Jump to content
SAU Community

EPA Noise Defect Notice

Lindsayl284

By Lindsayl284,
in General Automotive Discussion

 Share

Recommended Posts

Lindsayl284 Rookie

Lindsayl284

Posted
Posted

Here's the problem:

I got a letter in the mail today from the EPA stating that a police officer had lodged a report against my car because it was "excessively noisy". It goes on to say that I must take the car to an Approved Vehicle Noise Tester to determine whether it complies with the Environment Protection Vehicle Emissions Regulations. (There is a list of 24 Noise Testers across Victoria on the last page of the defect notice). After I obtain a Certificate of Compliance from the Noise Tester (asssuming I pass!), I must lodge it with the EPA by 20th February. It also says that it was not necessary to stop my vehicle in order for the police to file the report! All they needed was my rego.

There is some information contained in the letter about the noise tests.

"Maximum noise levels for stationary vehicles not to exceed 90 dB(A) for a passenger vehicle manufactured after 1st November 1983" (I've paraphrased slightly.)

So my questions are:

- What in particular do the noise tests involve? I have read elsewhere on the forum that you need to rev your car to a certain level, but how is this level determined? By engine capacity? Whatever the case, I am certain that my car will fail because it is f***ing loud! in which case...

- What are the options I can take prior to the test to ensure that I pass?

- Also (this part is mainly a whinge), isn't this stuff covered by a roadworthy and/or Certificate of Compliance? I'm talking about the Certificate of Compliance you get when you first import a car into the country. When I first registered my car last year after importing it (and getting my engineer's CoC), I was surprised that neither the engineer or Vic Roads did not say anything about the noise. I had it registered at the Burwood Vic Roads who are notorious for checking EVERYTHING, so I am a little surprised that nothing was mentioned at all about the excessive exhaust noise level. (As a side note, avoid getting your car registered at the Burwood Vic Roads, this is a tip from Dean at Ultimate Performance Imports in Moorabbin. The guy wouldn't pass my car because it was ONE CENTIMETRE too low! Plus he had this measuring stick thing which was supposed to fit under the car to test the height and he was banging it like nothing else against the exhaust tubing.)

Any comments or suggestions are welcome.

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/33226-epa-noise-defect-notice/
Share on other sites
SKYL9 Community Regular

SKYL9

Posted
Posted

i got my epa in the mail a couple of weeks ago and failed my test(got 103db's).. put my stock cat back system on with cable ties(took a whole 10mins) and went back for the retest and they didnt even turn my car on.. just payed them $20 and they gave me a thing to send to the epa.. if you want to come borrow my stock cat back just let me know as iv allready put my 3" back on.. im in mentone

Elithrar Rising Star

Elithrar

Posted
Posted

Not too steal the show, though I myself was looking at getting a cat-back soon for a R32 GTS-t. Being the brand-name guy I am, the APEXi N1 was looking great, though it exceeds the 90db limit. I was thinking of getting the Super Silencer fitted (welded), to reduce the noise, but thought I might find another good brand-name exhaust that works just as well and produces less noise.

Any ideas? 5Zigen? HKS? It's gotta be less than $1500.

Rezz Grand Master

Rezz

Posted
Posted
he had this measuring stick thing which was supposed to fit under the car to test the height and he was banging it like nothing else against the exhaust tubing
Exactly the kind of Anti-import-Nazi stupid sh!t that everyones probably had to put up with at some stage... I bet he drives a Holden. (no offence to the 2 cool holden drivers on SAU)

He probably would've cut his stupid measuring stick down had an HQ been too low.

Lindsayl284 Rookie

Lindsayl284

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thanks for the ideas everyone. I ended up calling William this morning who works with Gerald at Ice Performance. He was fantastic, told me to come right over even though it was his day off (he lives around the corner from me) and had a look at the car, fixed my boost gauge for free while he was at it! He knows one of the guys at the approved noise tester in Cheltenham, it's called Exhaust City on Park Road. William will take my car there first thing Monday and the dude will weld on a silencer and give me the certificate.

Lindsayl284 Rookie

Lindsayl284

Posted
  • Author
Posted

SKYL9 I was just about to ask where you got yours done. Good to know I'm taking it to the right place! I plan to get the silencer put on, get the certificate, then take it off again. :(

Well if the exhaust still sounds ok with the silencer then I might keep it on to keep the cops off my back, but I really like the sound at the moment, I don't want to lose my lovely exhaust note :)

predator Grand Master

predator

Posted
Posted

Its no biggie.. you just take it to an approved tester.. give them 15 minutes and they'll do the required test and tell you want it read at and whether you pass or fail. If you "fail" you just get whatever modified and come back and try again.

