October 2002

See Centerspread Insert for ESP and SPX Analyzer Bar Codes

Inspection Update A Publication of the Massachusetts Enhanced Emissions and Safety Test Program Volume 3, Issue 3, October 2002

Full OBD II Testing In Sight The Enhanced Emissions & Safety Test program is nearing the end of the phase-in period for the OBD II Check. As this edition of Inspection Update went to press, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) was reviewing public comments received on new regulations that will provide the authority for full implementation of OBD II emissions testing for all 1996-and-newer vehicles.

New Bar-Coded Licenses Simplify Inspector’s Work Massachusetts inspectors renewing their inspector license or applying for an inspector license for the first time will receive NEW Enhanced Safety/Emissions Inspector photo licenses. The Registry of Motor Vehicles began mailing out the photo IDs in August. The NEW Enhanced Safety/Emissions Inspector License contains a two-dimensional (2D) bar code on the reverse side, which will allow inspectors to scan their inspector ID number into the workstation instead of manually typing in their inspector ID number. The blue insert (centerspread) contained in this edition of Inspection Update explains the simple, step-by-step procedure to upgrade the workstation bar code software to read the 2D bar code. Please note that ESP and SPX workstations use different bar codes: On one side of the flyer is the procedure for updating ESP workstations, and on the other side is the procedure for updating SPX workstations. Instructions for scanning in the software upgrade bar codes can be found at the top of each page. If you have any questions on this procedure, please call the Station Support Hotline at 877-297-5552. Once this scanner upgrade procedure is completed, the workstation scanner will read the 2D bar code on the back side of the new inspector license, eliminating the need to manually input inspector ID numbers for each inspection, and making every inspection faster and easier. ■

DEP will consider feedback and suggestions before finalizing the new regulations and submitting them to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a revision to the Massachusetts State Implementation Plan. The full launch of OBD II Check is targeted for the beginning of 2003, according to Mark Wert, DEP program manager of the enhanced program. The move is expected to be a boon both to inspection facilities and consumers alike because OBD II provides a faster and more detailed look at engine performance, continued on page 5

INSIDE Tech Makes Training A Priority for Life ............. Page 2 Specialty of the House: Direct-Fit Pipes, Cats ...... Page 4 OBD II Discussion Filled with Insights ..... Pages 6-7

‘World Class Technician’ Amazes Teachers While Earning 38 Certificates from ASE Bill Smits sent an e-mail to his teacher, updating him on OBD II diagnostics for heavy-duty diesel. That was at 1:15 a.m.

is a part-time mechanic at Park Street Auto in Stoughton. “The only way to keep up with it is through education. I just decided a long time ago that if I’m going to be in this trade, I have to take it seriously.”

While the rest of us were sleeping, Smits was scouring the Internet for any bit of industry information he could squeeze into his brain that wasn’t already there.

A long time ago was in 1965, when Smits graduated from Newton North High School’s vocational school with a concentration in electronics. For the next 14 years, Smits put his electronics training to good use, working for television repair shops and a microwave company. Like many auto mechanics, Smits got started in the trade out of necessity by repairing his own car.

While the rest of us rent videos like “Star Wars: Attack of the Clones,” Smits rents “Engine Performance Testing and Lab Scope Diagnostics.” While we’re watching Monday Night Football, Smits is sitting in a classroom at Massachusetts Bay Community College’s Technology Center in Ashland. Though there aren’t any official statistics that prove this, Smits may be one of the most well-trained technicians in Massachusetts. In a 34-year career, Smits has earned 38 ASE certifications. A registered repair technician and inspector, Smits has completed training programs in dozens of classes at Mass Bay, Massasoit Community College, the Automotive Career Development Center, and CAS of New England. He estimates that he has spent thousands of dollars in training classes, videotapes, and magazine subscriptions so that he won’t fall behind. “The guy is just amazing,” said Chuck Pearson, one of Smits’ instructors at Mass Bay, who has been teaching for some 15 years. “I have never seen anyone like him.

Bill Smits Taking His Trade Seriously

Without a doubt, I would say that as a technician, he is in the top 10 percent in our industry. He spends every spare hour he has learning something new about our business. That’s his life and he’s very good at it.” Why? “Things are changing so fast in the automotive industry that if you don’t pay attention, it’ll all pass you by,” said Smits, 55, foreman of the City of Newton’s automotive department, where he oversees a team of 15 mechanics responsible for a fleet of several hundred vehicles. He also

Inspection Update is published quarterly and distributed to the automotive service and repair industry in Massachusetts by the Department of Environmental Protection and the Registry of Motor Vehicles, in association with Agbar Technologies, Inc. Our mission is to help foster the success of the enhanced vehicle inspection and maintenance program by providing news and useful information to vehicle inspectors and repair technicians in a timely fashion. We also want to facilitate the sharing of helpful information among people within the industry. Toward that end, we encourage our readers to contact us with their suggestions, observations and constructive criticism. Ideas that would benefit the industry as a whole will be presented in subsequent editions of Inspection Update, as space allows. To register your comments, please e-mail or phone: John Hahesy The Minahan Companies 617-451-8600 [email protected] The Vehicle Maintenance Initiative Committee (VMI), composed entirely of volunteers from the repair industry, serves as Inspection Update’s editorial advisory board. William Cahill, of B.C. Auto Repair, Randolph, is chair of the VMI Committee.

