Personally I cannot believe we have no form of emission testing at all.
The current situation:
1. Private and fleet vehicles are serviced on an ad-hoc basis. Some
vehicles are never tuned. While most vehicles may be fine, there are many
vehicles that pollute rediculously.
2. The smoke coming from the worst cars, buses, and trucks is offensive
to say the least.
How testing could help:
3. Some vehicles are in need of servicing. It would be fair to say that
some of the owners of these vehicles are not aware (the exhaust hits the
windscreen behind them, not their own) or possibly do not care. They would
have to address the situation. The expense of this may be minimal, with
ignition, fuel system, etc. looked at. A lot of cheap diesel cars/4x4s seem
to belch smoke - is this their fuel filter? Some cars may only need their
air filter and spark plugs replaced.
4. There are some vehicles on the road that are in a terrible state, and
these cars may need scrapping or motor overhaul. Just like chronic rust
takes old vehicles off the road and knock their value, it is fair that
engine wear should too. I followed a 1980s Peugeot up Hobson Street
(Auckland) this evening and it was belching out what smelt like burning
engine oil. Is it fair that the owner of this car drives around poisoning
everyone?
Why cars, buses, and trucks are most important to test:
5. Cars, buses, and trucks drive everywhere in the country, with some
pumping out smoke into homes, work-places, restaurants, parks, etc. Boats
tend not to intrude so far into our lives, generally stopping at the
coast/wharf.
6. There are many, many more cars/buses/trucks than boats and planes.
7. When walking along footpaths or road sides, some cars/buses/trucks
blow their smoke right into your face, with great concentration. It would
be fair to say that people do not inhale the smoke of boats and planes in
such great concentrations, even if they are actually pumping out more of the
stuff.
For the record, I live in Auckland, work in the central city, drive an old
car (1967, Triumph), and ride my bike when it is not raining. To keep my
old car running well, I check most of the crucial parts often (timing, point
gaps, etc. - simple out-dated technology!). I also get it serviced
regularly by specialists, since my mechanics are much better and faster at
adjusting the carbueretor than I ever care to be. I often see 1980s cars
that seem to be running much worse than my car - which is reasonable given
they have probably covered a lot greater distance and with a lot less
servicing.
There seems to be a lot of support from people for testing to take place. I
have been in Bangkok, and would guess that nearly every kiwi would object to
the thought of us having to wear masks in our towns like they have to there.
Given the most-recent research conducted by the ARC suggests the worst 10%
of vehicles produce more than half of the pollutants, why should 90% of the
population have to put up with their crap?
Warrick.
Post by p***@purrpurr.comOn Sun, 07 Sep 2003 02:02:48 +0000, "Uncle StoatWarbler"
Post by Uncle StoatWarblerPost by p***@purrpurr.comMost older cars have emission problems, and all you can do real is to
dump the car, as the cost of a re bore etc makes it not worth it,
Modern card do not need tuning as what is being pushed, except to
replace the spark plugs.
US and UK tests have repeatedly shown that a well maintained 10-20 year
old car will produce fewer unwanted emissions than a 3-4 yo one with
catalyser which hasn't been tuned -p this is real world results from their
testing stations.
They still need tuning.
My 17 year old card HAS NO TUNING OPTIONS AT ALL..
I asked a Local mechanic friend and all he stated was to replace the Air
Filter and the Plugs..
Most garages to no have the computer tuning equipment that is used on some
high speced cars, you need to go to the franchised ones, and if you do not
like dealing with the one or two here, its tuf luck..
Post by Uncle StoatWarblerPost by p***@purrpurr.comDiesel is one of the worse polluters, so Auckland good by all your trains..
Diesel is clean if the fuel is clean. NZ fuel is so foul that most new
eurodiesels won't even run on it, meaing that we have to have old spec
engines (Similar to the situation with japanese engines prior to the
intriductions of unleaded fuel.)
Post by p***@purrpurr.comAnd NO MORE 2 Stokes, they are banned in some parts of the USA.
They're banned in California, mainly because of the pollution in Los
Angeles. If you've ever been there you'd understand why, especially if
you've flown in from Chicago over the Sierra Nevadas during daylight with
a window seat. The estimate 10
years ago was that 2 stroke mowers accounted for around 1/4 of the smog
haze there
Post by p***@purrpurr.comI do not think that this have even been given any thought at all, also
the US has lover emissions, is it because cars are not so old and their
petrol is better grade..?
Their fuel is mostly _lower_ octane than NZ.
Post by p***@purrpurr.comA knee jerk action by a bunch of useless idiots that does not have a clue.
That summarises your post perfectly. Emissions testing has been publicised
as being on the planning board for 10 years. IIRC it was slated to start
around 2004-2005 as far back as 1995.
And will that Include Busses. Train/Planes and Ships..??
These will pollute more than any millions of Family cars..
So why not get real and TEST THEM ALL.
Or is it because it so easy to pick on the Familay car..?
Post by Uncle StoatWarblerI take it for an encore you're going to rant about the restrictions on
import of LHD cars and our crashtest requirements?
Yes because they are using Jap standards and this will ban all EU cars..