1. Its a b.s. law and just comes from the officers "thoughts" of whether it is actually too loud or not. As he doesn't use any meter he just makes it up on the spot.

2. Its perfectly possible to pass with an aftermarket exhaust.. I passed at 89db with a full dump system, highflow cat and Super Dragger II catback. Most won't though, true.

3. Its 3/4 of the max rev range, so around 5200rpm for an R33

4. You don't have to send it to the EPA, just take it a testing station, and they forward it on when it passes and its all done. The test is around $30

5. Here is the list of testers.. just rock up to one http://www.epa.vic.gov.au/Noise/testers.asp

6. Please do a search in future, all this has been coverd COUNTLESS times as most people have been there one time or another

Jamezilla Grand Master

Jamezilla

Posted
Posted

Re: 3/4 of rev range...

Do they take this from the tacho? If so - they're going to test me at 7500rpm! That's just a little unfair as I NEVER go that hard in suburbia - hell, I'm speeding in reverse at 7500!

Also - nearly finished my letter of complaint. The 'excessive' noise thing is a beauty. My car may be louder than a Daewoo - but it sure isn't excessive.

predator Grand Master

predator

Posted
Posted

While its meant to be standard, he did mine at 5200?? there is a list of testing guidelines out there which list every little in and out.. they're out there (and on here) somewhere.

Its different for GTR though james so don't stress too much .. i remember at McLeod them telling me it was something else for GTR, but i forget what it was sorry.

Emre Proficient

Emre

Posted
Posted

The testing is done at 75% of where the car makes its maximum horsepower.

GTS-T's make maximum hp at 6400 rpm so they are tested at 4800 rpm.

GTR's make maximum hp at 6800rpm and they are tested at 5100 rpm.

Obviously when you modify your car with bigger cams and turbos etc. the point where you develop maximum hp on the rev range changes as well, luckily they don't get that anal and go with the factory figures.

The tester generally uses a multimeter to read the revs and verify your tachometer reading.

The microphone is placed at half a meter distance and 45 degree angle to the rear muffler.

pinoi_boi_r33 Community Regular

pinoi_boi_r33

Posted
Posted

consider yourself lucky i actually had to go to the epa site in macloed and i live in frankston. It was damn far. I passed with 85dB on a cat back 3.5 inch stainless kakimoto system. I also got a high powered vehicle fine on the way back for my troubles. Blardy cops. I eventually got off the high powered fine tho. but still pretty harsh after serving and passing an EPA summons.

rs73 Grand Master

rs73

Posted
Posted

with all these sound issues, it would be interesting to gather data of what exhaust system has been tested at which db...

so anyone else who's got their exhaust tested, maybe can post their db result and exhaust brand, and if it is cat back, turbo back or dump back, etc...

Ash Grand Master

Ash

Posted
Posted

The thing which gives me the shits about this is, when you are sitting at a caffe and you can hear cars going by, yes skylines supras are louder than a pulsar or camry but they are nowhere near as loud as some hyundi's i hear which have aftermarket exhausts, which i am sure make the car louder than if they had no exhaust at all, actually v8 holden's aren't exactly quite either.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • 677_GTR
      R33 GTR running -9 with no tune

      By 677_GTR · Posted

      Thanks for all the replies fellas. Gonna finish putting it back together and see how it handles the set up. If it starts pinging it’ll be parked.
    • suko
      J50 clock date suddenly reset to January 1

      By suko · Posted

      Well, I can recommend the partial AV system translation CD I ordered from Car Audio Workshop in NZ. Whilst it didn't address the date issue, it has conveniently translated on-screen menu items into English, and now allows the GPS-received time to be offset in hours rather than minutes, so I can display Eastern Australian time accurately ( and bump it by another hour when daylight savings starts ).
    • GTSBoy
      Baron's R34 GT-R build thread - car in Japan for 5 years -_-

      By GTSBoy · Posted

      Yuh, if it's 45°C outside, my car is driving in it.
    • soviet_merlin
      Baron's R34 GT-R build thread - car in Japan for 5 years -_-

      By soviet_merlin · Posted

      I'd be curious to hear more. Otherwise, have you driven a modern x-trail? I wonder how it compares. Here in Australia they are/were popular for rentals and fleet vehicles. I have been in some and my impression was they are bad. But, this may have been very different in the 2000s at a good trim level. Twenty years is plenty of time to make the model worse. I do very much agree with the 2 silver cars in the garage approach. But, not driving because it's too hot would not leave a lot of time in the year for many Australians. I don't think you need to worry too much unless the car has actual issues with overheating. 
    • BaronOBeefdip
      Baron's R34 GT-R build thread - car in Japan for 5 years -_-