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In 1979, he went to work in the city garage as a mechanic. Shortly thereafter, the City was offering salary incentives for certified mechanics. “They were offering an extra $1 per hour,” Smits remembered, chuckling. “I couldn’t pass it up.”

“The way I look at it is, this is our career. Do you want to become a dinosaur? If not, education is the way to go.” One bit of success led to another. “I kept taking tests and passing them,” Smits said. “So, I said to myself, ‘Why not take more?’ I was learning a lot and was making more money.” By 1982, Smits had passed all 16 ASE certification tests and had earned the distinction of “World Class Technician,” a rarity among peers in the industry and almost unheard of for municipal mechanics. It was only the beginning. “I was keeping up with the tests but not the training,” Smits said. “The technology was changing so quickly that by 1995 I was a dinosaur.” When Smits discovered that Massachusetts would pay for state-sponsored classes, he was motivated. He signed up for a FIRST and EDGE class at Massasoit and, after completing the course, he was hooked. “The stuff (training) was so available, I felt that if you didn’t jump on it, it would be a real loss.”

Bill Smits continued from page 2

Shortly thereafter, Smits became a Massachusetts registered repair technician. “I didn’t feel like a grease monkey anymore,” Smits said. “That’s the big problem with mechanics today. Their whole perspective has changed. There is so much to know and so much to learn that you feel it’s impossible to keep up. Or they feel they don’t need it because it’s not their specialty. But they will go by the wayside if they don’t keep up. These classes have helped me learn the system.” These days, Smits will take one class that usually requires a month of his time, then he’ll skip three months before taking another. “You wouldn’t believe this guy,” said Pearson, a Mass Bay instructor. “It’s a fourhour class and he always shows up 25 minutes before class to pick our brains. The instructors all know by now that when Bill gets here, we better have something new for him.” Pearson said Smits’ presence has had a dramatic effect on the way he and other instructors teach their classes. “All of the other students in the class are showing up early because they know Bill’s going to be there early, and they don’t want to miss anything,” said Pearson. “When we introduce a new tool or skill, we all take bets on how many days it will take Billy to improve upon it. He sits right up in the front row and gives an objective opinion on everything. And the interaction he sparks among the students is phenomenal. We get full attendance for every class. Then, when they leave, they start e-mailing each other with ideas and opinions. It’s very exciting.” Smits recalls countless times when his training has rescued him from sinking into quagmires of difficult vehicle problems. “As far as a single vehicle, I don’t know where to begin,” he said. “I never would have been able to diagnose a catalytic converter failure or even know if it was good or bad and I was not aware of the laws involved with changing one,” said Smits. If not for the training, Smits said he would not know “what a good fuel injector scope pattern was or what an oxygen sensor was supposed to do or look like on a scope or how valuable a scope was without the FIRST and EDGE training that the state provided. I found carbon and injector cleaning very helpful. I never took it seriously until they mentioned it at class. Wow, what a difference.”

New Registered Repair Techs The following automotive repair technicians passed certification tests and became registered repairers during the period June 1, 2002 – September 9, 2002 William Blum, Jr., Atkinson, NH

Eric Hockenberry, Westfield

Joseph Capobianco, West Billerica

Henryk Kiczko, Wilbraham

Robert Carew, East Wareham

Adam Kinsley, Agawam

Greg Chicoine, Uxbridge

Charles Lacross, Dennis

John Collins, Cambridge

Bryan Lacross, Harwich

Peter Costanza, Holyoke

Richard Larivee, West Springfield

Michael D’entremont, Lynn

Dante Riggio, Medford

Joseph Debettencourt, Oak Bluffs

Carmelo Scuderi, Russell

Todd Dextraze, Florence

Charles Welsh, New Bedford

Michael Fleet, Swansea

Paul Whitman, Waltham

Michael Goulart, Jr., Plymouth

Wilson Wright, Jr., Stockbridge

Five Massachusetts Schools Now Offering Automotive Technician Training, Certification The following schools are currently offering automotive technician training and certification: ADVANCED TECHNICAL TRAINING, 20 Johnson Road, Chicopee, MA 01039, 413-268-8337. Contact: Mark Oliver. AUTOMOTIVE CAREER DEVELOPMENT CENTER (ACDC), 19 Wells Street, Worcester, MA 01604, 800-939-7909. Contact: Craig Van Batenburg. DIMAN REGIONAL VOCATIONAL TECHNICAL SCHOOL, 257 Stonehaven Road, Fall River, MA 02723, 781-239-2702. Contact: Howard Ferris. MASS BAY COMMUNITY COLLEGE TECHNOLOGY CENTER, 250 Eliot Street, Ashland, MA 01721 781-239-3048. Contact: Howard Ferris. MT. WACHUSETT COMMUNITY COLLEGE, 444 Green Street, Gardner, MA 01440, 978-632-6600. Contact: Peter Kaufmann.

