Title 40
SECTION 91.507
91.507 Test procedures.
§ 91.507 Test procedures.(a)(1) For marine SI engines subject to the provisions of this subpart, the prescribed test procedures are specified in subpart E of this part.
(2) The Administrator may, on the basis of a written application by a manufacturer, prescribe test procedures other than those specified in paragraph (a)(1) of this section for any marine engine he or she determines is not susceptible to satisfactory testing using procedures specified in paragraph (a)(1) of this section.
(b)(1) The manufacturer may not adjust, repair, prepare, or modify any test engine and may not perform any emission test on any test engine unless this adjustment, repair, preparation, modification and/or test is documented in the manufacturer's engine assembly and inspection procedures and is actually performed by the manufacturer or unless this adjustment, repair, preparation, modification and/or test is required or permitted under this subpart or is approved in advance by the Administrator.
(2) The Administrator may adjust or require to be adjusted any engine parameter which the Administrator has determined to be subject to adjustment for certification, production line testing and Selective Enforcement Audit testing, to any setting within the physically adjustable range of that parameter, as determined by the Administrator, prior to the performance of any test. However, if the idle speed parameter is one which the Administrator has determined to be subject to adjustment, the Administrator may not adjust it or require that it be adjusted to any setting which causes a lower engine idle speed than would have been possible within the physically adjustable range of the idle speed parameter if the manufacturer had accumulated 12 hours of service on the engine under paragraph (c) of this section, all other parameters being identically adjusted for the purpose of the comparison. The manufacturer may be requested to supply information necessary to establish an alternate minimum idle speed. The Administrator, in making or specifying these adjustments, may consider the effect of the deviation from the manufacturer's recommended setting on emission performance characteristics as well as the likelihood that similar settings will occur on in-use engines. In determining likelihood, the Administrator may consider factors such as, but not limited to, the effect of the adjustment on engine performance characteristics and information from similar in-use engines.
(c) Service accumulation. (1) Prior to performing exhaust emission production line testing, the manufacturer may accumulate on each test engine a number of hours of service equal to the greater of 12 hours or the number of hours the manufacturer accumulated during certification on the emission data engine for each engine family.
(2) Service accumulation must be performed in a manner using good engineering judgment to obtain emission results representative of production line engines.
(d) The manufacturer may not perform any maintenance on test engines after selection for testing.
(e) If an engine is shipped to a remote facility for production line testing, and an adjustment or repair is necessary because of shipment, the engine manufacturer must perform the necessary adjustment or repair only after the initial test of the engine, except in cases where the Administrator has determined that the test would be impossible or unsafe to perform or would permanently damage the engine. Engine manufacturers must report to the Administrator, in the quarterly report required by § 91.509(e), all adjustments or repairs performed on test engines prior to each test.
(f) If an engine cannot complete the service accumulation or an emission test because of a malfunction, the manufacturer may request that the Administrator authorize either the repair of that engine or its deletion from the test sequence.
(g) Testing. A manufacturer must test engines with the test procedure specified in subpart E of this part to demonstrate compliance with the applicable FEL. If alternate procedures were used in certification, then those alternate procedures must be used in production line testing.
(h) Retesting. (1) If an engine manufacturer reasonably determines that an emission test of an engine is invalid, the engine may be retested. Emission results from all tests must be reported to EPA. The engine manufacturer must also include a detailed explanation of the reasons for invalidating any test in the quarterly report required in § 91.509(e). In the event a retest is performed, a request may be made to the Administrator, within ten days of the end of the production quarter, for permission to substitute the after-repair test results for the original test results. The Administrator will either affirm or deny the request by the engine manufacturer within ten working days from receipt of the request.