Yesterday, while sitting at a traffic light, I had a diesel truck pull-up next to me with it’s exhaust directly across from my rolled down window. What was a gorgeous October day in California, turned real ugly, real quick. I could actually feel chunks of exhaust emanating from that big stinky pig. :angry: I rolled up the window and sat there in my own personal smog enclosure - staring at the offending truck’s exhaust pipe. It was a big, dark hole . . . and as black as black could be. For the rest of my trip, I looked at as many tail pipes as I could. They were all black. That got me to wondering. If the Prius is that clean of a car, does it still have a black tail pipe? A few hours after returning home, I washed my Salsa Baby. I took the opportunity to inspect the relative cleanliness of the Prii exhaust system. I took my wet finger and rubbed it around the inside wall of the exhaust pipe. MY FINGER CAME OUT CLEAN!!! 13,000+ miles, and the exhaust pipe is still clean! I would say that that is some convincing direct evidence that Prii are clean cars. [P.S. I just finished twelve days of jury duty on a statutory rape case. We found the miscreant guilty. I am still on a direct evidence kick.]
I think that's what AT-PZEV is supposed to mean. Just the fact that it doesn't run the engine at slow/no speed is a big help. Normal cars pollute horribly when idling. Some people dis hybrids for the batteries, but NiMH is the cleanest of all current rechargeable battery technologies, producing nothing seriously toxic. They are large enough to be well worth recycling anyway -- nickel is valuable.
My car's oil was apparently overfilled, and so I took a bunch out. This was with about 1000 miles on the car. The oil on the dipstick looked "clean", but the oil in the jar where I put the extra oil definitely did not look clean. I've read so many differing opinions on this, I just can't get excited about it one way or the other. -Roger
Hi rogerSC Same experience. I just removed ~½ qt to lower the oil level to about ¼" below the "full" pip. After ~2,000 miles, the oil was darker than I expected but not what I'd call "dirty." Reason: Hope for a little increase in MPG's. I'm using Mobil-1 5W30 and plan to put in 3 qts only next change, then top up to my preferred level, ~ half way between "add" and "full."
Clean tailpipe at 79k. Don't perform this test on conventional cars unless you have a wet-wipe handy.
Foxy is only two months old so she hasn't had an emissions test yet. Has anyone out in Prius Chat land had an emissions test?
I am interested in emission checks on a Prius. We just got our first Prius Last Thursday, a 2005, white, package #6 little honey. Our county in New Mexico requires emission checks, so when re-registration time rolls around, we will have to get it emission certified. All the emission stations though put a sensor in the tailpipe of a conventional internal combustion vehicle to measure the levels. Without a dynomometer to put the Prius through high speed paces, how will they measure the emissions if the gas engine does not run at idle speeds when sitting still? Anyone experience the re-registration process where they require this type of emissions certification, please provide a clue to new Prius lovers on what to expect. Thank you.
There's a way to get the ICE to run, a subtle dance with buttons. I don't have the thread, you might do a search for "ICE emission testing". Here, they just know a late model Prius (what other kind are there?) is good to go.
Out here in MA, the emissions test has moved to OBDII testing (no more idle testing probes!). No check engine light, no problem.
In California, hybrids are exempt from smog checks for re-registration. You might want to check with your DMV to see if hybrids are exempt in your area.
In California hybrids are exempt only temporarily. I believe, that is until 2008. I have this info at work and am not there right now so I could be off a year. However, starting this year, all new cars are exempt from testing for 7 years.
You can turn the heater to Max Heat to get the ICE to run. If you just want to run the ICE momentarily, just step on the gas pedal and it will start up.
After going to the DMV site, it looks like a lot more cars will be exempt from smog checks. http://www.smogcheck.ca.gov/StdPage.asp?Bo...eck/doineed.htm
