What is the difference between a California Emissions equipped truck and a standard emissions truck? Mine is a California equipped truck, 2002 Ranger Supercab 4.0LSOHC 5spd.

Thanks....

 

There should be no difference. Check the underhood label and the door jamb label to confirm.

The underhood label gives a worded description of what emission regions the vehicle is certified for.

The cert label on the door jamb has an alphanumeric code in the lower right corner. In the example below (3R32E405), the last number is '5' which means that the truck has a 50-state calibration that applies to the entire US. For your truck, the full code will be different from the example but the final character will tell the emission region(s):

A= US Federal Standard
B= US California (and other so-called 'green' states) Standard
5= 50-state calibration for both Federal and California/green state

 

OK...someone told me that the California emission equipped would have a more restrictive exhaust system due to larger or a higher number of converters? Is there any truth to this?

 

There is no difference if it checks out as a 50-state calibration - everything would be exactly the same, including the exhaust. Be sure to check the numbers on the label to see if I am correct. I'm going by my 03 which is 50-state.

 

Don't start chopping off or gutting converters thinking that you might get more power. Don't be cheap. Just get a real exhaust for your truck.

 

I'm not asking because I want to gut or cut anything...I'm just trying to clear up whether the converter setup is different or not on a california emissions vehicle. I have bought a magnaflow catback and is on the way.

 

Ok. The last 40 people that had question about cats wanted to chop them all off thinking they will see massive power gains.

I have the same exhaust on my 03:

 

The cali cars have less horsepower due to a different calibration. Sometimes they have an extra converter or 2, and they may have different o2 sensor setup.

This is information I received from someone that works w/ ford powertrain engineering, so I know it to be correct.

 

Now I have one vote no difference and one vote difference. Anyone else want to chime in?

 

Some vehicles have a different calibration, converters, EGR, etc. for California but some don't.

Often it is less expensive to do a unified calibration and hardware for all emissions regions than it is to build and certify two different configurations. Many vehicles on the road are 50-states certified for this reason.

I'm not saying that his 2002 truck is or is not a 50-state vehicle. I just gave him the info required to figure it out.

 

If this was the case then wouldn't the car manufacturers put two separate horsepower ratings for a standard emissions vehicle and a lesser number for the California emission equipped vehicle?

 

Sometimes they do publish different numbers for California.

Did you check the number on the door jamb sticker yet?? That will tell you exactly what you have.

 

Yes, the code ends in "5"...

I just looked under the truck and it has 4 converters...1 on each side of the y-pipe, and 2 in line just before the intermediate pipe. Are all 4.0 SOHC Rangers set up like this?

 

So yours is a 50-state calibration - the same in California/green states and in those states covered by Federal EPA standards.

The cat count and layout may vary by year. Like yours, my 03 4.0L had 2 small light off cats in the y-pipe and 2 larger main cats after the wye. 2004 4.0s have 4 cats in the y-pipe, 2 on each side.

 

my california cat equipped y pipe with two small cats has been replaced with a regular y pipe, no cats. There are 2 cats before the muffler. Will the 50 state calibration automatically kick in ?

 

Does anyone out there have a good photo of a 96 Ranger 2.3l California under hood Emission Label? Mine is missing and I would like to print a replacement.