Rant: The difference 5 years and no emissions testing makes in a shop

I came back to my old hometown shop in Springfield after working up in the city for half a decade. The stuff rolling through the bay now is a joke - people driving on bald tires and ignoring check engine lights because there's no yearly inspection. Had a guy yesterday with a 2012 F-150 that had been throwing a P0420 code for two years and he just cleared it with a scanner every time. Has anyone else seen the quality of work drop in areas that got rid of emissions testing?

2 comments

2 Comments

leo_campbell1mo ago

Wait, does a P0420 really mean the cat is actually bad most of the time? Because I've seen plenty of those come from a lazy o2 sensor or even just a small exhaust leak before the downstream sensor (frustrating stuff to chase down). I'm not saying the guy was right to clear it for two years, but cat efficiency codes can be a red herring sometimes. Bald tires though, that's a whole different level of risk, especially since you can't really fake your way through that with a scanner. It's interesting how people will gamble on everything except the one thing that'll get them pulled over, you know?

kim.wren1mo ago

Is it really that big of a deal though? I mean, a guy clearing a code for two years isn't great, but a P0420 is usually just a bad cat, not a safety hazard. Bald tires are a bigger issue, sure, but people have been cheap about tires since forever, with or without emissions testing. In my experience, if you're a decent shop, your regular customers still come in for oil changes and checkups, they just skip the stuff that doesn't have a gun to their head. Where I'm at now we still have testing, and honestly half the work is just plugging in a scanner to pass, not actually fixing the real problems.