While Smits has considered teaching or opening his own garage, he said for now he is content with the Newton job and his part-time work in Stoughton, while looking for his next class. In the meantime, he passes along these thoughts: “My advice to any mechanic getting into this field, or any technician staying in the trade, is to stay on top by very aggressively seeking out as much knowledge as you can.” Appreciating that the time commitment for keeping pace with changes in the industry can be considerable, Smits suggests

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that mechanics and technicians find appropriate courses that fit their schedules. “The way I look at it is, this is our career,” said Smits. “Do you want to become a dinosaur? If not, education is the way to go.” ■

Web Page Don’t forget to keep an eye on our Web site for new program information. www.mass.gov/vehicletest

New Bedford Company Booms by Making Direct-Fit Pipes and Catalytic Converters

In 15 years, Davico Manufacturing has grown to become one of the nation’s leading providers of direct-fit pipes and catalytic converters. Ray Surprenant (center), Davico’s general manager, meets on the factory floor with Mark Pacheco (left), floor manager, and Bob Hamel, production manager.

Davico Manufacturing, a New Bedford-based company, produces 575 kinds of direct fitting catalytic converters and 250 kinds of front pipes. Their niche is providing direct-fit and special order aftermarket catalytic converters for when OEM (original equipment manufacturer) cats are either not available or too costly. All aftermarket cats are not the same, and this is an important distinction; Davico's direct-fits and special orders offer a much better option to the universal or generic aftermarket cat. “Davico specializes in odd pipe shapes,” said Raymond Surprenant, the company’s general manager. “We emphasize high quality and fast delivery.” Davico does not retail its products; it relies instead on manufacturers’ representatives to market its vast array of direct-fit pipes and cats to auto parts stores. “We’ll make special order direct-fit cats the same day they are requested and have them shipped the next day for overnight delivery, “ Surprenant said. “That means the repairer will have the product in his hands within 48 hours of it being ordered.” One customer needed a cat for his 1987 Alpha Romeo. The Italian manufacturer was not sure when the part would be available and questioned the shipping time to the United States. Davico was able to have a special order direct-fit in his hands in three days time. Along with the quality and dependability of a Davico direct-fit cat, Surprenant promises another benefit: good price. “Generally,

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our cats are three to four times less expensive than those supplied by vehicle manufacturers,” he said. The advent three years ago of the Enhanced Emissions & Safety Test program raised the stakes for consumers and repairers faced with the need to replace a catalytic converter. It might be easier to put in a universal after-market cat, but doing so now, you risk emissions-control performance that is too low to pass the enhanced test. Bert Cox, a former repair shop owner-operator and current chief of vehicle programs for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, stated that, if a repairer is going to use an after-market cat, the repairer “should go with a direct fit from a quality manufacturer.” A product configuration that “differs even slightly from OEM (original equipment manufacturer) could result in less-than-desired emissions control,” Cox warned. “Considering the high cost of buying and installing a new cat, and the requirement to pass the enhanced emissions test, it makes the most sense to use an OEM or direct-fit.” “All Davico products,” Surprenant pointed out, “are truly direct fit. Our fabrication is all computer-controlled and, therefore, exceptionally reliable. We follow the Clean Air Act to the letter of the law in that we meet OEM configurations on all pipes and placements, (such as oxygen sensors). And we now have more people dedicated to making special order direct fits than anybody else in the business.”

There are three main characteristics of a direct-fit cat, according to Surprenant. “First, it must be sized precisely to the engine. Second, it must have the right flow (of exhaust). Third, the cat itself must have the right substrate, that is, inner materials that meet the performance criteria for aftermarket converters. In accord with federal law, Davico provides a two-year/25,000mile warranty. It gladly accepts, and replaces, all returned products with warranty documentation. Davico recently took a close look at a large number of “returned products” cases, interviewing its retailers and repair technicians in depth. Interestingly, the company found that, in 70 percent of the cases where a cat had been sent back and replaced, the root cause of the emissions failure had not been properly diagnosed and corrected the first time. “If you don’t address the root cause – anti-freeze in the exhaust, for example, or a rich fuel mixture, or a misfire — the new cat will fail, and fail, perhaps, in rapid order,” Surprenant explained.

The direct-fit flange (left) made by Davico is a much finer part than the universal flange (right) that could be used in its stead.

“New cats are so good,” Cox concurred, “that they’ll cover up a problem … for a while.”

