"California Emissions System"???

[BillyGman]

I live in Connecticut, and bought my MM 300A about 5 weeks ago. I noticed that all of the Marauders and new Crown Vics that I looked at had California emissions systems listed on the window sticker. And when I asked the three dealers where I'd been looking as to exactly what that is, I found that nobody even knew. I let it go since I was also told by all of them that in my state, dealers couldn't sell any new cars w/out the California Emissions system in them. I hope this hasn't already been covered in another thread, but does anyone know exactly what this is???? When I had my car on the lift when I was performing the ring & Pinion gear change, I noticed that it has what looks like 4 cats(2 on each side). Could that be the difference between MM's w/and w/out the Cali emissions thing?(I mean having two extra cats)......

[Logan]

All Marauders are california certified LEV vehicles. They all have 4 cats. You'll start to see most vehicles rolling off the lines with full california certs regardless of where they're going...This is just the beginning.

[jgc61sr2002]

BilyGman - Most states require California emitions. One exception I believe is NJ.

[Constable]

Now, Now, Now.... there are actually very FEW states that REQUIRE the Cal. Em. Sys. The states that border those "required states" also get the system (just in case they find their way into the "required states"). If you bought your car in a "border state", then there is an option code to order the car without the system. I did this. Instead of taking delivery of the 300a that was sitting on the lot for 9 months, I ordered a new 300b without California Emmisions. If anyone here knows exactly what the California Emmisions System consists of, I'd like to know. All I can say is, my car doesn't have it.

[Constable]

Direct from my copy of 2004 order guide:

California Emissions System is required on vehicles to be registered in these states: California, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont.

California Emissions System is optional when registered in the "cross-border states": Arizona, Connecticut, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.

There's also an order code which provides a "public service / emergency vehicle exception" to the California Emissions System. Emergency vehicles in states where the system is required can be ordered without the system. For this reason, I can only imagine that the system may impair performance (ever so slightly).

I also figured that if I swapped out exhaust components, the Cali system may be sensitive and trip a code or something. I dunno.

If someone has specific info on the differences between the system equipped cars and non-equipped cars, please post it here.

[GodOSpeed]

Boy I wish I'd have known that you could order one of these babies without CA emissions! I would have done so in a heartbeat! Do you remember the end of the muscle car era? Mustang GTs with 100 and some horse? I blame that on CA Emissions. Smog pumps=power robbing crap Cats=even more power robbing crap. Just the weight that you saved is worth it not to mention the $! The other 2 cats are called pre-cats and you guessed it even more power robbing CRAP!!

[RF Overlord]

Mr. O'speed:

I believe the only difference in the emissions certification comes from the ECM programming...there's no smog pump on MY Marauder with CA emissions...

[GodOSpeed]

Oh well then I stand corrected. The computer takes the smog and pollutants out. I wonder if Dennis could reverse this for me. We have a shortage of smog up here in North Dakota.

[engine23ccvfd]

How can the ECM clean the motor w/o simply preventing as much fuel from being burned.

[RF Overlord]

The ECM doesn't "clean" the motor per se, but adjusting the fuel and spark tables, A/F ratio, spark advance, dwell, injector pulse widths, engine temp, etc, can change the amounts of the various combustion by-products: NOx, CO, CO2, HC, etc...I didn't mean to imply that the ECM is the ONLY thing different about a CA emissions certified car, just that more of the pollution control is now done electronically, rather than mechanically, like with the old A.I.R. pumps...

[RCSignals]

Originally posted by Logan
All Marauders are california certified LEV vehicles. They all have 4 cats. You'll start to see most vehicles rolling off the lines with full california certs regardless of where they're going...This is just the beginning.

Actually they are certified as ULEV for sale in CA

A higher rating. Something Honda brags about attaining, but Ford obviously says nothing

[RCSignals]

Originally posted by BillyGman
I noticed that all of the Marauders and new Crown Vics that I looked at had California emissions systems listed on the window sticker.

The cars I've seen out here have mention of California emissions on the label on the hood underside, but no mention of CA emissions on the window sticker

[vaderv]

Logan sorry bro mine is not a lev it also states on my sticker that it is not a Cali legal vehicle. Btw after lookin under her for the umpteenth time she deff has only 2 cats...

[LincMercLover]

I've got 4...

[Constable]

looks like I'm going to have to wiggle my skinny butt under there tomorrow AM to determine what I'm dealing with...

[Constable]

Yep... 4 cats. Some may have overlooked the two sneaky ones up by the manifolds.

