The entrance ramp onto westbound 635 from the frontage road between Macarther and Beltline has a sniffer station setup there this morning. I assume citations are being issued as there is a camera setup on a tripod as well. This would be the ramp directly across 635 from the Cheddar's parking lot; you can't miss the white van parked there.

 

Is that what those things are? How can they "sniff" your emissions from the side of the road as you are accelerating onto the entrance ramp?

 

They had those when I lived in St Louis. I didn't know they could issue citations though, I thought it was just a monitoring thing.

 

Guess the only answer is to stop in front of the sniffer, rev to redline, then drive off casually.

 

Or coast by casually at idle.

 

They have been doing that for years in the Houston area. I got popped sometime around 2000 or 2001 at an on ramp. They sent me a notice in the mail.

At the time, the county I lived in wasn't even doing emissions testing but since I lived in a county that was surrounding - I had to bring my car to a station in the Houston area to have it emission tested. I took it to the same guy that "inspected" it the first time and he gave me a thumbs up and it got the law off my back. Understand its not a county violation - its a State Violation and those guys can be real ******* when it comes to emissions. They threatened to not allow me to register my car and all kinds of BS.

Anyhoo - its a big pain in the ***. If you see one of the vans, I suggest you avoid it or turn off your engine and coast through or anything you can think of. It was SUCH a pain to get the State of Texas off my butt.

 

I'm not trying to argue the purpose, but the accuracy. I've seen the sniffers pointed outward toward the lane, but how can it measure your emissions while you are flying by the van? Wouldn't weather conditions, e.g. mainly wind, really screw up the accuracy of the readings? Isn't that why when you get your car inspected they stick the sniffer INSIDE the tail pipe? I have never heard of this and I'm really curious now to their methodology.

 

Well in truth they really aren't that accurate. What they are looking for are the "high emitters" of CO and HC.

That is why if you are "dirty" enough to set of the meter when your in motion you get a letter telling you have to go to an emissions inspection station to be thoroughly tested as in 7dust's case.

 

^^^ Right on.

Its not like they send you a ticket... they just send a notice that you are on their radar and they want to get up in your business.

I just had to get "tested"at an emissions station and when I came up clean they dismissed the case.

All they are doing is shooting a laser beam across the road to a mirror and reading your emissions plume.

 

They were common is SW Houston a couple of years ago, but have not seen one lately.
I speed up then coast through with the engine off. Some have had vans attached to them by wires instead of being a stand alone units.

A friend told me that he once drove around the backside of one across the wires and the operators came out running and yelling at him. What is funny, he was in a new totally stock car.

 

Ahhhh, so this would probably be to detect the serious violators then, yes? I imagine the biggest reason is to catch the folks with cars that bellow out a huge smog cloud behind them as they accelerate... perhaps the reason they place it on the entrance ramp?

 

... and violaters from adjacent counties.

 

Great info, thanks. Learn something new everyday. I have seen them around but I also thought they were also just monitoring pollution not individual cars.

 

O I LOVE THOWS STATIONS, In my 7.3L Ford diesel, I know i F**K them up when i turn on the smoke setting and blind there stuff in black smoke.

Sometimes i turn around just to go thru them.

 

I didn't know what those vans where and I backfired as I went past one.




My letter is probably already in the mail...

 

Last time I saw one of those, I purposely down-shifted and redlined... because my '79 is exempt. Two middle fingers in the air, baby!

Mind you, I did discover a little while back, when the oil seals finally went in my 12A, that you loving neighbors and fellow Texas can report you as a gross polluter, and the State will send you a letter and for for you to fill out concerning why you where belching smoke and what you've done about it. Apparently someone kindly did so when I was trying to limp my one-rotor wonder home.

 

Yeah unless your car is practically a gross polluter already you shouldn't have any issue with these. I drive by these all the time in my catless Subaru with zero issues. Their main purpose is to identify polluters from surrounding counties that do not test emissions and get them to become complaint since they have activity in a emission controlled county.

 

Speaking of this... I am in need of some stock cats if anyone has any. I am at a disadvantage being new to the area so any help or a point in the right direction would be tremendously appreciated.

I need this ASAP as my car came from out of state and I need to get it registered this month.

thanks

 

I'll take it you mean for a FD?

 

I"m an idiot sorry. Yes. I drove an FC for years, and I still can't remember to specify chassis. I need help with an FD.

 

Hrm. Never had a problem with one of those before. I backfired on one and didn't get anything. Drove past it again the same day with an open exhaust and got nothing.

 

slightly off topic, my 85 gsl-se apparently isnt exempt yet... I am used to non emissions counties so now that I am in Dallas everyone is all 'Gestapo' about sniffer tests. Anybody have any 'suggestions, please pm me. THANKS!

 

Texas better not get as **** as California or I'm moving.

 

Damon, will you be at Pennington Sunday?

 

yeah, it's 25 years to exempt in TX. So my 84 is gravy now baby

I saw one coming back from HIN in Austin when I was going through FtW, so I shot some flame as I went through it, I wonder what reading they got from it!

:P