Davico has been in business for 15 years, growing steadily. In each of the last three years, it has enjoyed a 20 percent increase in sales. Davico sprang from another business founded years ago at 475 Church Street, New Bedford, (still the company’s address), by Raymond Surprenant’s uncles; it is named for Raymond’s cousin, David, whom he refers to as a “mechanical genius – an unbelievable talent.” Raymond started working there in his teens, “bending pipe and welding on the floor.” Eventually, he discovered that he was better at selling than welding. Four years ago, he moved from sales manager to general manager. “It’s a job I love,” said Raymond. “I’m lucky to be working with great craftsmen who make a great product, for which there is a strong demand.” ■ A partial listing of Davico distributors include: Bagnell Auto Stores, Norwood Auto Parts, International Car Parts, Foreign Autopart, and Lacava & Sowersby. Davico’s toll-free number is 800-422-6046.

Making a replacement (left) for the original Ford Taurus catalytic converter (right), Davico did its usual flawless replication.

Coming next edition: “Why Catalytic Converters Fail”

Full OBD II Testing continued from page 1

including emissions controls, than the dynamometer. Massachusetts is required by the federal Clean Air Act to incorporate OBD II emissions testing into its I&M program. “OBD II is a win for everybody,” says Wert. “It’s a win for inspectors because it is fast;

for motorists because it is convenient and and can save money on repairs; and a win for the environment because it is more comprehensive and provides an early warning of emissions control problems. When OBD testing causes these malfunctions to be found and fixed sooner rather than later

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it will prevent such vehicles from becoming gross polluters in the first place.” The proposed regulations and background document may be obtained through DEP’s web page: www.mass.gov/dep under “new additions” or the I&M program’s Web site at www.mass.gov/vehicletest under “news.” ■

Inspection Update Engages Thre

How to ‘Be the Computer’ ... and Other In the spring and summer of this year, more than 230 automotive repair technicians received Advanced OBD II Technical training in anticipation of the pending transition to OBD II emissions testing in Massachusetts under the continuing evolution of the Enhanced Emissions & Safety Test program. Three of the veteran instructors who trained a good number of those technicians – Bill Cahill, Chuck Pearson, and Karl Schneider – sat down one night in mid- July to discuss with Inspection Update the significance of OBD II, the value of OBD II training, and the surprises that await technicians who make the right decision to undergo training. Some of the highlights from that discussion:

diagnosis is designed to start at the beginning where the computer starts. Cahill: When you’re OBD II-trained, you know how to start at the beginning, which is where the computer starts. When you’re OBD II-trained and you go through the right diagnostic process for an emissions repair, you’re thinking like the computer thinks, so you usually come to a stopping point where the problem actually lies. You get at the heart of the problem before you get to the end result that tripped the trouble code.

Pearson: Absolutely. I’d say most of the techs are pleasantly surprised.

IU: Why is that so?

Pearson: In OBD I, we were all hounded about trouble codes. What’s the trouble code say? Fix that and move on. The OBD II curriculum deals very, very little with trouble codes. Schneider: In the end, during the exercise period, technicians begin to truly understand how a car thinks. That’s what makes OBD II so different from OBD I.

IU: What do you mean: How a car thinks? Cahill: Have you ever heard the golf expression, ‘Be the ball?’ Well, in OBD II training, we make you be the computer. Schneider: In OBD I, it was mainly a question of hooking up your scan tool and getting the trouble code, then going to the trouble tree (in the manufacturer’s manual) and doing whatever the book told you to do. The trouble code was always the first thing. But, in actuality, the trouble code is the last thing the computer does. OBD II

Pearson: The exercises (at the end) are the key to the entire program (of OBD II training, as formulated by ASPIRE). The book comes with exercises in the back, and we spend the majority of the last night doing exercises. Schneider: We break it down into groups – three, four or five guys – – guys who have never met each other or worked with one another before, and they have to solve an emissions failure. Cahill: I hate to give away the punch line to one of the exercises, but basically the answer is: It’s a loose wire. You have five tables of guys and they all come up with the same loose wire.

Inspection Update: Is it fair to say that most of the technicians taking OBD II training are surprised by how much they learn?

Schneider: There is a point in the curriculum, once you get past the background material, when most techs come to a whole new revelation on how OBD II works, what it does and what is doesn’t do.

computer thinks. They’ve gone successfully through the exact process that the computer uses to determine what the codes should be.

Bill Cahill “To the Heart of the Problems” Pearson: With OBD II training, you develop a base of knowledge that you never would have had to develop for OBD I. Schneider: OBD I was so totally haphazard compared to OBD II. Engine problems in OBD I that should have set the light and set the code wouldn’t, and things that shouldn’t have set the light or set the code would. It was a very primitive system, and there wasn’t any standardization among manufacturers. Cahill: In one of the exercises I do (in class), I put a sticker over all the trouble codes. I do this for three different kinds of problems. This is toward the end of the program. It’s the student’s job to tell me what the trouble code should be in each of those problems. Every time I’ve done these exercises, almost every student comes up with the right codes. They do that because they’re now thinking the way the

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Pearson: It’s amazing to see a technician applying a scientific approach to diagnosis. Each student collects the facts, reviews the wiring diagram, applies the OBD II strategy, and logically solves the problem for the one wire that’s loose. Each student, individually, comes up with the one wire that’s loose in the car. The trained technician can correctly diagnose the vehicle without replacing any unneeded parts. Schneider: That’s when you know the training works.

