You know - a government-sponsored monopoly...full of pinhead idiots that can't drive a stick unless they do it like they're playing Grand Theft Auto.
Wishful thinking 'round these parts, and too many Denver Metro-area counties are getting added to the list of unfortunates who have to partake of this farce.
Jim
www.yuccaman.com
Yeah - when I got my 88, I also got it from Sacramento - which meant it was SCII before Santa Clara County went SCII.
Which meant I had to go to the only place in SCC that did SCII. Bugger.
Which meant I had to pay a premium above and beyond SCII in the first place - I think it was $125 or so. Bugger.
I had the manager trying to tell me that I'd fail because "it was an older engine, so it probably has a lot of carbon built up in the chambers, which pushes up NOx."
I said, "Yeah, but it's a low-compression engine, and it's definitely at op temp, so that should not pose a problem. Besides, I cleaned all of the carbon out last week - it was due."
"Well, you'll probably have trouble with HC and CO because -"
"Buddy, unlike most Californians, I do maintain my vehicle. The EGR valve was cleaned, so that's no excuse. The fuel injectors are clean - I run four ounces of acetone to the tankful of fuel every quarter. The throttle body is clean, the chambers are clean - and the only reason the intake is clean is because California won't let me removed that damned EGR. Buddy, I've been doing mechanical work since I was six, I've been studying engine theory for the last fifteen years, and I probably know more about this than you do. You can stop anytime now."
The 'tech' stalled my clutch
on the dyno - and I didn't wait in the waiting area. I was busy reading him off from across the shop as I walked over.
Then, the 'tech' tried to fail me for "CEL/MIL Not Functional."
I pulled the FSM out of the back (I'd been through this before) marked at the page where the 1990 was "pre-OBD," and therefore the 88 - using the same control system - was also pre-OBD and therefore no CEL/MIL.
"So why do you have a window for it?"
"An oddity and a holdover. Before the 6-242 came around, the six-cylinder option was the GM V6-173 - which used the GM OBD-I electronics. The four-cylinder option did not, the Diesel did not, and the 6-242 did not - the 4-150 and 6-242 got OBD-I electronics starting in 1991, as you can see if you open that black book there." (1991 FSM.) "There's no lamp there - I keep it in place as a spare, but it won't even come on as a self-test, as you've probably already noticed.
"And I strongly suggest you learn to drive a manual. Stalling on the dyno is inexcusable, silly, and actually pretty damned difficult - and tells me you don't know what you're doing. If you've burned my clutch, I have your name - I'm going to come back and collect for the cost of replacement."
As I said, I do like the
idea of SC - it's useful information for tuning and engine efficiency, although not quite as good as pyrometer balance tuning. It's the
implementation that is stupid, and the factoid that you can get an 'advanced certificate' as a 'Smog Tech' (which requires about the intellect of Zimbu the monkey) is worrisome - I've seen those 'Smog Tech' courses, and very little engine operating theory, combustion theory, or petrochemistry (as it pertains to POL) is covered.
Without theory, practise is nothing. I don't let them work on my vehicles - they're little more than scatterguns for parts, and I'm not going to fork over for parts I don't need... I'd rather delete them, retune, and prove that I could run without them just fine (but CA sez no, and 49CFR sez no. Dammit...)
