only” facility as mandated by the DMV because MGB (or at least mine is) are considered “High Emitter Profile” vehicle. I figured it wouldn’t pass because I couldn’t get my settings exactly where the manual said they should be.
All I can say is that I did all that I could do at this point – as I was well into the frustrating “grasping as straws” stage of trying to get the old gal in her sweet spot prior to the test. Throwing in the towel I decided to take her in and run the test to see what her numbers where, then I could take it down to a local MG specialist recommended by other members of the San Diego MG Club.
There I was waiting outside watching this stranger fiddling around with my car feeling helpless as her future was out of my hands. Twenty minutes later the tech backed the car out of the garage and parked her. I walked over to the car and the guy simply said “I’ll meet you at the counter with your paperwork”.
Walking up the counter he started filling out the paperwork and then handed me a copy to sing. Holding my breath I looked at the paperwork – Lord have mercy – She passed! Not with flying colors mind you - but at this point who cares. She passed.
Going over the emissions test results the worst part was the CO% @ 15MPH test where it measured 1.36%. The max allowable CO% is 1.43% Truth be told - I wonder if the tech didn’t make a mistake as the reading was 0.43 at 25MPH. Everything else – HC (PPM), NO (PPM) was way below the average emissions for passing vehicles.
Here is a copy of the test results for those of you who can understand & interpret it.
I find it kind of funny that the tech didn’t see my catalytic converter and marked it “NOT APPL”. Go figure.
Final thoughts: At the risk of sounding too cocky – I guess I should be a bit more positive about my abilities under the bonnet in the future.
All I can say is that I did all that I could do at this point – as I was well into the frustrating “grasping as straws” stage of trying to get the old gal in her sweet spot prior to the test. Throwing in the towel I decided to take her in and run the test to see what her numbers where, then I could take it down to a local MG specialist recommended by other members of the San Diego MG Club.
There I was waiting outside watching this stranger fiddling around with my car feeling helpless as her future was out of my hands. Twenty minutes later the tech backed the car out of the garage and parked her. I walked over to the car and the guy simply said “I’ll meet you at the counter with your paperwork”.
Walking up the counter he started filling out the paperwork and then handed me a copy to sing. Holding my breath I looked at the paperwork – Lord have mercy – She passed! Not with flying colors mind you - but at this point who cares. She passed.
Going over the emissions test results the worst part was the CO% @ 15MPH test where it measured 1.36%. The max allowable CO% is 1.43% Truth be told - I wonder if the tech didn’t make a mistake as the reading was 0.43 at 25MPH. Everything else – HC (PPM), NO (PPM) was way below the average emissions for passing vehicles.
Here is a copy of the test results for those of you who can understand & interpret it.
I find it kind of funny that the tech didn’t see my catalytic converter and marked it “NOT APPL”. Go figure.
Final thoughts: At the risk of sounding too cocky – I guess I should be a bit more positive about my abilities under the bonnet in the future.