 Air Care News
April 2000
Use the emissions technical assistance
centers!
by Gary Cagle, Ph.D.
Does your repair facility need help diagnosing tough-to-repair
emissions failures?
One of the best kept diagnostic secrets along the Front Range is the
State of Colorado Emissions Technical Assistance Centers. They are staffed by some of the best
ASE-certified repair technicians in the United States and perform a number of valuable functions,
including:
 Answering
technical and I/M program-related phone calls (more than 40,000 calls in 1999!);
Providing one-on-one contact for
walk-in consumers and technicians;
Answering questions related to the
emissions testing process and procedures;
Performing vehicle diagnostic and
performance evaluations (more than 7,000 evaluations in 1999);
Supporting technical training
workshops.
If you decide to use one of the centers, come prepared. Before you
make arrangements to visit a tech center, you MUST perform a number of diagnostic tasks on the vehicle,
including:
1. Check for closed-loop operation. Make sure the computer has fuel
mixture control.
2. Check for oxygen sensor function. The oxygen sensor not only
provides an important piece of information to the computer for trimming fuel, it also has a major effect on
catalytic converter efficiency. Make sure you can verify lean/rich function (voltage sensor range) and
measure sensor response time with a digital storage oscilloscope (DSO).
3. Check for vehicle tampering. Determine what emissions control
devices are supposed to be on the vehicle. Make sure these systems have not been disconnected or rendered
inoperative. If they are broken, fix them! This will ensure that the vehicle has a better chance of passing
the emissions test.
NOTE: Another helpful piece of information is injector pulse
width. Pay special attention to what happens to the pulse width as the fuel control changes from rich to
lean or lean to rich.
Call for an appointment. The tech centers stay very busy and will
require you to make an appointment. You can make an appointment by calling one of the centers listed
below:
Denver/Broomfield Emissions Technical Center
 2450 W. 2nd Ave.
303-744-2442
Aurora Emissions Technical Center
15608 E. 18th Ave.
303-364-4135
Fort Collins Emissions Technical Center
429 N. College
Ave.
970-221-5324
Colorado Springs Emissions Technical Center
1430 S. Tejon St.
719-633-2333
Gary Cagle is with the Colorado Department of
Public Health & Environment, Air Pollution Control Division, Mobile Sources Section.
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The Emissions Clinic
scores big
by Christopher Dann
Dana Tepoel admits that the decaying old sign is a bit misleading.
"The Emissions Clinic - Colorado's Official
Gasoline and Diesel Station," it proclaims to drivers along North Sheridan Boulevard in Westminster.
That hasn't been true since New Year's Eve, 1994.
In this case, though, a little confusion has been a good thing. It
has helped Tepoel and his employees turn a struggling business threatened by a major change into a thriving
one that serves as a model for Denver-metropolitan area emissions repair facilities.
As proof, Tepoel points to The Emissions Clinic's
Repair Effectiveness Index, which has held steady in the mid-90's (98.0 out of
100 in the current Emissions Repair Guide). Tepoel and his staff have
maintained that high rating while reporting nearly twice as many repairs as any other
registered repair facility. When one considers that The Emissions Clinic's business until 1995 was
virtually all idle and diesel testing with only a few repairs sprinkled in, the achievement is even more
impressive.
"I bought the business in 1992. By 1994, we were averaging 92
emissions tests a day," Tepoel said.
"There were three or four people waiting in line all
day, every day. The testing business was lucrative."
Then came the enhanced inspection program January 1995. The new
system, utilizing I/M 240 technology, centralized testing at 15 Air Care
Colorado stations run by Envirotest Systems. Automotive facilities that had
performed tests to supplement their repair work or were test-only facilities watched in vain as their
business dried up overnight. Many closed up shop.
"One day we're doing 28,000 emissions tests a year. The next
day, nothing," Tepoel said. "It was more than like being cut off below the knees. It was
everything below the shoulders."
Tepoel, however, knew the day was coming when his testing business
would disappear. He and his employees planned for it.
"We're not reactive people. We're proactive people here,"
he said. "We had shop discussions about our future. We sent guys to school. We sent every technician
to the FIRST and EDGE classes. We learned how to repair I/M 240 failures. We
positioned ourselves to pursue the repairs that would happen because of this."
The transition was not an easy one.
"There was a lot of learning that first year," Tepoel said.
"It was a different way of thinking. But we were prepared. You're either on the team or you're not. We
decided to join the team, support it and go for it. Everyone pulled together."
And then there's the sign that greets motorists as they travel along
Sheridan Boulevard each day.
"A lot of confused people came in looking for a test (because of
the sign)," Tepoel conceded, reflecting on the early days of the enhanced program. "We explained
to them and all of the people who were customers in '94 what was happening. We handed them fliers we had
printed telling them how to get to a testing center. We were very helpful and got them through the process.
And we told them 'come back and see us if you fail your emissions test.' That's where the repair business
came from."
To some extent, it still does. On a typical weekday, the phone will
ring at The Emissions Clinic and on the other end will be a motorist who has seen the sign and wants and
emissions test. Tepoel and his staff explain the testing procedure, direct them to a station and plant the
seed for emissions-related repairs if the test results in a failure.
"A lot of people said I should change the sign," Tepoel
said. "But if that sign blew over, I'd stand it right back up."
Christopher Dann is the public information officer
for the Air Pollution Control Division at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
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Special handling needed to emission-test &
register kit cars
by Tom Myrsiades
Colorado does not have a lot of homemade vehicles, commonly referred
to as "kit cars," so it's no wonder people are confused about the
process required to obtain a Colorado title, registration and emissions inspection for one of these
vehicles.
Colorado's motor vehicle registration system is designed to deal with
factory-manufactured vehicles certified to be sold in the United States. Kit cars require special handling,
and there are several steps involved. The owner generally must deliver documents to the various agencies
involved in order to properly title and register the vehicle.
The first step an owner of a kit car must take when attempting to
license the vehicle is to make an appointment with the Colorado Department of Public Safety (CDPS). The
vehicle must be inspected by CDPS, issued a "road worthy" certificate and a Colorado ID Number
that will be used as the official vehicle identification number.
The owner then proceeds to their county motor vehicle registration
office to obtain a temporary license tag and to apply for a Colorado title.
The next step is to make an appointment with a Colorado Department of
Public Health and Environment Emissions Technical Center to have the vehicle's emissions certified and
documented using Form DR 2365, which indicates how the vehicle must be emissions inspected. The vehicle then
must pass an emissions inspection before returning to the county motor vehicle office for plates.
For example: If you have a kit car that resembles a 1950 MG, assembled
in Jan. 2000 at home using a 1969 Volkswagen chassis and drive train, it would be titled and registered as a
2000 model year home-built vehicle. If this vehicle were to be presented for emissions testing without the
DR 2365 form, it would be tested as a 2000 model year vehicle and be required to pass 2000 model year
standards with a dynamometer test.
However, the DR 2365 form will instruct the emissions station and
computer system to perform an idle test for a 1969 engine and issue a two-year emissions certificate.
For more detailed information, call the Colorado Department of
Revenue at 303-205-5603.
Tom Myrsiades is an Emissions Compliance Supervisor at the
Colorado Department of Revenue.
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