4 ms·
tragically, because of efficiency standards, modern engines are known to burn oil . Otherwise you may be smelling cars who have had the cats stolen.
by tonymet 9mo ago
tragically, because of efficiency standards, modern engines are known to burn oil .
Otherwise you may be smelling cars who have had the cats stolen.
- seanmcdirmid 9mo agoA lot of old cars also since new cars are so expensive.
- MBCook 9mo agoI think expense is basically the problem. Cost to replace the catalytic converter, cost for new exhaust pipes, cost to diagnose ignition timing problems. Whatever. If the car drives and you don’t have the money I can completely understand why someone wouldn’t get the problem fixed. Even if it means they’re burning a 1/3 of their fuel, that’s still less in the short term than the $1500 it may cost to fix it. It’s insanely rare I get the sense that the person is running really dirty on purpose. I don’t know what a realistic fairway to fix it is. They’re probably isn’t one. I don’t think fines would work, it would probably just make things worse. Seems like the kind of thing where a little government group to find the worst 0.1% of cars on the road and just get them back to reasonable levels would be a huge help. But that’s not how we do things.
- rblatz 9mo agoSome states handle this by requiring cars over a certain age to be emission checked before you can renew its registration. Failing cars have to be fixed and rechecked before you can get your tags.
- seanmcdirmid 9mo agoI think they stop checking cars after a certain year. Like, if you are driving a 1980 Buick, they won’t make you scrap it because it’s emission tech is way out of date.
- realityking 9mo agoI can only speak about Germany. Here the technical safety and exhaust check are mandatory every two years. The exhaust check is relative to what the manufacturer specified when they first started selling the car. No one is getting their car taken away because technology improved but you can‘t let your car degrade (or modify it) so it becomes more dirty.
- formerly_proven 9mo agoOldtimers are still excluded from all emissions checks.
- MBCook 9mo agoI live in one of the US states with no emissions checks at all. Well that’s not strictly true. If you move into the state you have to get one emissions check to get your car licensed. After that, or if you buy the car in the state, no checks for you.
- SoftTalker 9mo agoYep. My newest car is over 20 years old. May be a bit more polluting (though it doesn't smell or smoke) but I've in theory saved the environmental impact of the manufacture of one or two new cars by keeping the old one. I'm not spending $30-40k or more on a car. That just isn't going to happen.
- tonymet 9mo ago2005-ish cars were more reliable and had better emissions profiles compared to cars today. Yes cars today are more advanced ,but less reliable, so their emissions overall are worse.
- MBCook 9mo agoStolen cars, exhaust leaks before the cat, incomplete combustion so bad the cat can’t cover it up. I assume it’s stuff like that. It’s not whatever tiny bit of oil gets burned in a healthy engine.
- SoftTalker 9mo agoIncomplete combustion will ruin a cat. That's not its purpose, it's there to reduce NOx emissions.
- Der_Einzige 9mo agoA lot of Americans take their cat off on purpose for louder noises. Additionally, a lot of conservatives love to "Roll coal", and literally will shit up the environment on purpose just because they feel schadenfreude from pissing of an environmentalist.
- MBCook 9mo agoI’ve run into a few of those. They’re generally pretty obvious. Usually a big truck, lots of MAGA & adjacent bumper stickers. I haven’t noticed people removing the catalytic converters just for noise. The rare time I see a car that wants to be loud it usually just seems to be the exhaust end they changed, or maybe removed the muffler. The kind of stuff I’m complaining about mostly seems to be older cars, or those in poor mechanical shape. Cases where the people probably just don’t have the money to fix it.
- Aurornis 9mo ago> A lot of Americans take their cat off on purpose for louder noises. Some people remove catalytic converters when they install a performance exhaust. Nobody is doing it for louder noises because the muffler portion is what dampens the sound. Also I wouldn’t say it’s “a lot of Americans”. We have emissions inspections in most major cities and your car won’t pass if you remove the catalytic converter. They can now detect modified ECUs, too. Someone would have to be so determined to do this that they’d swap the exhaust in and out every time they had to do emissions inspections.
- Der_Einzige 9mo agoI know a LOT of people personally who swap their exhaust in and out just for emissions inspections. That's the meta.
- pvab3 9mo agoa lot of people have custom exhausts, particularly catback systems that don't affect emissions. A lot of people are definitely not rolling coal.