Emissions Enigma - THe Growler
Just had my emission test done. Needed to re-register car tomorrow (no MOT as such here where I live, just the smoke test).

It's only 10 months old so it passed with CO% reading of 1.4 (pass is 3.5) and HC 323 ppm (pass is 600).

On getting my certificate I see there are different pass standards for different cities, for example Cebu and Davao are 6 for the CO and 7,500 for the HC(huh?). Outside in the smaller provincial areas it's 6.0 and 10,000! No wonder my face is black after riding for 20 km behind a Victory Liner bus which is barely visible in a cloud of black smoke. My lungs probably resemble the inside of a Pennsylvania coalmine.

Of course as ever the bleedin' obvious is never obvious. Get the old rolling coffins off the roads and stop importing 20 year old rusty buses which have spent their lives clanking around Beijing or Taipei for 2million km.. But then how many gov't officials and police officers own illegal bus lines as a sideline? It would never work.

OK slow learner me, now I get why the HC standard is so high.......

/exits stage left coughing...