Or in other words, PA sent me on another wild goose chase!

Where the heck do I find one of these, or fake it to pass? As far as I can tell, they're talking about the little flap behind the gas cap, seeing as that's the only thing that's missing.

 

See if you can go to a junkyard and get one from there. Is that what they said was the reason it failed, missing that flap. I didnt know you could fail from missing that.

 

Yup. When they told me that was why it failed emissions, I pulled out my measuring tape and measured it to make sure it was the right size for unleaded. They wouldn't budge.

 

Good news! PA code does not specify what constitutes a "fuel inlet restrictor", so I went and checked federal code and guess what I found?

That flap is entirely optional (and not even mentioned in the law at all,) the only legal requirement is the diameter of the hole. Now to print this off and wave it in the inspector's face when I go back for my retest.

 

let us know how it goes, good luck

 

Don't know about PA but in TX that's the first thing they look at and most of the failures are from the gas cap. That's what the guy that inspected mine told me.

 

Yeah, but this isn't the gas cap. My gas cap is brand new and seals nicely.

This is the little idiot flap underneath to keep grandma and grandpa from putting diesel in their gasoline engine car.

Anyway, resolution: The original shop wouldn't pass it even after I showed them what a "fuel inlet restrictor" actually is according to the law so I took it to a shop a few miles further down the road and got my sticker without any trouble. I'm gonna report the first shop to the state, because besides the idiot flap BS, they also couldn't tell the difference between the PCV air inlet and the evap control line coming off the fuel tank - they wanted me to hook them together.

I really need to move to a state with no-BS inspections. Brakes and lights are all they should really be looking at.

 

Good luck on finding a state that has no inspections nowdays. Let us all know when you do. Here in TX it depends on where you live (county) as to the extent of the inspections.

 

Well Florida's the obvious one, but the people there are certifiably insane, so I suppose it'd have to be North Dakota instead.



...or not.

 

Some parts of Ohio still have this emissions testing money pit but over the years it has slowly started phasing out (state supreme court ruled it unconstitutional and set a deadline of 2014 for it to be gone completely) luckily where I live never had it.