Title 40

SECTION 86.146-96

86.146-96 Fuel dispensing spitback procedure.

§ 86.146-96 Fuel dispensing spitback procedure.

(a) The vehicle is fueled at a rate of 10 gal/min to test for fuel spitback emissions. All liquid fuel spitback emissions that occur during the test are collected in a bag made of a material impermeable to hydrocarbons or methanol. The bag shall be designed and used so that liquid fuel does not spit back onto the vehicle body, adjacent floor, etc., and it must not impede the free flow of displaced gasoline vapor from the orifice of the filler pipe. The bag must be designed to permit passage of the dispensing nozzle through the bag. If the bag has been used for previous testing, sufficient time shall be allowed for the bag to dry out. The dispensing nozzle shall be a commercial model, not equipped with vapor recovery hardware.

(b) Ambient temperature levels encountered by the test vehicle shall be not less than 68 °F nor more than 86 °F. The temperatures monitored during testing must be representative of those experienced by the test vehicle. The vehicle shall be approximately level during all phases of the test sequence to prevent abnormal fuel distribution.

(d) Drain the fuel tank(s) and fill with test fuel, as specified in § 86.113, to 10 percent of the reported nominal fuel tank capacity. The fuel cap(s) shall be installed immediately after refueling.

(e) The vehicle shall be soaked at 80±6 °F (27±3 °C) for a minimum of six hours, then placed, either by being driven or pushed, on a dynamometer and operated through one Urban Dynamometer Driving Schedule (specified in § 86.115 and appendix I of this part). The test vehicle may not be used to set dynamometer horsepower.

(f) Following the preconditioning drive, the vehicle shall be moved or driven at minimum throttle to the refueling area.

(g) All areas in proximity to the vehicle fuel fill orifice and the dispenser nozzle itself shall be completely dry of liquid fuel.

(h) The fuel filler neck shall be snugly fitted with the vented bag to capture any fuel emissions. The fuel nozzle shall be inserted through the bag into the filler neck of the test vehicle to its maximum penetration. The plane of the nozzle's handle shall be perpendicular to the floor of the laboratory.

(i) The fueling procedure consists of dispensing fuel through a nozzle, interrupted by a series of automatic shutoffs. A minimum of 3 seconds shall elapse between any automatic shutoff and subsequent resumption of dispensing. Dispensing may not be manually terminated, unless the test vehicle has already clearly failed the test. The vehicle shall be fueled according to the following procedure:

(1) The fueling operation shall be started within 4 minutes after the vehicle is turned off and within 8 minutes after completion of the preconditioning drive. The average temperature of the dispensed fuel shall be 65 ±5 °F (18 ±3 °C).

(2) The fuel shall be dispensed at a rate of 9.8±0.3 gallons/minute (37.1±1.1 L/min) until the automatic shutoff is activated.

(3) If the automatic shutoff is activated before the nozzle has dispensed an amount of fuel equal to 70 percent of the tank's nominal capacity, the dispensing may be resumed at a reduced rate. Repeat as necessary until the nozzle has dispensed an amount of fuel equal to at least 70 percent of the tank's nominal capacity.

(4) Once the automatic shutoff is activated after the nozzle has dispensed an amount of fuel equal to 70 percent of the tank's nominal capacity, the fuel shall be dispensed at a rate of 5 ±1 gallons/minute (19 ±4 ℓ/min) for all subsequent dispensing. Dispensing shall be restarted two additional times.

(5) If the nozzle has dispensed an amount of fuel less than 85 percent of the tank's nominal capacity after the two additional dispensing restarts, dispensing shall be resumed, and shall continue through as many automatic shutoffs as necessary to achieve this level. This completes the fueling procedure.

(j) Withdraw the nozzle from the vehicle and the bag, holding the tip of the nozzle upward to avoid any dripping into the bag.

(k) Within 1 minute after completion of the fueling event, the bag shall be folded to minimize the vapor volume inside the bag. The bag shall be folded as quickly as possible to prevent evaporation of collected emissions.

(l) Within 5 minutes after completion of the fueling event, the mass of the bag and its contents shall be measured and recorded (consistent with paragraph (c) of this section). The bag shall be weighed as quickly as possible to prevent evaporation of collected emissions.

[58 FR 16045, Mar. 24, 1993, as amended at 60 FR 43898, Aug. 23, 1995]