Another reason to keep your antique car

[Guest 34ACD]

OK, the title to this thread is not too serious, but with this recession that never seems to get better, you never know...

The Hollywood Version: A lot of Hollywood movies and TV shows have a scene with the the guy whose life seems to be too much to bear, going into his garage, shutting the door and starting up his car. Sometimes he puts a garden hose into the tail pipe and sits in the car until it's over. It doesn't seem to take long either way. Autopsy Results: Victim died of carbon monoxide poisoning-- apparently a fairly painless way to go.

The Reality: Today I went down and smogged my 2003 Chevy Pickup with 100k miles on it. We have to do that in CA biennially for anything older than 1975. It's just an old work truck but I had to put new plugs in it anyway so I did that and then changed the oil before I went down to the smog station. When I got home I looked at the test results: ZERO detectable CO and hydrocarbon emissions at every RPM and load tested. Today's emission control technology seems to work pretty well.

So apparently, if you are a victim of the economy who decides to end it all, and you shut yourself up in a garage and start up your modern car in good running condition, you will find yourself still sitting there hours later, pissed-off and $80 of gas poorer.

It seems that Hollywood scene is a fiction unless you have the foresight to keep that antique car around.

[ply33]

Call me cautious, but I'm still not running a car engine in the garage without the garage door open.... Even for the wife's 2001 Prius where the internal combustion engine is off most of the time when it is stopped.

[Bleach]

It's probably the hydrocarbons that do you in.

[Guest]

The Reality: Today I went down and smogged my 2003 Chevy Pickup with 100k miles on it. We have to do that in CA biennially for anything older than 1975. It's just an old work truck but I had to put new plugs in it anyway so I did that and then changed the oil before I went down to the smog station. When I got home I looked at the test results: ZERO detectable CO and hydrocarbon emissions at every RPM and load tested. Today's emission control technology seems to work pretty well.

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Just a FYI, the law says anything older than 1976 is exempt from testing, but cars built with emission equipment before 1976 must still have and maintain the devises. Here is the rub. Your car is equipped with OBD2 which tells you when your car is out of compliance so the state is making you pay for something you don't need. Just the same you will still die of carbon monoxide poisoning in a closed garage.

D.

Edited November 5, 2011 by helfen (see edit history)

[Guest Jim_Edwards]

The Reality: Today I went down and smogged my 2003 Chevy Pickup with 100k miles on it. We have to do that in CA biennially for anything older than 1975. It's just an old work truck but I had to put new plugs in it anyway so I did that and then changed the oil before I went down to the smog station. When I got home I looked at the test results: ZERO detectable CO and hydrocarbon emissions at every RPM and load tested. Today's emission control technology seems to work pretty well.

__________________________________________________________________

Just a FYI, the law says anything older than 1976 is exempt from testing, but cars built with emission equipment before 1976 must still have and maintain the devises. Here is the rub. Your car is equipped with OBD2 which tells you when your car is out of compliance so the state is making you pay for something you don't need. Just the same you will still die of carbon monoxide poisoning in a closed garage.

D.

Unfortunately many car owners do not pay attention to when their vehicle tells them it needs attention which leaves no choice but for states to require the inspections and repairs if necessary. There are still people around who have the perception that all the emissions appliances on a vehicle are costing them in performance and even fuel economy.

[Bleach]

Unfortunately many car owners do not pay attention to when their vehicle tells them it needs attention which leaves no choice but for states to require the inspections and repairs if necessary. There are still people around who have the perception that all the emissions appliances on a vehicle are costing them in performance and even fuel economy.

The junk that was put on cars in the 70's did rob power and efficiency, especially the CA emissions components. Those cars so equipped had less power and delivered lower fuel economy than those equipped with fed emissions stuff. You can do a search on specs of CA emissions equipped vehicles and see what I'm talking about.

I used to get infuriated at the lack of engine choices that were offered on the new cars that were sold in CA at the time. They were usually only offered with automatics as well.

I'm glad that emissions equipment evolved to where they actually improved performance and fuel economy today.

[Guest]

Unfortunately many car owners do not pay attention to when their vehicle tells them it needs attention which leaves no choice but for states to require the inspections and repairs if necessary. There are still people around who have the perception that all the emissions appliances on a vehicle are costing them in performance and even fuel economy.

_________________________________________________________________

The one of the reasons OBD3 is having a hard time to pass is the manufacturers wanted a way a owner could not ignore a check engine light. Something like: "You have 500 miles to get this fixed warning and if you don't your car will not start". This is ample warning time, however the state government and garage owners do not like it cause they don't get their money from testing. It's all money folks! Nothing to do with emissions.

Don

[Guest Jim_Edwards]

_________________________________________________________________

The one of the reasons OBD3 is having a hard time to pass is the manufacturers wanted a way a owner could not ignore a check engine light. Something like: "You have 500 miles to get this fixed warning and if you don't your car will not start". This is ample warning time, however the state government and garage owners do not like it cause they don't get their money from testing. It's all money folks! Nothing to do with emissions.

Don

I would suspect the manufacturers want such a system because they know even with such warnings that people will simply trade off a car they suspect is going to cost them a small fortune to fix. Nothing the car makers would like more than seeing five year old cars headed to the cruncher. Which is another dimension to "its all about money."

[Jim Bollman]

Keeping your old, pre computer controlled, vehicles is a necessity so we have something to drive after the big ElectroMagnetic pulse (EMP) happens. For those that have not heard of EMPs you can google it. They can be caused by Nuclear events, non nuclear discharge and even by a bad sun spot. A sunspot event is possible next year.

The short description is it could bring down all/most computers and sensitive electronic equipment, this would include the controls for our power grid. Our old vehicles will be the only transportation you don't have to pedal.

[jeff_a]

34ACD,

Please be careful what you say. You are confusing passing an emissions test and whether anything toxic comes out of your tailpipe. TWO TOTALLY DIFFERENT THINGS.

If your Chevrolet passed the test, it doesn't mean that no carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, particulate matter and other combustion products came out of your engine (just that your carburetor, fuel injector, PCV valve, catalytic converter, etc. are adjusted correctly and allowable levels of certain substances are coming out). Lots of that comes out of your engine unless you have a 1910 electric car. Carbon monoxide will kill you dead as a door-nail.

I think it's safe to say that all smoke is toxic and don't run any gasoline engines in your garage.

Edited November 7, 2011 by jeff_a (see edit history)

[Shop Rat]

My mom's brother lost his first wife to an accidental exposure to carbon monoxide when she started the car with the garage door down, forgot something in the house and went back in to look for whatever it was that she forgot. She had left the garage door down and closed the door into the house so the fumes stayed in the garage. She was found by the rear of the car, her purse and gloves on the front seat.

A close friend lost her daughter to a suicide by carbon monoxide. Her daughter pulled her mom's truck into the garage and blocked the doors so that fumes wouldn't escape. She was only seventeen.

This hazard should not be taken lightly or made light of.