IU: Can OBD II training be helpful for other repair issues besides emissions-related defects? Pearson: The curriculum is designed to be very specific for OBD II emissions failures. But the thinking required for that specific area, the overall diagnostic approach, can be applied successfully to any kind of drivability fault or any kind of non-emissions-related fault. Schneider: OBD II was designed for emissions failures, but the manufacturers have taken that one step further and incorporated the theory into the rest of the car. They’re producing air conditioning and active suspension systems that, for example, think and command. Cahill: We’ve already got the engineering down on OBD II. All you have to do is ex-

ee Instructors in Lively Dialogue

r Tales from Advanced OBD II Training pand it (the OBD II diagnostic approach) to handle the air conditioning system, expand it to handle the braking system, the body controls, etc., etc. Pearson: In OBD II training, we open technicians’ eyes to look at different places –

Chuck Pearson “Information is Power” places they’ve never looked before – for information that makes their diagnostic decision-making better and faster.

IU: OBD is helpful to trained technicians. Does it benefit motorists? Pearson: Absolutely. Information is power, so the technician who has the power of OBD II in his hands is absolutely doing a better job for the motorist who comes to his shop.

IU: Will a workforce of OBD II-trained technicians ultimately save the public money on car repairs? Schneider: Will you pay less for repairs over the life of a car if you have it maintained and repaired by a highly trained technician? Yes, absolutely.

IU: Is an OBD II-trained technician better at explaining repairs to the consumer than a non-trained technician? Pearson: The OBD II-trained tech is positively better at communicating with the consumer. The tech that passes this training has greater knowledge and greater confidence. The average consumer can sense it when the person fixing his car really

knows what he is talking about and vice versa.

IU: Can you give an example of how an OBD II-trained technician is more likely to make the correct diagnosis and repair than a technician who lacks such training? Cahill: Let’s say you have a ’94 Toyota with a trouble code indicating an EGR valve problem. The tech that is not OBD IItrained would probably just replace the EGR valve, collect the bill and send the motorist on his way. In less than a week, the motorist is going to be back in his shop complaining about the bill and the fact that the “check engine” light is still coming on. The trained technician would have known to check the enabling criteria before replacing the EGR valve. If he did, he would have found that the problem was not in the valve itself but in the system monitoring the valve. He would have found out that the problem was in the MAP sensor and taken care of it at its point of origin. There’s a big difference in results in terms of consumer satisfaction, not to mention shop productivity and profitability.

IU: Is OBD II better at detecting engine performance and drivability problems early on? Pearson: There’s no question that’s true.

IU: And does that mean emissionsrelated problems, and other kinds of problems, can be fixed before malfunctions become expensive repairs? Cahill: Yes, of course … and I’ll give you an example. OBD II would catch a misfire early on. Not only will it detect the misfire, it’ll tell you which cylinder is misfiring, and it will do so while sweeping the entire system with a self-diagnosis and active intervention. Schneider: That’s right. It’ll check O2 response time. It’ll check the MAP sensor. Then it may say something like, Number 3 is misfiring. Cahill: A major misfire could wipe out a catalytic converter and do other upper-end damage.

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Karl Schneider “Whole New Revelation” Pearson: And today’s catalytic converters can easily run the consumer $700 or $800 depending on the vehicle. Schneider: Whereas you’re talking $18 or $20 to replace a spark plug wire to fix the misfire.

IU: Summing up, what’s the best argument to make to a technician who’s thinking of taking Advanced Technical OBD II Training, but isn’t convinced it’s worth his time and money? Pearson: I can promise the technician that he or she is going to be a much better technician at the end of training. He or she is going to feel better about the work they do, and motorists are going to trust them more. Schneider: I would say this: OBD II training will take you from the surface of the automotive repairs to the depths so that you come out of it much more confident – and with greater earning capacity and greater job security. Cahill: Talk about depths! (Laughing) In OBD II training, I say that it’s like being inside the engine looking at the pistons going up and down. You’re seeing spark plugs firing, the fuel and the air, and everything that’s going on at once… Tell that technician I’ll make him a millimeter tall and put him inside the computer where he’ll be able to see the electrons flying around. He’s going to come out of that car and say, “Wow! This is pretty neat.” ■