      By BaronOBeefdip · Posted

      Back again. I returned to Japan in Jul/Aug to spend time with the car on my birthday and remind myself what all the sacrifice and compromise is for. It happened to line up with the monthly morning meet in Okutama, which I have been wanting to go to for a long time. It's a unique event at a unique spot with really rare, interesting, and quirky cars. It's where all the oldheads and OGs gather. The nighttime scene at DKF certainly has its place and should be experienced if you're into cars, but there's too much bad attention and negativity around it now. IMO the better time is Sunday morning at DKF or Okutama; it's more chill and relaxed. I'm glad I was finally able to go, but not sure it's worth the drive from all the way from Nagoya immediately the day before, unless I was already staying in Tokyo for the days right before the meet, because you have to wake up quite early to make it in time. Funnily enough though I didn't drive the car all that much this trip because it was just too damn hot. While there were zero issues and running temps were nominal and the A/C was strong, RBs already run crazy hot as it is. Sure, it took it all like a champ but something about driving these cars in the ridiculous heat/humidity bothers me and makes me feel like I'm asking too much of it. I'm just me being weird and treating the car like a living thing with feelings; I'm mechanically sympathetic to a fault. Instead I was mainly driving something else around - a KX4(silver) 2001 X-Trail GT, that I acquired in May. There's a few different flavors to choose from with Xs, but visually it's the Nissan version of the Honda CR-V. Mechanically it's a whole different story as this, being the top-trim GT, has an SR20VET mated to a four-speed auto and full-time AWD! It was a very affordable buy in exceptional condition inside and out, with very low mileage...only 48k kms. Most likely it was owned by an older person who kept it garaged and well-maintained, so I'm really happy with how it all worked out. It literally needs zero attention at the moment, albeit except for some minor visual touch-ups. I wanted something quirky, interesting, and practical and for sure it handily delivers on all three of those aspects. I was immediately able to utilize the cargo and passenger capacity to its full extent. It's a lot of fun to drive and is quite punchy through 1st and 2nd. It's very unassuming -in the twisty bits it's a lot more composed than one would think at a glance- and it'll be even better once I get better tires on it(yes, it's an SUV but still a little boat-y for my liking). So...now I have two golden-era Nissans in silver. One sports car and one that does everything else; the perfect two-car solution I think👍 The rest of the trip...I was able to turn my stressed brain off and enjoy it, although I didn't quite get to do as much as I thought. I did some interesting things, met some interesting people, and happened into some interesting situations however, that's all for another post though only if people really want to know. Project-wise, I went back to Mine's again to discuss more plans and am hoping to wrap that up real soon; keep watching this space if that interests you. Additionally, while working in the tormenting sweatbox that is the warehouse, I was able to organize most of the myriad of parts that my friend is storing for me along with the cars, and the 34 has a nice little spot carved out for it: And since it can get so stupid hot in there, that made it all the more easy -after I was standing there looking at the car and said 'f**k it'- to finally remove all the damn gauges that have mostly been an eyesore all this time. Huzzah. The heat basically makes the adhesive backing on the gauge mounts more pliable to work with, so it was far less stressful getting this done. I didn't fully clean it up or chase the wiring though; that will happen once I have the car in closer possession. Another major reason to remove all that stuff is to give people less reasons to get in my car and steal s**t while it's being exported/imported when/if the time comes, which leads us to my next point... ...and that is even though it's time in Japan is technically almost up since it's a November car and the X would be coming in March, I'm still not entirely sure where my life and career is headed; I don't really know what the future looks like and where I'm going to end up. I feel there's a great deal of uncertainty with me and as a result of that, it feels like I'm at a crossroads moreso now than any point in my life thus far and there are some choices I need to make. Yes, I've had some years to consider things and prepare myself, however too much has happened in that time to maintain confidence and everything feels so up in the air; tenuous one might say. Simply put, there's just too much nonsense going on right now from multiple vectors. Admittedly, I'm struggling to stay in the game and keep my eyes on the prize. So much so in fact, that very recently I came the closest I ever have before to calling it quits outright; selling everything and moving on and not looking back. The astute among you will pick up on key subtext within this paragraph. In the meantime I've still managed to slowly acquire some final bits for the car, but it feels nice knowing there's not much left to get and I'm almost across that finish line; I have almost everything I'll ever want for my interpretation and expression on what it is I think an R34 should be. 'til later.
×
×
  • Create New...