pokapotato

Well its been almost a year since this happened to me. Live in a western state. Supoosedly the reddest state in the union. Well the county I live in has taken it upon them to be the state leader in emmission testing and compliance. Well if you own a diesel you must take it in yearly, they run it on a dyno and do opacity testing. You must be under 30%. Well anyway as you guys know there are ways with our trucks to get them under 30% (Smarty ). Anyway the emissions facility has signs just off the freeway that says stuff like "report smoking vehicles" and they have a phone number to call to report. Well about a year ago my truck was a much different truck from what you see in my sig now. Had stage 3 jammers, HRVP, High Tech 62/13SS, Hot Juice with Smarty Stacked, straight 5 inch exhaust. I loved the way it was set up. I tried to be careful in town not to black out any intersections or portions of the freeway. Well I must have inadverntently put out some black smoke in front of a tree hugger, because I got reported to the county. I got a certified lettter in the mail saying that within two weeks I must report to the testing facility, and that I had been reported as a smoking vehicle with some other threatening verbage included. Well needless to say everything got stripped off the truck that wasn't stock. That included any velcrow that held modules down, pyro out of the exh manifold, all the goodies. I took it in and watched three guys climb all over my truck looking for "fuel management modifications". Needless to say they could find nothing. They were mad and tried to scare me saying that if I get turned in again that they will turn me into the EPA and I could get a 2500 dollar fine. Well I sold all my stuff, and you can see what is left in my sig. I am sad about the whole deal and miss all the fun stuff. I hope this scary story isn't soon coming to a location near you.

motochamp250

wow i sure hope it does not get like that around here.....i cant stand all the emissions stuff....i dont blow out much smoke anyways but it just makes me sad

jcarrillo

I would like to be the first to offer my condolences to you and your pickup. I am just getting ready to get started modifying my truck. I hope the rest of the country doesn't follow suit. Sorry dude.

logskidder

People are watching......and keep in mind the next few years will determine which direction our sport takes

Kayakit

Hey, same deal happened to me, but the letter used non-demanding verbage. Saying that I must have a problem with my truck. I should have it looked at. Well, I don`t have a problem with my truck so I didn`t do anything. I have not been ADVISED again. Good luck to you all. Mark.

jcarrillo

In my neck of the woods, a big black cloud of smoke means there is a well being drilled, they just made a connection and kicked the pump back in. Most of the industry down here is oil related. It is hard to go from one town to another with out seing a drilling rig. I am a mechanic for a drilling company. I understand times they are a changin. With all respect to you fellas close the emission minded cities, I hope my area is the last to go down. No offense or disrespect to anyone here.

bootsdodgejn

funney thig is. I got pullled over a couple weeks ago( for registartion) well i asked the cop what the laws were for balck smoke. He said that they do not pull ppl over for emmisions related stuff. Then he went on to say that but when i go in for emmisions that i will have a problem. Jokes on him we dont have any test for diesels. Found out they cant. cause i had a stat cop behind me 2 days later tailgating me. Well he got a little dirty air. Flew by me shaking his head. lol

GasganoFJ60

And this is why people need to keep smoking to a minimum. I know its hard and Im certainly guilty of clouding a passing lane up with smoke but some people just flat out do it to every single chance they get and its coming back to bite all diesel drivers in the rear end with wacky laws and regulations and fines.

Remember...every time you pelt a Prius driver with smoke, they write their congressman and donate to some nutty enviroment lobby organizations...

logskidder

Bingo!!!!!

Skip H

We had a program in Clark County in Nevada like that - "Rat on your fellow driver". They had commercials on radio for it.
I get a letter in the mail from DMV telling me some one called in and said that my car smokes excessively.
It was a cold morning and the lady who called me in- couldn't define smoke from steam coming out of the tailpipe. I sent them a letter back that they got to get better people who can tell smoke from steam. No reprisals.
They canned that program after lots of complaints saying that why should the people do DMV's job...

Hercules

The thing that gets my blood boiling is those very same jerk-offs who complain about smoke are the same ones who don't use turn signals, roll through stop signs, etc.

I'll share this one. When I was an environmental health inspector (code name for glorified housing inspector) for the county I live in, I used to work with some rather environmentally finatical individuals. They got on this kick about how environmentally unfriendly diesels are and wouldn't leave me alone because of it. I would always point out that I'm not so convinced and convey the following experience. Every day, 365 days a year, sometime several times a day, I cover a ~75 ft line of hedges at the beginning of my street with smoke on purpose and continue to do it to this day. They are over-grown into the street and the owner feels he only needs to cut them once every other year, or, only when he gets a warning sent to him by the boro or county. They are so over-grown that cars need to move over into the oncoming lane or wait for oncoming traffic to pass before they go by them. So, I have taken it apon myself to kill these hedges. I honestly can say I've lost track of how long it's been that I've been applying "smoke treatment" to them. I can say they won't die! This little story tends to leave them without comment and usually gets me some peace and quiet for a little while. BTW, the rest of my neighbors on the street find it funny and have actually chipped in and filled my tank once "in recognition of the community service" I'm attempting to perform...their words, not mine.

cumminsdriver635

Id like to see them figure out what is done to my 12 valve....

pokapotato

I agree that we need to probably be overly careful about not blacking out potions of any roads. Now if you are running around with everything turned on and you step into it a bit to get through an intersection, it is inevitible you are going to put out some unburned fuel. Guys that run around rolling smoke down the roads and streets cause they think it is cool will eventually ruin it for all of us. Since my little experience I have done some polling with friends and family on what they think of diesels and particularly smoking diesels. It has come to my attention that we are a very small minority and most people do not think rolling black smoke is cool.

1882

Here in WV there is no emissions testing and an inspection at my local service station takes all of about 25 seconds, a vehicle walk around asking me to turn lights on along with turn signals and that's it! They don't put it up on a rack, no exhaust or brake inspection or anything. Crazy huh?

Katmandu

X2.

I am NOT a treehugger by any stretch of the imagination, but one MUST realize in THIS day and age of extreme environmental awareness WE ALL MUST BE RESPONSIBLE DIESEL OWNERS. Otherwise, that large, bold statement in RED above will be the determent for ALL of us.