Back to Basics – – NOx

So, to get the maximum work out of each stroke, you need to maximize combustion temperature, minimize exhaust temperature, and minimize quenching (cooling of the mixture through the cylinder walls). Combustion temperature and efficiency are a function of the compression ratio – the higher the compression ratio, the greater the thermodynamic efficiency. Exhaust temperature is a function of timing, valve opening and engine speed. Quenching is a function of coolant temperature, which is why all of the OEMs keep raising the coolant temperature and thermostat setting. So, how does all of this relate to car emissions? If we achieved perfect and complete combustion, the only products would be water (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2). One little problem. Air is about 79 percent nitrogen and about 21 percent oxygen. At normal temperatures, theses gases simply coexist as a happy mixture. But at high temperatures, they chemically combine to form NO, NO2, and NO3, the family of gases we happily call NOx. Car and truck exhaust is typically about 90 percent NO and 10 percent NO2. As you can see in Figure 1, the tendency of oxygen and nitrogen to form NOx increases dramatically at about 2500 degrees Fahrenheit; a temperature common inside of the combustion chamber.

cooler (1200 degree F) inert exhaust gases to the incoming charge to absorb some of the heat and reduce the maximum combustion temperature. The other major control component is the catalytic converter. As most technicians know, the catalytic converter serves two functions. The front part of the catalytic converter utilizes rhodium to perform reduction and break down the NOx back to the original nitrogen and oxygen. The reduction portion of the catalyst prefers a rich mixture. Too much oxygen in the exhaust will inhibit the ability of the catalyst to create more oxygen, which occurs as the NOx is broken down. Figure 2 shows the efficiency of NOx reduction relative to the stoichiometric air/fuel mixture ratio.

On the emissions control side, exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) is designed to add

The second part of the cat uses platinum and/or palladium to serve as the oxidation continued on page 11

Figure 1

NOX Formation

Efficiency. Everyone wants it. So how do the manufacturers maximize efficiency in the modern internal combustion engine? Ignoring friction and drag, the Laws of Thermodynamics dictate that the maximum amount of work obtainable from each firing stroke of the engine is a function of the difference between the maximum combustion temperature, and the temperature of the exhausting charge. The pressure developed durBert Cox ing combustion drives the piston down, the expanding gas cools (remember how air conditioning works) doing work in the process.

Manufacturers deal with NOx in two ways. They try and keep down combustion temperatures, but more recently, with high efficiency and higher compression ratio engines, they focus more on post combustion (tailpipe) emission controls. Higher than designed engine temperatures may occur because of several possible causes including mechanical issues such as carbon buildup or a milled head. A lean mixture will dramatically increase engine temperatures and increase the formation of NOx. Not enough quenching through too hot of coolant or a restricted cooling system or improperly operating thermostat will increase engine temperatures. Improper timing (or detonation) will also affect NOx emissions.

1200˚F 2500˚F 3000˚F Maximum Combustion Temperature (˚F)

Figure 2 100%

Catalyst Efficiency

By Bert Cox

NOX Reduction O2 + N 2 NOX

HC and CO Oxidation HC + O2 H2O +CO2 CO + O2 CO2

50%

Rich

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14.7 A/F Ratio

Lean

PROFILE Nantucket

★ Island Station Reports “OBD II is a Good Thing” Though it is becoming increasingly rare, taking a four-wheel-drive vehicle for a spin on the beaches of Nantucket is still permitted, reports Kent Gritzke, who serves an important function on the island, 30 miles off the coast of Cape Cod. Gritzke is one of only two certified inspectors at Don Allen’s, Nantucket’s one and only inspection facility participating in the Enhanced Emissions & Safety Test program. Ninety percent of the vehicles inspected by Gritzke and his associate, Nick Conforti, are fourwheel-drive, and most are new.

Bill Tournovish, Nick Conforti, and Kent Gritzke

“The junkers are becoming fewer and fewer,” observed Gritzke. “There are a lot of high-end vehicles on the island because there’s a lot of money around here.”

Gritzke and Conforti regularly inspect expensive cars – Jaguars and Porsches, for example – that the average station seldom sees. At the same time, Don Allen’s has a diverse clientele that includes a large number of fishermen, contractors, craftsmen and tradespeople. The other day, Don Allen’s failed a dump truck for missing its mud flaps. Bill Tournovish, owner-operator of Don Allen’s Ford and Don Allen’s Inspection, said those who have their cars inspected on the island tend to be summer or year-round residents. “Tourists rarely get their vehicles tested while visiting the island,” he said. “Probably the biggest reason for inspection failures on the island is faulty gas caps,” noted Gritzke. With only one inspection facility on Nantucket, long waits have occurred at Don Allen‘s. Fortunately, OBD II testing has cut the wait time significantly, much to the relief of island motorists. “OBD II is a very good thing,“ Gritzke enthused. Tournovish, who has been running the business founded in the 1930s by his grandfather, Don Allen, relocated the inspection portion of the business in May of last year when the waiting lines got too long for his Ford dealership to handle. He installed two dynamometers on property up the road, and now there’s plenty of room for all the islanders flocking to Don Allen’s for an inspection. The pressures that come with being Nantucket’s only vehicle inspection facility can be difficult to bear, so difficult in fact that Tournovish has toyed with the idea of closing the inspection side of his business altogether. A very practical concern has always prevented him from taking that option: Tournovish fears that he’d lose sales if he couldn’t inspect the vehicles he sells. Official inspection hours at Don Allen’s are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. Inspections, however, often begin at 7:30 and continue until 4:30. And while Saturday hours are 8 to 11:30 a.m., Gritzke and Conforti are usually there until noon. Don Allen’s Inspection Station 14 Nancy Anne Lane Nantucket, MA Phone: 508-228-0134

