I read that as I was thinking....does the state only allow 6 times at testing before it is a fail forever or was 6 the number that you pulled out at. I can understand the frustration, both the testing issues and the loosing money. Been there myself.

 

I would assume the 6th time was when he gave up. As he kind of mention in the first post. Those tests can get expensive i think here they charge $20 first then 15 after that. I'm not sure about colorado though

 

Here in Oregon they don't charge for the test unless you pass...

 

Man I can't imagine how mad I would be if WV suddenly started doing tests like that. Sorry to hear about the Bronco but glad to see you stuck with Ford and got an Explorer!

 

My parents have been contemplating moving to California... This makes me sad because i'm sure since their Emissions standards are so strict my truck would be outlawed and crushed for scrap steel :[

 

Missouri won't "exempt" a vehicle until or unless you can prove you spent $200.00 (min.) attempting to meet regulations (pass). Even then, you only get one year on it. If it won't pas the next year, you're SOL.

 

That sounds very similar to the law in WA, i don't know if it is that exactly but it would be close.

 

Glad to see you guys carrying on without me LOL! Some facts - Colorado charges you $25 whether you pass or fail. You get one free retest within ten days. The limits are VERY strict. To get a waiver you have to spend $750 or more on emissions-related repairs. And they TRY to get old vehicles to fail. You can watch them with the truck on the rollers - they slam on the brakes and do jackrabbit starts immediately afterwards, and anyone who knows about emissions testing will know that this will spike levels and cause a fail. They will have your truck on the rollers for 15-20 minutes. I watched them put new vehicles on the rollers for a couple of minutes and then out. With older vehicles it genuinely looks like they're going for spikes in the readings. It's totally f'd up and biased against those who can least afford to go without transport. Unlike many of you, my Bronco WAS my daily driver. I did not have another truck or car. Just my Harley, which does little good in a snowstorm. Fortunately I was able to buy the Explorer but not everyone has the money to buy another vehicle. Actually I didn't either but a family member lent me some money. The truck itself is a one owner, sub 100,000 mile 2004 Explorer that has always been maintained and is pretty much mint. It is, of course, a 4X4. It has all the toys. It even smells new. I feel like I'm driving a new vehicle compared to the Bronco. My Bronco was quiet inside - for a Bronco. This one's just plain quiet and smooth. All I did to it was put on four new of the best Michelin tires they had, and I put in a new radio - the Explorer had a double-DIN radio so I have the big touch screen with satellite etc. You can even watch movies on it! Anyway I guess I'll migrate over to the Explorer boards one of these days, I'm still JBronco though!

PS - the reason that I got annoyed with that guy was that his post semed to imply that I failed by just giving up and with only 2 posts his tone seemed sort of mocking, I mean he has no idea what my Bronco's history was or anything. He implied that I simply gave up. Well he was right about one thing. I gave up. But he was wrong about the other have - I didn't give up simply. Maybe I was a bit raw at the time of his post, but YOU spend two weeks going to the emissions place six times and failing six times and spending good money on top of bad the whole time and then have some newbie criticise you and see how YOU feel. I even had a mechanic who was willing to give me an inflated bill to get the waiver because he's my friend but I ended up not doing it. I'd only have to face the same issues again, and what happens if there is a catastrophic failure during that time? Do you spend the money to fix it or what? In my case - no. So I got rid of it before it had to be junked. The State of Colorado f'ing SUCKS.

From my window (haha you can still see where my old Bronco used to mark it's territory before I finally replaced the oil pan gasket - it didn't leak a drop of anything after that) -

 

JB it really sucks to hear the bronco is gone but it happens. It is nice to know that your doing good with the explorer.

As for thw newbie posting, i dont think his intentions were ment to be taken bad, i also think by "giving up" he didnt mean for you to take it that way, i think he thought you gave up as in stopped throwing money at ti and try to find another way. That how i thought of it. Not so much like your rolling over and letting them take over.

Anywho come back and visit sometime.

 

That is a really nice looking Explorer!

 

Thank you! Also you guys are probably correct, the newbie didn't intend to hurt my feelings. I was just -extremely- pissed off that day after the sixth failure. I probably took it harder than it was meant to be. Sorry newbie, you can post to my threads anytime. You'll have to go to the Explorer forums now though!

 

As far as I know you can keep on testing it, but after six times I felt like it was time to throw in the towel. But I don't know if there is a limit of how many times you can take the test.

 

I can understand what you mean about being pissed... They shouldn't be testing vehicles like that, it is stupid and unethical. But there isn't much we can do besides put our vehicles in storage till the end of the smog years when we don't have to do it again, then re-register it. that storage would cost a pretty penny.

 

Unfortunately I had no place to put my Bronco, and at the end of the month it was going to be undriveable and barely sellable. So I was forced to sell. I share a house and could not have a big lump of iron wasting away in the driveway. I wish I had a big back yard or something; I would have gradually turned the Bronco into a toy, lifting it, etc. But as it is the $1,500 that I got for the Bronco paid for the four new Michelins and the stereo, with a few hundred $ left over. Can't cry over spilt milk. I hope to get another Bronco some day but my standards would be pretty high after mine, it didn't need a d*mn thing except to pass that test.

As it is I enjoy my Explorer, I have to admit that driving something that is shiny and looks new and doesn't have any of the bad manners that Broncos can have (like being fairly useless at highway speeds!) is nice. It's only a six cylinder but it has good power. Plus better gas mileage! And it looks nice and I like it.

But I wouldn't hold my breath expecting the emissions testing to stop. It's only going to get worse. I really hate to say it but some of you guys are going to be in it's radar.

 

Boy i hope TGM doesn't fly into their radar, their gonna have one hell of a fight to get it away from me

It good to hear you haven't lost your love for broncos, but i think you should get an older one next