I also had a chat with my tech at the dealership. He stated that the California Emissions system consists of a slightly different computer setting and "secondary air injection" (he called it oxygen thermo-something-or-other). It works by introducing fresh air into the exhaust. That way the emissions tests read that there is more oxygen in the gases.

To me, this sounds like a dirty trick to make it pass some emissions tests. In essence, the emissions stay the same... but they now have more oxygen added to make it SEEM cleaner. I found this pretty interesting to hear. I guess the whole system is like a reversed EGR setup... they're not putting exhaust into the intake, they're putting intake into the exhaust.

[RCSignals]

Originally posted by vaderv
Logan sorry bro mine is not a lev it also states on my sticker that it is not a Cali legal vehicle. Btw after lookin under her for the umpteenth time she deff has only 2 cats...

vaderv, my car is not CA emissions either, but on a sticker on the underside of the hood it says it qualifies as a ULEV vehicle for purposes of CA emissions requirements. What does the sticker on the underhood of your car say?

[TripleTransAm]

Originally posted by Constable
It works by introducing fresh air into the exhaust. That way the emissions tests read that there is more oxygen in the gases.


First of all, I can't find any mention of such a system in the shop manuals.

I doubt they'd get away with it if that's what they did. I'm thinking that 'air injection system', if it does exist, is the same as what's in many other cars... during cold startup, while the car is in open loop (ie. not giving a damn about O2 sensor readings, because they're still too cold to read properly), the AIR (or A.I.R. or whatever they want to call it) pump feeds air into the exhaust manifolds to complete the burn and to hasten the catalytic converters' light-off. Once the O2 sensors come to life and the PCM goes into closed loop, the pump HAS to stop since it would fool the O2 sensors into thinking things were leaner than they are.

So the feed lines would have to connect to the exhaust AFTER the O2 sensors, if it was meant to 'fool' the exhaust sniffers. Someone with a California car can have a look but I seriously doubt they'll find such connections. I'm really curious now to know if this is the case or not.

[Constable]

your vast knowledge of automobilia never ceases to amaze me. I'd agree with your explanation any day of the week over that tech's. I even asked him, "Isn't that kind of cheating on the emissions tests??" He didn't really have an answer for me. Thanks for clearing up the A.I.R. issue for me, I have learned yet another new thingy through this great site.

[TripleTransAm]

Thanks for the kind words, Ryan. I would still like to know if California cars do indeed use anAIR pump or not (AIR=Air Injection Reaction). I didn't find any mention of such a system in the emissions control section of the shop manual, nor did I see any connections for such a system in the exhaust system section. I should have also checked the engine section for any connections but I didn't think about it.

If anyone can confirm or deny the presence of this system (on California cars or other), I'd really like to know.

[Constable]

it's MYSTERIOUS... UNKNOWN... :confused:

[looking97233]

I thought all panther platform cars for 2003 were 50 state ULEV rated. This means there is no "California" emmisiion system, they are all the same.

[Constable]

we all thought certain things, but there's some kind of unsolved mystery here.... better call Robert Stack! "Is there really a California Emissions system? If so, where and WHAT exactly is it? Can we identify it? Stay tuned for more after this commercial break."

[JHD7001]

I had the chance to compare the two side by side. Yes, there could be a thing-a-ma-bob I missed, but four cats on both, no air injection fittings, etc.

The production number on the heads was different though, that's what has me concerned.

[JHD7001]

I did a little research, if anyone's interested. A friend of a friend (who's building a MM for this year's SEMA show) said at best, there's just calibration differences (rectifiable with programming) and at worst, maybe a different evap purge canister.

That's it, no architectural differences whatsoever.

Now, about that 03 Cobra transplant he's doing.....hmmmm. 10K for new Cobra engine ass'y, sell yours for 3k. :banana2:

Versus all the bolt ons & a s/c for the cast crank 'mom & pop' 4 valve. Veddy interesting, the little difference in price.

[RCSignals]

Can you say what Company he is building this for?

[JHD7001]

I wouldn't be too hard to figure it out, he's the one that just got published on the Cobra swap. The swap runs 18k turnkey, when the article came out he was deluged with calls but not too many buyers.

Have you guys not seen the article yet?

I'm kinda stuck on this one, I don't want to be evasive, I guess if someone were to e-mail me I could give you the contact info.

[RCSignals]

I haven't seen the article. Interesting it's for SEMA.

I'm still amased at all the stuff that's coming out on the Marauder, and L-M apparent indifference