Emissions testing to be introduced for WOF

[MrMelon]

" Cars will have to pass emission tests to get warrants of fitness from 2006, the Government announced today. "

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2677297a11,00.html

I know it says cars, but I'd assume they mean all vehicles that need a wof... *shrug* Well I hope it's just cars.

I don't see any 2 strokes passing this

[Lou Girardin]

An earlier report said that it would only apply to cars imported after a set date. Hopefully.
Lou

[Lou Girardin]

A correction. I've just seen the Herald, they're proposing emission testing all CARS from mid 2006 as part of the WOF test.
They don't say how strict the test will be though.
Lou

[Sharkey]

Good bloody job, I say. I am sick (literally?) of breathing stinky fumes from dunger cars.

[Motu]

Hey! how come I find out all the latest info on my bussiness on a motorcycle site!

It's gunna be a headache for sure - I gotta get a fancy machine,maintain it (02 sensor lasts about 70 to 90 tests,costs $450 to replace) guess whos paying for this - right....YOU!! seperate machine for diesels.

I hope they are sensable about it - the vehicle will have to comply with the standards of the day - the 1950 single spinner Ford I did today won't have to meet a 2003 emissions test.Bikes run very few emission doodads,so the test for these should be fairly mild - unless you bike was built to meet a standard,then it will have to comply the that.Gunna be fun eh?

Time to start pricing exhaust gas analisers - they were on special a couple of weeks ago - gosh...they have gone up $2000 in a week....how strange?

[SPman]

So that means all the bikes coming out with Cat converters will have to have them on when they go for warrants! And that includes more and more new sportbikes. One way of dealing with loud aftermarket pipes!

[Andrew]

Does that mean 2 stokes will be a thing of the past? If so I better hurry up and get my 150 sold already.

[MikeL]

Originally posted by Motu
guess whos paying for this - right....YOU!!

Seems to me every time I go to the local testing station (and I go pretty often, with 4 relatively old vehicles) the price has gone up. Usually $5 a time. Sounds like this could be a good excuse to whack it up even more horrendously.

I'm all for clean air but I resent paying for unnecessary testing. Surely the most serious pollution, quantitatively and qualitatively, is caused by poorly tuned diesel engines? Compared to the tonnes of filthy black diesel exhausts belched out daily, a few 2 stroke bikes and oil-burning cars are neither here nor there. And as car manufacturers produce cleaner engines in order to meet overseas emission standards, newer vehicles in this country will progressively contribute less general exhaust pollution anyway.
The sensible solution would be to require that all newly imported vehicles meet strict emission standards, while allowing existing petrol-engined vehicles to continue until they reach the end of their economic lives (a much shorter time period now than it was in the past), but to incorporate emission tests in WOF checks on all diesel vehicles.
Sounds too logical. There must be something wrong with my reasoning.

[Marmoot]

This has been suggested in my country before. A few times.

The final conclussion is always the same:
Must've been about the money. We don't agree. Keep it to big vehicles only.

So, in the end they just do it to big vehicles (trucks, buses), which are the real polluter.

[Motu]

Originally posted by MikeL
Seems to me every time I go to the local testing station (and I go pretty often, with 4 relatively old vehicles) the price has gone up. Usually $5 a time. Sounds like this could be a good excuse to whack it up even more horrendously.

I'm all for clean air but I resent paying for unnecessary testing. Surely the most serious pollution, quantitatively and qualitatively, is caused by poorly tuned diesel engines? Compared to the tonnes of filthy black diesel exhausts belched out daily, a few 2 stroke bikes and oil-burning cars are neither here nor there. And as car manufacturers produce cleaner engines in order to meet overseas emission standards, newer vehicles in this country will progressively contribute less general exhaust pollution anyway.
The sensible solution would be to require that all newly imported vehicles meet strict emission standards, while allowing existing petrol-engined vehicles to continue until they reach the end of their economic lives (a much shorter time period now than it was in the past), but to incorporate emission tests in WOF checks on all diesel vehicles.
Sounds too logical. There must be something wrong with my reasoning.

SEVEN years ago I went on a trade profitability seminar - they priced out a WoF test as an accountant would price any product - and came up with a figure of over $50!!!! I would say these days that $65 for a WoF would give a 20% profit.It's hard to compete in this game when certain ethnic groups are prepared to work for nothing just to take work from us Kiwis.Lots of hidden costs in a WoF...I'm gunna put mine up again,always the most expensive in my area!

You're right about the diesel vehicles...in a way.The modern car is computer controled and actualy we will find very few will be failing an emissions test,and as I said older vehicles will only have to pass the standards of their build date - unlless you get it VINed,then it has to comply with todays standard.So the smoky diesel is being used as a scapegoat to get emmission testing of ALL vehicles established.And a smoky diesel is normal - it's just what they do! it's just plain old carbon (and nasty things as well - but not as much as petrol) but they can

see it,so it's a target.Sure all those Jap import vans etc need some work,but the owners are too cheap to fix them,they need educating.Applying the rule to a registration date - like when the are first reg in NZ is the obvious way all right - older vehicles are fading away fast now.

[wkid_one]

question - are they going to test them under load or at idle??  Big difference here...a diesel towing a horse float shits a lot more smoke than at idle?

[Marmoot]

That's right, motu. Diesel emission is not as deadly as petrol emission, regardless whether the diesel vehicle expells 5 times more smoke than petrol.

But, the government loves propaganda image, dont they?
(although, they tend to forget that most of the smokeys are the stagecoachs buses)

[Motu]

Oh dear...another one who thinks diesels soon as emissions are mentioned.

Tests are usualy done at idle - thats when a petrol engine is at it's dirtiest,although there may be diferent methods brought in.A diesel test is an opacity test - like can you see through the smoke,done under a load,cause that's when they smoke.

[750Y]

what about off road recreation vehicles, lawnmowers & chainsaws, generators, tractors, jetskis, boats etc? what about industry,agriculture & populations polluting the waters with poisons? the clean up is gonna take a massive effort but one step at a time & we might get there. I don't mind the new laws. time to give back to the planet.

[gpercivl]

If they relieved even a little of the congestion on the roads in Auckland and Wellington during rush hours it would probably have a greater impact on the environment. Think... 5 mins to work faster x the number of cars on the road x every day of the week = a huge saving in fuel and resultant emissions.

Hard to put a lot of faith in government propaganda, I'd say they're just waving the flag to the Kyoto protocol...last month 'fart tax'...this month 'vehicle emissions'.