Anyone familiar with Illinois emission laws?
03-13-2015, 12:07 PM
#1
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Anyone familiar with Illinois emission laws? New resident of Illinois, haven't switched plates yet, but I see they do emission testing here. From speaking with two people so far they say that no one looks under the car, they just read the OBDII sensor and as long as it's not throwing any codes the car passes.
Is that 100% true? Or is there anything I need to worry about? Currently the car still has stock cats on it, but am seriously looking at adding headers and off road Y-pipe in the next few months, but if laws and fines here are strict I'll get the catted y-pipe. Anyone have experience on this issue?
Is that 100% true? Or is there anything I need to worry about? Currently the car still has stock cats on it, but am seriously looking at adding headers and off road Y-pipe in the next few months, but if laws and fines here are strict I'll get the catted y-pipe. Anyone have experience on this issue?
03-13-2015, 01:10 PM
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New resident of Illinois, haven't switched plates yet, but I see they do emission testing here. From speaking with two people so far they say that no one looks under the car, they just read the OBDII sensor and as long as it's not throwing any codes the car passes.
Is that 100% true? Or is there anything I need to worry about? Currently the car still has stock cats on it, but am seriously looking at adding headers and off road Y-pipe in the next few months, but if laws and fines here are strict I'll get the catted y-pipe. Anyone have experience on this issue?
Is that 100% true? Or is there anything I need to worry about? Currently the car still has stock cats on it, but am seriously looking at adding headers and off road Y-pipe in the next few months, but if laws and fines here are strict I'll get the catted y-pipe. Anyone have experience on this issue?
IL only tests in certain ZIP codes surrounding Chicagoland and a few on the IL side of St. Louis. It's not a state-wide program though.
What you have heard is in fact 100% true. There is NO visual inspection for a basic emissions test. It's OBD scan only for '96+ vehicles (no visual, no sniff). All vehicles 1995 and earlier are exempt at this time.
If you are applying for a waiver (meaning you have completed something like ~$400 or more in emissions related repairs but still cannot get the car to pass), then they reserve the right to do a visual inspection as part of that waiver process. But, this is NOT part of the basic emissions test and would only affect you if you're applying for said waiver.
To pass the OBD scan test, you cannot have an illuminated MIL (SES light). If you have custom tuning to disable the MIL (for ORY, etc.), it must be done in such a way that the readiness tests still show "complete", otherwise you will be rejected for the test. Rejected is not the same as "failed" (you only fail if you have an SES). They will tell you to go drive the car around for a while until the tests complete, they are assuming that you have recently disconnected the battery, etc. But this won't help if the tuning was done wrong. Most custom tuners are familiar with this.
Having said that, you are allowed two "not ready" parameters for '96-'00 cars and one for '01+ cars. All other supported tests must be "ready/complete" at the time of the emissions scan in order to pass.
03-13-2015, 02:10 PM
#3
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I am highly experienced with this issue as a long time IL resident. Testing moved towards OBD scan-only in or around 2003, and by ~2005 or so, the option for an I/M240 sniff was phased out, leaving only the scan test. There was never a visual inspection as part of the general/basic test as far back as the 1980s at least. I can't speak about the process prior to that.
IL only tests in certain ZIP codes surrounding Chicagoland and a few on the IL side of St. Louis. It's not a state-wide program though.
What you have heard is in fact 100% true. There is NO visual inspection for a basic emissions test. It's OBD scan only for '96+ vehicles (no visual, no sniff). All vehicles 1995 and earlier are exempt at this time.
If you are applying for a waiver (meaning you have completed something like ~$400 or more in emissions related repairs but still cannot get the car to pass), then they reserve the right to do a visual inspection as part of that waiver process. But, this is NOT part of the basic emissions test and would only affect you if you're applying for said waiver.
To pass the OBD scan test, you cannot have an illuminated MIL (SES light). If you have custom tuning to disable the MIL (for ORY, etc.), it must be done in such a way that the readiness tests still show "complete", otherwise you will be rejected for the test. Rejected is not the same as "failed" (you only fail if you have an SES). They will tell you to go drive the car around for a while until the tests complete, they are assuming that you have recently disconnected the battery, etc. But this won't help if the tuning was done wrong. Most custom tuners are familiar with this.
Having said that, you are allowed two "not ready" parameters for '96-'00 cars and one for '01+ cars. All other supported tests must be "ready/complete" at the time of the emissions scan in order to pass.
IL only tests in certain ZIP codes surrounding Chicagoland and a few on the IL side of St. Louis. It's not a state-wide program though.
What you have heard is in fact 100% true. There is NO visual inspection for a basic emissions test. It's OBD scan only for '96+ vehicles (no visual, no sniff). All vehicles 1995 and earlier are exempt at this time.
If you are applying for a waiver (meaning you have completed something like ~$400 or more in emissions related repairs but still cannot get the car to pass), then they reserve the right to do a visual inspection as part of that waiver process. But, this is NOT part of the basic emissions test and would only affect you if you're applying for said waiver.
To pass the OBD scan test, you cannot have an illuminated MIL (SES light). If you have custom tuning to disable the MIL (for ORY, etc.), it must be done in such a way that the readiness tests still show "complete", otherwise you will be rejected for the test. Rejected is not the same as "failed" (you only fail if you have an SES). They will tell you to go drive the car around for a while until the tests complete, they are assuming that you have recently disconnected the battery, etc. But this won't help if the tuning was done wrong. Most custom tuners are familiar with this.
Having said that, you are allowed two "not ready" parameters for '96-'00 cars and one for '01+ cars. All other supported tests must be "ready/complete" at the time of the emissions scan in order to pass.
03-13-2015, 04:20 PM
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03-13-2015, 05:05 PM
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03-13-2015, 10:31 PM
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Yeah you'll be ok, I just passed emissions two weeks ago with long tubes, off road y pipe, and a decent size cam for a daily driver. I'm right across the river from st Louis in IL. and all they did was plug it in to your obd2 port. They don't do any visual inspection including not checking your gas cap. You could tell though that the two guys that were standing outside to test my car didn't think I was going to pass according to the laughing and looks they gave each other when I pulled up.
03-15-2015, 07:34 PM
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