Maryland VEIP Inspection

[PGMarcus]

I've never had my vehicle inspected in Maryland. I'm trying to get a good idea about the process before start doing anything to my exhaust.

I found this on the MVA's website:

Vehicle's emissions are analyzed while the engine is at idle. The idle test is more appropriate for older model cars and heavy duty vehicles because of their vehicle design. Model year 1977 through 1995 (powered by gasoline or propane) 8,501 - 26,000 pounds; Heavy Duty Model years 2008 and newer 14,001 - 26,000 pounds.

Can anyone confirm if they do the idle test on new cars?

Were you able to pass emissions with offroad headers/cats?

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[Tommy V]

No they dont idle test newer cars.As long as u still have your stock cats and cel light on you will be good to go.Catback exhaust are fine.All they do is hook up a scan tool and check for engine codes and make sure all monitors are ready.

 

[PGMarcus]

No they dont idle test newer cars.As long as u still have your stock cats and cel light on you will be good to go.Catback exhaust are fine.All they do is hook up a scan tool and check for engine codes and make sure all monitors are ready.

Thanks

 

[PGMarcus]

I want to get rid of my cats, i'm just trying to come up with a solution for the emissions test. Should I buy off road headers and just swap them out when its time for the inspection or can I do a cat delete pipe?

 

[Tommy V]

U wont pass with offroad headers even with tune,u could put stock manifolds back on for emmissions,but that alot of work!!Cat deletes and weld a flange back on the stock cat and they would be easy to change but not as good as long tube headers.

 

[MSMStannyl]

Yeh, as was said above, they don't do any exhaust test. Just the OBDII plug-in. I was in an out on my emission test with my 2015 GT in 5 minutes with Corsa cat-back. However, I have not heard of a guaranteed way of "tricking" emissions without cats, even if you have a tune keeping your CEL off.

In any case, assuming you just got your 2019, you should have a couple years before you need to worry about it.

 

[PGMarcus]

Yeh, as was said above, they don't do any exhaust test. Just the OBDII plug-in. I was in an out on my emission test with my 2015 GT in 5 minutes with Corsa cat-back. However, I have not heard of a guaranteed way of "tricking" emissions without cats, even if you have a tune keeping your CEL off.

In any case, assuming you just got your 2019, you should have a couple years before you need to worry about it.

Yea just thinking ahead, I don't want to do something and mess my car up. I'll also ask around a couple shops when it's time to pick out my headers.

 

[ModularKid21]

When you get to the inspection station, you pull in and they get the info from your car. They walk around with a mirror to “check for modified exhaust and/or lack of catalytic converters. From my experience with emissions and having full exhaust cars (although none have been cat-less) they don’t really check. They just walk around because they have to. They plug up their scanner and it checks to makes sure you don’t have any emissions related faults and that all readiness monitors (vehicle’s self checks) have been set/completed. They tell you if you’ve passed or failed, then you’re on your way. I can’t speak on whether or not it’s true, but I’ve heard that as long as you have a tune that allows all the readiness monitors to be run, you’re good. A buddy of mine had an ‘04 gt with a vortech and full exhaust with no cats, it’s passed emissions twice. And those cars came from the factory with four cats

 

[PGMarcus]

When you get to the inspection station, you pull in and they get the info from your car. They walk around with a mirror to “check for modified exhaust and/or lack of catalytic converters. From my experience with emissions and having full exhaust cars (although none have been cat-less) they don’t really check. They just walk around because they have to. They plug up their scanner and it checks to makes sure you don’t have any emissions related faults and that all readiness monitors (vehicle’s self checks) have been set/completed. They tell you if you’ve passed or failed, then you’re on your way. I can’t speak on whether or not it’s true, but I’ve heard that as long as you have a tune that allows all the readiness monitors to be run, you’re good. A buddy of mine had an ‘04 gt with a vortech and full exhaust with no cats, it’s passed emissions twice. And those cars came from the factory with four cats

Readiness monitors? You mean like the check engine lights and stuff?

 

[ModularKid21]

Readiness monitors? You mean like the check engine lights and stuff?

Yeah. The cars computers run self tests periodically to make sure the systems are operational and are operating correctly. When a check engine light is cleared, those monitors/tests are reset and must be run again. Which is why you can’t clear a check engine light, take it to an emissions test, and it pass. They can see fault codes and which test/monitors haven’t been run. Some tests take longer than others. Some are run as soon as the car is started. Some are tested often, some just now and then. All depends on the system. Another example, I work on Volkswagens. When customers come in with emissions related faults or concerns from failing an emissions test or perhaps a check engine lights being on, I can fix the car and through the scan tool, I can make the vehicles computers run those tests/monitors and see within minutes if the vehicle passes or fails. That way once I’ve fixed the car, they can go straight to the emissions station instead of having to drive the car for a week to have all the tests/monitor run. Sorry for the run on post but it’s basically the vehicle’s way of checking it’s systems

 

[PGMarcus]

No need to apologize, thanks for explaining. That's good info right there.

 

[PGMarcus]

Yeah. The cars computers run self tests periodically to make sure the systems are operational and are operating correctly. When a check engine light is cleared, those monitors/tests are reset and must be run again. Which is why you can’t clear a check engine light, take it to an emissions test, and it pass. They can see fault codes and which test/monitors haven’t been run. Some tests take longer than others. Some are run as soon as the car is started. Some are tested often, some just now and then. All depends on the system. Another example, I work on Volkswagens. When customers come in with emissions related faults or concerns from failing an emissions test or perhaps a check engine lights being on, I can fix the car and through the scan tool, I can make the vehicles computers run those tests/monitors and see within minutes if the vehicle passes or fails. That way once I’ve fixed the car, they can go straight to the emissions station instead of having to drive the car for a week to have all the tests/monitor run. Sorry for the run on post but it’s basically the vehicle’s way of checking it’s systems

One last question, when I install the headers I'm going to have my tune revised by Lund. You're saying that my car could have faulty emissions codes but Lund could override and remove the check engine light but the inspection station can see the code that was overridden?

 

[ModularKid21]

From what I understand, as long as the tune doesn’t interfere with those monitors, you should be fine. Through the tune, Lund might change inputs for the computer to alter the information it’s “seeing” so if it doesn’t detect a problem, as far as it’s concerned, there is no problem. I’m not sure there’s any way for an emissions station to tell if a computers been altered, just whether or not those monitors/tests have been run. Since cars are so smart now, all the emissions stations have to do is a couple checks through the data link connector. As long as the computers say everything’s alright, that’s good enough for them. Which is why they don’t have to do a “sniffer” test anymore. Because if the car was running bad, the computers will work to correct it, or throw a fault to let you know the issue is beyond the computers correction limitations. I’m sure there are a ton of factors within these tunes that I’m not aware of, but that’s the basics of what’s being checked

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