Almost All Inspectors Earned Recertification on First Try The first big wave of re-certification trainings has been completed,” said Jack Pierce, Agbar Technologies’ Assistant Program Manager. Since the end of 2001, approximately 4,200 inspectors have been successfully re-certified.

And now that the majority of those whose licenses were up for renewal have completed their training, letters and training applications have been mailed to the 2 to 3 percent who did not pass the re-certification test.

“Training will continue but the big crunch is behind us,” says Skip Colburn, Agbar’s Training Coordinator.

In order to remain an inspector with the Enhanced Emissions & Safety Test program for those who failed the test, one must attend the class again and achieve a passing

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grade on the exam. Taking the re-certification class a second time requires a fee of $50. Upon receipt of the training application and $50 fee, an Agbar representative will call those that did not pass the re-certification test to arrange a DTC location, date and time to attend the re-training class. Questions regarding this process can be referred to the toll-free Station Support Hotline at 877-297-5552. ■

Great Job, Chuck! Jack Pierce (left), Assistant Program Manager of Agbar Technologies, congratulates Chuck Pearson, Special Staff Assistant to the Director at Mass Bay Community College Technology Center, on his fouryear service as the VMI Committee Chair. Bill Cahill of B.C. Auto Repair is the newlyelected chairperson.

Here’s Some Helpful Advice on Drop Lights, Consumables ➡ Mike Walker of East Billerica Shell gave us a suggestion for a drop light: He uses it for looking for places to connect the tie-down straps and for inspecting the under-carriage of the vehicles being inspected. The one he uses is no bigger than a flashlight that holds “C” cell batteries and it uses light-emitting diodes instead of incandescent or fluorescent bulbs. Drop lights generate little heat and cost just pennies to operate. ➡Terry Hayes, Assistant Program Manager of Agbar Technologies, suggests the following about consumables: Purchasing consumables from Agbar is less expensive than purchasing them through ESP or SPX service techs. He also advises to always be prepared. “Don’t get caught short. Have extra calibration bottles, probe tips, spare cables and sample hoses on hand. Down time is money lost,” he said. Planning ahead allows for ordering and shipping time, rather than picking up supplies at a local DTC at the last minute. Utilizing the catalog to identify parts can assist you in ordering the correct supplies the first time.

Inspection Update encourages readers to submit their own helpful hints for future editions to [email protected] or by calling 617-451-8600 x 106. ■

RMV ADVISORY TO INSPECTION STATIONS The Registry of Motor Vehicles would like to remind all inspectors and inspection stations of the following:

✔ Inspectors MUST cross reference information on the Certificate of Registration with the vehicle being submitted for inspection (VIN, make, model, etc). If the information does not match, the customer must be given a turn away document.

✔ Inspectors MUST ensure that if they use the workstation scanner to scan the VIN, the scanned VIN matches the Certificate of Registration and the VIN on the dashboard of the vehicle.

✔ If an error message is received by the workstation indicating a license plate/ registration problem exists, an offline inspection is NOT the solution to the problem. Customers must be given a turn away document. NOTE: Oftentimes, either the customer or the inspector will call RMV while the vehicle is still at the inspection station. This procedure is acceptable. ALARS Error Messages occur because either Registration information was keyed improperly, or an RMV license plate/registration issue exists. SPX Workstations will display the following message: “Error Level 9, Abort Test; ALARS Inspection NOT Authorized.” And when such an error occurs on ESP WORKSTATIONS, the following message will be displayed: “The Vehicle is Not Eligible For Inspection! Make Sure VIN and License Plate Data Has Been Input Correctly.” The Registry offers these helpful hints: 1. If you get an ALARS error message, key the information a second time. Perhaps you typed incorrect information. Be careful of the letter “O” and the numeral “0,” as well as letters “S,” “I” and “L” and the numeral “5” and “1.” It is easy to key the wrong one in. 2. Remember that dealer plates on both SPX and ESP workstations must be done offline at this time. ■

