Georgia emissions problem. Anyone have any experience in this state?

[hairball29]

Hi, all

 

I'm having some problems getting my 2005 Caterham registered in Georgia because of emissions. I wonder if anyone who's been through something like this would mind sharing their wisdom?

 

Initially i tied to get the emissions done as i would any normal vehicle, but the examiner wanted no part of this strange car and told me to contact the Georgia clean air force and apply for a kit car exemption. I did that after titling the car and sending in evidence that it is a kit car. A few days later someone else from the GCAF contacted me and told me that that is not the case, and that the car must be tested like any other normal car - no kit car exemptions after 1997ish

 

The biggest issue is that the rule says the car must have all emissions equipment that the car it's based on has. in this case, that would be a 2004 Focus because it has the 2.0L Ford SVT motor in it. So far, so good because it has the ODB port, Cats, O2 sensors, just as it was built. (It does have 2 codes about the evap system, but that's another item i need to repair)

 

The biggest issue so far is that the clean air guys are saying that the original emissions gear includes a check engine light (MIL) which as far as i know, the car does not have. So far, it seems that this is going to mean i cannot get emissions, which means i cannot register it in my part of Georgia. There are 3 lights on the speedo or tach. one is main beam, one blinkers. I haven't seen the 3rd light up, so i don't know if it's the MIL

 

I was surprised that this was the case since I expect the car is 50 state emissions compliant. I know they're sold in California and that state is surely more strict than Ga.

 

Does anyone know if there's anything like an MIL on the car so i can check that box with them? Or perhaps there's some way to retrofit one? I know it all sounds like craziness, and i cannot agree more, but these are the obstacles they're giving me right now.

 

Thanks in advance.

Edited September 15, 2017 by hairball29

[coffee break]

PM sent

[hairball29]

Thanks,

 

i did do a bit more reading on this forum. This thread gives some good advice. I spoke to a tester and he says that since it's a post-96 car, it should have a MIL to have been legally sold in the US

 

http://www.usa7s.net/vb/showthread.php?4343-ODB-II-confusion-(codes-and-other-questions)&highlight=check+engine+light

[1turbofocus]

Adding a MIL/CEL wouldnt be that hard to do and wouldnt require it to be a special light , simply get a pinout of the wiring , find what pin the MIL is and connect a wire and run it to a small light and ground it , done

 

As for the codes you do have I can turn those with my custom tune and greatly improve the Performance of your SVT engine

 

Tom

[hairball29]

Thanks, 1turbofocus

 

That's interesting, thanks for coming back to me. I might be interested in that. It might save me a lot of messing about if i can't get exemption from the GA clean air force.

[hairball29]

So just an update for anyone interested now or in the future. I met with a GA clean air force guy who was very helpful and confident that i'd be able get an exemption for this unusual car and all looked on the up! Until today when he said that that won't happen, and that I have to get the car repaired, and by repaired he means modified since there's nothing wrong with it. Any by modified, he means it has to have the codes removed from the ECU and a MIL physically installed so that it lights up on ignition, or with any DTCs

 

Advice to anyone thinking of getting a post 1996 registered Caterham in one of the 13 emissions counties in GA; change one of those factors. Get one that's registered as an old Lotus7, register it somewhere outside of the 13 counties, out of state, or find someone talented at car electronics to nix the codes, make it test-ready and add the idiot-light to the dash.

 

Right now I'm getting very low on ideas. I think I will have to register it (and pay more tax) in NC to get around this. They allow a car stored in NC to be registered there if you have a house, or a contract showing you're renting a space, garage or similar.

[1turbofocus]

NC isnt much easier , they also test OBDII but not sure about what year it has to be

 

When you say " have the codes removed from the ECU " This is easy , does it still have to pass the " Readiness " code test through the OBDII port or does it just have to have NO codes showing when plugged into the OBDII port ? This is very important because it means 2 different things

 

Find this out from an inspection place and we can go from there

 

Tom

[hairball29]

I spoke again with the GCAF (Ga. Clean Air Force) guy. He said he believes one system on the car can be 'not ready' and it will still pass. I also spoke to a mechanic who thought the same. He's going to see the car today so I should have some more information in a couple of days.