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NOx Repairs

Shopping for a Lab Scope

continued from page 8

catalyst. This portion of the cat prefers a lean mixture because it combines available oxygen (effectively burning) with excess hydrocarbons (HC) and Carbon Monoxide (CO) into Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O). It’s the oxidation portion of the cat that generates heat; typically about 200 degrees from front to back. In the early days, we had air pumps and trombone tubes to inject air into the middle of the catalyst so that the front cat could see a rich mixture and the back half of the catalytic converter could see the lean mixture it needed. Modern catalytic converters are integrated monolithic construction. The manufacturers use fuel injection and computer controls to maintain a stoichiometric mixture and the cat uses the oxygen generated in the NOx reduction to oxidize the HC and CO. Hence, we rarely see air pumps any more. Many technicians use a five gas analyzer before and after the cat to check the efficiency of catalytic converters (refer to 5 ways to test a cat in the Mass Module). But, as you can see from our discussion so far, unless the vehicle is operating with a stoichiometric mixture, this test will not generate accurate results. In fact, we recently saw a Volvo at the DTC running so lean that after cat NOx levels were slightly higher than those entering the cat. You will see very low NOx reductions if the mixture is too lean; yet, the catalytic converter may operate properly if the mixture problem is corrected. For more information on diagnosing NOx repairs, refer to the Mass Module which contains flow charts and detailed information for troubleshooting NOx problems. The Mass Module also contains manufacturer’s certification levels for emissions, typical uncontrolled emission levels, and a good introduction to OBDII. Bert Cox has been in the automotive field for over 20 years and involved in I/M programs since the mid ‘80’s. Currently, he is Chief of Vehicle Programs for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He is part of the team responsible for I/M, alternative fuels, repair industry training, communication, and most recently, OBDII. He holds the degree of BSME (Mechanical Engineering) from Northwestern and SMU, and an MBA from Southern New Hampshire University. He has earned ASE Master Technician, L-1 and Alternative Fuels certifications and previously owned and operated an 8-bay automotive shop in Colorado Springs. ■

Four Kinds of Lab Scopes: What Makes Them Different? Part Two

Part One of an article on “Shopping for a Lab Scope” appeared in the last edition of Inspection Update (July 2002). It contained a great deal of information and commentary on the history, development and value of this important tool. In Part Two, Inspection Update now provides descriptions of the various scopes; these are based on a May, 2001 article in Motor Magazine written by Jorge Menchu. “If you don’t own a scope,” Menchu wrote, “you simply can’t learn as much, as fast, as someone with equal ability who does have one. And then there’s the ultimate goal – developing an understanding of automotive systems so well you’ll know when you have to use a lab scope and when you don’t.” Descriptions of the four kinds of scopes, courtesy of Motor Magazine and Mr. Menchu, follow: Digital Meter: The digital meter is ideal for determining specific values of measured quantities, such as frequency, pulse width, duty cycle and discrete voltage levels. But because of the averaged value and slow update (two to four times per second), the digital meter is not recommended for high-speed glitch detection or in-depth circuit analysis. Graphing Meter: Graphing meters are similar to the digital meter mode in almost all respects, including the averaging of displayed value. The difference in the graphing meter is in how the value is shown. Instead of a numeric display, the value is graphed over time. A graph offers one major advantage over a numeric display: The plot shows the history and trends of the measured value. But because of its “averaging” aspect, the graphing meter, like the digital meter, is not recommended for detecting high-speed changes. Power Graphing Meter: At first glance, the power graphing meter appears similar to the graphing meter – with one significant difference: The values are not averaged. The power-graphing meter plots individual values that reflect the greatest change for the last plotted value. The power of power graphing is realized when measuring the frequency, duty cycle or pulse width of repetitive signals. Lab Scope (Digital Storage Oscilloscope): The lab scope, also called a waveform viewer by some manufacturers, offers two- or four-way channel, high-speed charting of signal levels: the voltage waveform and the current waveform (with an appropriate current probe). The lab scope is imperative for detailed, in-depth analysis of high-speed signals. ■

ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS 4/1/02 – 6/30/02 Violations Issued to Inspectors : 66 Violations Issued to Stations: 65 Inspectors Required to Retrain: 1 Inspector Privileges Revoked: 1 Inspectors Suspended: 26 Stations Suspended: 32

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Inspectors who completed the re-certification training should have received a copy of the Workstation Reference Guide from Agbar Technologies. If you have completed the inspector re-certification training and your station has not received a copy, please call the tollfree Station Support Hotline at 877-297-5552 to request a copy. The guide is comprised of workstation notices and troubleshooting tips. It was designed to assist inspectors with a variety of program and equipment issues and should be kept near your workstation for quick reference. You will find that the guide can assist you with questions such as: How to perform a test on an out-of-state vehicle; how to efficiently calibrate the dynamometer; and how to best perform the two-speed idle test. ■

Where to Turn When You Have a Question Department of Environmental Protection 617-292-5745 Program issues Station Hotline 877-297-5552 For workstation and other equipment problems Motorist Hotline 877-387-8234 For consumer issues Registry of Motor Vehicles 617-351-9333 For various Registry issues Web Page www.mass.gov/vehicletest General program information

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See Article Starting on Page 8

How the Modern Engine Deals with NOx P.O. Box 75 Marlborough, MA 01752 PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID HOPKINTON, MA PERMIT NO. 61